Physical Desription
The Dall Sheep (originally Dall's Sheep, sometimes called Thinhorn Sheep), Ovis dalli, is a wild sheep of the mountainous regions of northwest North America, ranging from white to slate brown and having curved yellowish brown horns.
Known for their magnificent curling horns, they take eight years to reach full size. Ewes have shorter, more slender horns. The horns are made out of keratin, which is the same substance as human fingernails are.
Habitat & Distriburion
Dall sheep have a broad habitat. They are a subarctic as well as arctic animal. The most northern group of these animals live in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The alpine ridges, meadows, and steep, rocky slopes that have "escape terrain" are where the dall sheep live. The flock likes to rest and feed on these slopes. They are also there to keep away from predators because they can flee to the rocks easier than their predators. Some of these predators would include bear, golden eagles, wolves, and humans.
The sheep inhabit the subarctic mountain ranges of Alaska, the Yukon Territory, the Mackenzie Mountains in the western Northwest Territories, and northern British Columbia. Dall sheep are found in relatively dry country and try to stay in a special combination of open alpine ridges, meadows, and steep slopes with extremely rugged ground in the immediate vicinity, in order to escape from predators that cannot travel quickly through such terrain.
