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The age of a bighorn can be found by counting the rings on its horns. Summer months produce dense, dark rings because of little growth. Each dark ring counts as a year of growth. During the first year, the horns of both sexes grow straight back from the tops of their heads over a bony stump. After that, rams' horns begin to curl downward in a circle around the ear and back up to the eye, a process which completes itself in ten or more years. Ewes' horns, which are thin, flat, slightly curved and sharp-pointed, grove eight to ten inches in length. |
Desert bighorn eat a diet of half grasses and half shrubs. They
like barrel cacti, the jojoba plant, brittle bush and sweet bush
flowers. Amazingly, they can go for three or four days without
water if necessary. They store the water they drink, then lose
up to 30% of their total body weight (mostly water) before needing
another drink. Previous |
© 1997 The Special Species Project ®