The Bighorn Sheep page contains 48 images of females, juveniles and lambs taken in
Gardner Canyon between Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance to Yellowstone.

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Bighorn Sheep Gardner Canyon 1302 M

A group of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on a steep hillside in
Gardner Canyon, near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
The rams typically live in bachelor groups separate from the ewes and young,
only joining the herd during the mating season which begins in November.
These images were taken in early October, in the late morning.

All of the landscape (horizontal) large version images linked from the thumbnails are 1500 pixels wide.
Portrait (vertical) images are 1200 pixels tall (1290 pixels with title bar). Images designated with an “M”
in the shot number are 5:4 aspect ratio, 1500 x 1290 with a title bar, or 1500 x 1200 without a title bar.
Some of the portrait images are also designated as “M”, and are 1500 pixels tall (plus the title bar).

Bighorn Sheep Family Gardner Canyon 1196

Bighorn Sheep Family Gardner Canyon 1202

Close portraits of a small family group, including a female, juvenile and lamb (foreground).

Bighorn Sheep Family Gardner Canyon 1199

A small family group of Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep browse in the dry autumn
grass in Gardner Canyon, between Mammoth Hot Springs and the North Entrance.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1146

A series of close portraits of a juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1152

Young male Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep live with the females for 2-4 years,
after which the males move to the bachelor herds (the females stay with the herd).

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1156

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1155

Close portraits of a juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon, near the Yellowstone North Entrance.

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Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1180c

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep have grayish to chocolate brown fur, a light tan to white rump,
and a light tan to white muzzle, belly, and lining on the back of all four legs. Babies are born white.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1162

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1166

Extreme close portraits of a juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1173

These images were all taken at relatively close range with a short-to-medium telephoto.
Most often, when Bighorn Sheep are seen at Yellowstone they are at a greater distance.

Besides Gardner Canyon and Mt. Everts in the north, Bighorns are in Dunraven Pass near Mt. Washburn,
in the hills above Tower Falls, and on Specimen Ridge in Lamar Canyon in the northeast area of the park.

Bighorn Sheep Female & Lamb Gardner Canyon 1304

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1276

A female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep and lamb (left), a juvenile (right), and a juvenile and lamb (below),
traversing a relatively steep slope in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile & Lamb Gardner Canyon 1216

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile & Lamb Gardner Canyon 1218

Bighorn Sheep stay mostly on steep slopes to keep predators away. While they are not quite as agile as
mountain goats, their hooves are adapted to provide superb traction on steep rocky slopes. The outer hoof
is essentially a modified toenail shaped to allow the sheep to grab small protuberances, and the inner hoof is
concave, soft and elastic. The hoof is split, allowing the sheep to pinch and hold rocks, and clawlike extensions
allow them to grab small ridges or brake when sliding on slippery rock. Their hooves are superb adaptations.

Bighorn Sheep Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1278

A juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep poses for a portrait on a steep slope in Gardner Canyon.

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Bighorn Sheep Family Gardner Canyon 1247

A small Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep family unit (juvenile, lamb and female, from left to right),
standing on a steep slope in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Female Bighorns usually do not mate until their second or third year. Due to competition with older males
 who have larger horns and fighting experience, males do not usually mate until they are about 7 years old.

Bighorn Sheep Family Gardner Canyon 1248

A juvenile, lamb and female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep pose on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Over 300 Bighorn Sheep occupy the northern range at Yellowstone in about a dozen interbreeding groups.
A 1981 pinkeye (Chlamydia) epidemic reduced the population by 60% from a high of 487, but the population
has slowly recovered. Chlamydia causes a temporary vision impairment that can be fatal to sheep which must
forage on steep and dangerous terrain. A severe winter (1996-97) caused the population to fall to a low of 134
but the population again recovered. The count in 2012 was 378 with a very high ratio of 39 lambs to 100 ewes.

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1184 M

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1187 M

Extreme close portraits of a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep lamb grazing in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1194

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1206

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1282

A Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep lamb poses on a slope in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance.

Bighorn Sheep Lamb Gardner Canyon 1288 M

A 1000 x 1610 portrait of a Bighorn Sheep lamb watching the photographer
from atop a boulder on a slope in Gardner Canyon, Yellowstone National Park.

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Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1189

An extreme close portrait of a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon.

Note the horizontal pupil. This is a common feature amongst prey animals, whose eyes are on the sides of their heads. While this eye placement gives poor depth perception, the combination of the eye placement and horizontal pupils gives prey animals an extremely wide angle view of their surroundings. Predators typically have their eyes placed in front of the head, giving them binocular vision which increases depth perception and allows them to better judge distances, and their pupils are either vertical or round. The horizontal placement of pupils in grazing species allows the pupil to be vertically oriented when grazing, increasing their depth of field when their head is lowered to graze. Predators with slit pupils have vertical pupils since they hunt with their head raised, so this gives them the best depth perception when hunting.

