Bighorn Sheep of the Arizona Desert

THE existence of bighorn sheep in comparatively large numbers in the desert regions of western Arizona appears at first blush to be an anomaly, a completely outlandish and irregular performance of nature, like finding rattlesnakes among the Alaskan glaciers. In the Arizona desert, however, one should not be surprised at anything. It is a land of the odd, the grotesque, the unusual, "where they dig for wood, and climb for water; where the rivers are dry, and the mountains unforested."

This quotation may sound like Baron Munchausen, or Alice in Wonderland, yet there is a large measure of truth in it, since it is an old desert custom to dig up the roots of the Mesquite, Palo Verde, etc., for fuel; water is found almost entirely in natural tanks and springs among the mountains; the rivers and streams expose only a dry, sandy surface for most of the year, while the higher one climbs in most of the desert The most remarkable form of animal life in Arizona's desert fastnesses is the Bighorn, or Rocky Mountain Sheep. In the Kofa Mountains in Yuma County (below) a refuge has been set aside by the government for these sheep. The Bighorn flourishes in the Kofas. (Pictures by U. S. Bureau of Biological Survey and Roscoe G. Willson.) mountains the more sparse and scrubbier the trees become.

One sometimes wonders how the pro-cesses of nature make it possible for animal and vegetable life to exist in these deserts where the average rainfall scarcely exceeds five inches annually, and many a twelve month passes with not over an inch or two of precipitation, while on the other hand occasional heavy storms create a tempor-ary Garden of Eden effect, with flowers and grasses carpeting the land.

Yet in this comparatively arid and bar-ren region a wide range of both animal and plant life exists, which, when examined closely, is extremely surprising in its var-iety and particularly notable for the tena-city with which it maintains itself in the face of terrific odds.

The most remarkable form of animal life in these desert fastnesses today is the Bighorn, or Rocky Mountain Sheep, of a species known to science as the Ovis Canadensis Gaillardi, or, the Gaillard bighorn.

In the humble opinion of the author there is no large animal belonging to the western ranges, excepting only the coyote, that has shown the intelligence, the wariness, the in-domitability, and the hardihood of the desert bighorn in maintaining itself against ex-tinction through the predaciousness of man, and the merciless forces of nature.

Practically all scientific and sporting authorities place the natural habitat of the bighorn high in the American and Canadian Rockies in craggy, inaccessible mountains in grassy areas near timberline.

While today the scientists have full knowledge of our bighorn sheep of the desert areas, yet the general public has had so little knowledge in the matter that when an organized effort was begun about three years ago to create bighorn sheep refuges in western Arizona considerable scepticism as to their existence was shown, even by some of our own Arizona citizens.

Letters were written to our daily papers opposing the creation of bighorn refuges Captured by the Mojave Indians near Parker in 1917, this venerable Bighorn was shipped to the National Zoological Park, Washington, D. C., where it lived for about ten years. (Picture by courtesy of the Smithsonian Institute.) on the ground that it was "absurd" to even think that the wild sheep could exist in the dry and barren deserts; that everyone knew that "the natural habitat" of the bighorn sheep was in the high and rugged mountains in the snowy, timberline belt. Of course, our desert dwellers, the In-dians, prospectors, and the cattlemen, have been familiar with these sheep from early times and many a prospector's cabin and wayside store or garage, is decorated today with one or more sets of splendid horns, usually attached to the whitened skull.

As a matter of fact we have written re-ferences to the existence of the bighorn sheep in Arizona from as far back as 1540, which in themselves make interesting read-ing.

The first mention was made by the Span-iard, Coronado, on his famous expedition into Arizona from Mexico, in search of "the Seven Cities of Cibola."

Writing to Viceroy Mendoza in Mexico City in 1540 and referring to the Hopi Indian region he states: "They have many animals, bears, tigers, lions, porcupines, and some sheep as big as a horse, with large horns and little tails. I have seen some of the horns, the size of which was something to marvel at."

In 1697, Captain Manje, accompanying Father Kino on one of his endless jornadas from the Sonora Missions, wrote that "after passing westward from the Casa Grande we arrived at a town named from a great heap of horns of the wild or sylvan sheep, which appears like a great hill. They make the common subsistence of the inhabitants. From the highest of their houses there appears to be more than a hundred thousand horns in it."

Pattie, the famous American trapper, killed a bighorn in 1825 in the southern part of the state, and Kit Carson, while guiding the California column through Arizona in 1846 killed one in the desert mountains a few miles north and west from Gila Bend.

Both the Papago and Pima Indians have known of the bighorn sheep in the desert

boundary coinciding with the U. S.-Mexican boundary for a distance of 45 miles. The mountain ranges within this Game Range are the Cabeza Prieta, Sierra Pinta, Mohawk, Granite, Agua Dulce, Growler and Little Ajo.

These two Game Refuges are administered jointly by the U. S. Biological Survey, and the U. S. Grazing Division, and for the past two years a C.C.C. camp, composed of principally Mojave and Chemehuevi Indian Boys has been located in the Kofas where water reservoirs are being constructed for the benefit of the bighorn and other wildlife.

Wildlife management and supervision of these game Refuges is directed by Malcolm N. Allison, Associate Refuge Manager, of the Fish and Wildlife Service, with offices at Yuma. It should be stated here that the Fish and Wildlife Service is the new name for the Biological Survey.

