Spur of the Moment Trip To Joshua Tree National Park and Bighorn Sheep

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

It was very spur of the moment that I decided to go an overnight trip to the desert.  We had pretty much just gotten back from China.  But, I got some sudden inspiration to go to Roy's to get some subject matter on the novella/short story I am writing that takes place at Roy's in Amboy.  As I am so infrequently inspired, I forced myself to take advantage of the moment.

Before entering Joshua Tree NP, I decided to browse one of the few gift shops outside the park in Joshua Tree Village near the intersection of CA-62 and Park Blvd.  I was looking for something screaming "bighorn" sheep.  All I could find was a measly ceramic coaster for $8.

This coaster, though hand made in Arizona, cost substantially less than the jade bighorn sheep we brought back from China.

I headed down Park Blvd to the Park's West Entrance.  I pulled out my wallet to prepare to pay the admission fee, but the ranger told me that because it was Veteran's Day, park admission was free today.

Then, not 50 yards in the park and from the park entrance, I saw a ranger with binoculars to his eyes looking out into the field.  And then, like a treat from above, in a clearing to the west, was a large herd of bighorns; our favorite animal.  I think that this was the first time I ever saw any bighorns at Joshua Tree.

I counted about 25 in the herd.  The official Joshua Tree website says that there are only about 250 bighorn sheep in the 1200+ sq. miles that the park covers.  So, this herd was nearly 10 percent the entire park population seen at one time.  What a great sight!.

Bighorn Herd, Seen Nov. 11, 2014

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On Bighorn Sheep Pellets, Poop, and Scat...

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

A Ewe Dropping Some Pellets While Running Along a Rock Outcropping

On Bighorn Sheep Pellets, Poop, and Scat...

Bighorn pellets may be deposited singly or in clusters.  They may be strung out if the animal was walking or lie in a group if the animal was standing or lying down.  They vary in shape, from a tiny apple seed to the large chocolate drop with attenuated tip and an indentation on the bottom.

Exterior color may be black, brown, or sometimes green and interior color may be green or brown.  Some may have a pattern of alternating dark brown and light green.  Pellets are mount externally when first dropped but soon dry to a varnished finish.  They are dry internally, however, even when fresh.

Fred Jones says, to him, bighorn pellets are indistinguishable from those of domestic sheep and goats.  He knows of no method by which bighorn and deer droppings can be consistently distinguished.

Determining the age of desert bighorn pellets is uncertain because of the variation in color, consistency, and degree of external varnish at the time of defecation and because of variation in weathering rates.

The figure of average pellets groups per acre provides a population-related index to average animal density.

The size of the pellets, generally, but not always, is related to the size of the animal.  However, lambs dropping big loads and rams dropping small loads are not unknown.

...from Fred L. Jones, "Sign Reading and Field Identification", from The Desert Bighorn (Edited by Monson and Sumner) (1980)

More tidbits about pellets...

 Pellets are probably the least understood and most misleading single factor in sign reading.

 The Nelson bighorn leave remarkably few droppings behind them.

Freshness is of great importance in dropping analysis; and since there is very little moisture left in them when fresh, there is no way to tell how old they are except by seeing them drop.

 The daily incidence of defecation is assumed by some to be about the same as in deer and domestic sheep, or around 14 times daily.   However, the difference in the use of food in the acquisition and conservation of water precludes the validity of this assumption.

...from Welles, et al, The Bighorn of Death Valley (1961)

Head-butting Among Bighorn Sheep

by Steve Reiss (Dalmdad Landscape Photography - www.dalmdad.com and https://www.facebook.com/Dalmdad.)

At no time do bighorn sheep exhibit any sort of aggressive behavior, such as territoriality, that might result in limiting the population level.  The head-butting bouts among rams is not an expression of intolerance to crowding as is the case with aggressive behavior among males in some avian populations.  Actually most of the battles may be in the "high school" class of younger rams.  It is a less-usual sight to see a big ram asserting his superiority.  Fighting does not result in breeding being accomplished by solely by a few of the most virile rams.  The aggressive behavior probably probably ensures a flow of good genes throughout the population, but it seems to have no bearing on limiting population density.

From The Bighorn Sheep in the United States by Helmut Buechner (1960).

 Big Ram Rumble from NatGeo.