Round pupils permit a clearer image at night compared to slit pupils, as they are able to maximally dilate and receive light from any direction. Round pupils lack the ability to close quickly in bright light and do not block excess light as well as slit pupils. When constricted they reduce the amount of light available from the higher frequencies of the spectrum (blue light). A slit pupil allows the entire diameter of the lens to be utilized, even in bright light, and drastically reduces the amount of light during the day. Slit pupils are able to constrict more rapidly as well.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1191

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1220

Extreme close portraits of a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep in the Gardner Canyon area alternate between browsing on the cliffs
and coming down to the Gardner River to drink, occasionally causing traffic jams.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1230

The Gardner River forms a backdrop in this close portrait of
a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon.
The Gardner River is a 25 mile tributary of the Yellowstone River.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1234

An extreme close portrait of a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon.

The Gardner Canyon area was once occupied by the Tukudika, or Sheep Eaters, a branch of the Mountain Shoshone which lived in the northern mountain range for more than 10,000 years, hunting the Bighorn Sheep and remaining isolated for longer than any other Shoshone tribe. The bows they used to make from horns of the Bighorn Sheep and Elk antlers were legendary. They heated the horns in thermal pools and geysers of Yellowstone and molded them into shape to create weapons which could drive an obsidian-tipped arrow clear through a buffalo. They crossbred dogs with wolves to create wolf-dogs which were superb hunters, and lived in wikiups made of skins and branches.

The Tukudika were a highly spiritual people which were misunderstood and maligned by the white settlers in the area, and after the creation of the Park they were driven from their homeland by Supt. Philetus Norris (the second superintendent of Yellowstone National Park) and pursued by the Army through Idaho until they were captured and taken to the reservations in Wind River, WY and Fort Hall, Idaho, where they were absorbed into the rest of the Shoshone people and their culture disappeared.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1290

An extreme close portrait of a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep grazing on a
steep slope in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

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Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1224

Bighorn Sheep Females Gardner Canyon 1239

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep females on a steep slope in Gardner Canyon in Yellowstone.

Bighorn Sheep Females Gardner Canyon 1236

Two female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep pose for a portrait on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1241

A female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep traverses a steep slope in Gardner Canyon.

Unlike domestic sheep, Bighorn Sheep do not have wool (their fur is more like deer or elk).
Male Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep can weigh up to 300 pounds, up to 40 pounds of which
can be in their curved horns. Female Bighorns are smaller, typically weighing up to 200 pounds.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1254

A female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep poses on a steep slope in Gardner Canyon in north Yellowstone.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1255

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1259

Bighorn Sheep Females Gardner Canyon 1294

Bighorn Sheep Female Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1296

Close portraits of female and juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Female and Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1299 M

Bighorn Sheep are highly susceptible to diseases transmitted by domestic sheep.
Northern Range Bighorns are especially at risk, due to the presence of domestic herds
of sheep just outside the northern boundary of the park. Contact between domestic sheep
and Bighorn Sheep can pass on pneumonia, which can kill up to 90% of a Bighorn herd.

Recently, it seems that the wolves reintroduced to Yellowstone have been coming to the rescue of Yellowstone Bighorns... in late winter of 2013 a herd of 30 domestic sheep which were grazing between the Yellowstone River and the highway just outside the park were apparently nearly wiped out overnight by a pack of wolves, before  they could infect the Bighorns. Unfortunately, the wolves do not always get to the domestic sheep. In 2012 an outbreak of pneumonia nearly cut down all of the lambs in a herd.

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Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1305

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1301

Close portraits of a female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1263

A female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep descends a steep rocky slope in Gardner Canyon.

The cloven hooves of the Bighorn Sheep are specialized for life on steep rocky slopes. The hard
split outer hoof with claw-like ridges allows the sheep to grip rocks, grab onto small footholds, and
act as brakes when slipping. The softer, concave inner hoof provides both cushioning and traction.

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1267

A female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep grazes on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorns are primarily grazers, and eat grasses, sedges, and forbs (herbaceous flowering plants).

Bighorn Sheep Female Gardner Canyon 1283

This female Bighorn seems astonished that the photographer was able to climb the slope for a closeup.

Bighorn Sheep Female and Juvenile Gardner Canyon 1293

A female and juvenile Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep grazing on a slope in Gardner Canyon.

Bighorn Sheep Females Gardner Canyon 1307

Female Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep in Gardner Canyon near the North Entrance of Yellowstone.

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