There have been times in the past when droughts have been so long sustained that all sources of water have dried up, and the bighorn have been forced to eat the spiny cactus for its moisture contents, and desert the interior mountains and gather along the Colorado and Gila River until the rains came again. At such times many sheep were drowned through attempting to get at the water in the mountain tanks, or pot-holes, some of which are very deep and with precipitous walls.

That the remnants of these sheep are now to be protected, and allowed to live and multiply in comparative peace causes rejoicing among all true nature lovers.

Fortunately for the bighorn their worst enemy, next to man, the mountain lion, is scarce in the most arid of the desert ranges, yet there is probably some loss from this source, while the coyote, and possibly the fox, might get an occasional lamb, as may the bobcat and the eagle.

The Gaillard, or desert, bighorn sheep are considered the smallest of any of the American bighorns, yet they are still of an impressive size, some of the larger bucks probably weighing up to 250 pounds, while the ewes will run 25 to 30 per cent less.

The largest of 13 sheep killed by Dr. Hornaday's party in 1907 weighed 192 1-2 pounds, and was a thirteen year old ram. It stood 37 inches in height at the shoulders, and was 54 inches in length overall, with a girth at foreleg of 47½ inches. The largest of five sets of horns measured by Dr. Horna-day was 15½ inches in circumference at the base, with a length of 374 inches on the outside of the curve.

Compared with this a 13 year old specimen from British Columbia stood 41 inches high at shoulders, was 69 inches in length, and had a girth at forelegs of 53 inches, while weighing 416 pounds.

A record pair of horns from the Clear water region in Idaho measured 16 inches around the base and 49 inches along the outside curve. The horns of the ewes are 6 to 9 inches in length and curve backward rather lightly. They are much sharper pointed than those of the rams, and since the ewe is probably called upon frequently to protect her offspring, nature provided her with weapons that can effectively cope with the coyote and other desert predators. A photograph accompanying this article shows very clearly the difference in the horns of the rams and ewes. Apparently the horns of the Gaillard rams do not flare away from the side of the head quite as much as in most other species, and just as with cattle there are annual growth rings on the horns of the mountain sheep by which their age may be determined.

It has been estimated that bighorn rams are in their prime at 5 to 6 years of age and that they sometimes live to be 18 to 20 years old, but it seems probable that the average length of life is not above 10 to 15 years, about the same as the Merino type of domestic sheep.

In September, 1917, a desert bighorn ram about 1½ years old was captured by the Mojave Indians near Parker and shipped to the National Zoological Park at Washington where it lived until May, 1927, finally dying of double pneumonia and pleuritis at about 11 years of age. It is through the courtesy of Dr. G. C. Abbott, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, that a photograph of this poor, exiled old desert bighorn is published herewith. Proper credit is also due the Smithsonian Institution, Scientific Series, Inc., who used it in their publication "Interesting Animals In and Out of the Zoo." During the rise of water in Lake Mead, above Boulder Dam, a bighorn ram unconcernedly grazed for several days on a small eminence near the lake. When he finally decided to retire to the higher hills he found himself cut off by the rising water and either through inability to swim or distaste for the water remained on the newly created island until discovered by boating parties. His photograph taken by the National Park Service, which accompanies this article indicates that he became quite tame. Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the color of the desert bighorn, and it is quite possible that this varies somewhat between the different mountain ranges since the coloration of most wild life seems to be designed to aid concealment in the par-ticular environment in which it is found. The writer's own observation covering natives of the Baboquivari, Superstition, Kofa, Castle Dome and Harcuvar mountains leads him to believe that they range in color from grayish white to a bluish gray, with sometimes a touch of brown or tan. One buck seen at Horse Tanks in the Castle Dome range appeared to be of a dark, or clay-blue color. A ewe seen in the Har-cuvars was more grayish, with a tinge of brown or tan. A. A. Nichol, probably the best authority in the state, classes them generally as of steel gray color, although with variations.

Reports from the National Zoological Garden and elsewhere indicate that the big-horn is easily tamed and becomes quite friendly in captivity.

P. F. Pius, an old time resident of Arizona, states that while handling range sheep for the Frank Hart outfit near Flagstaff in the 90's, a bighorn ram from the San Francisco Peaks got into a tame flock of sheep with the result that later one ewe gave birth to two crossbreeds, a male and female. As the halfbreed male grew up they trained it to lead tame sheep into cor-rals and other places into which it was difficult to drive them. This halfbreed was named "Sullivan," and was the terror of all recalcitrant sheep, put fear into the shepherd dogs, and when he had encouraged his tame sheep flock into following him into a corral would disdainfully take leave of them by sailing over a six foot fence "with the greatest of ease."

The claim has frequently been made that Ibex are to be found in the desert mountains, and it has been asserted that President Theodore Roosevelt introduced them during his administration. A prominent point in the Plomosa Mountains between Bouse and Quartzsite is even named Ibex Peak.This is clearly a case of mistaken identity in which the Bighorn were confused with the Ibex, although they are quite dissimilar in appearance, one belonging to the sheep and the other to the goat family.

It is probable that not one per cent of the white population of Arizona has ever seen a bighorn sheep of the desert, and it is also probable that not one-tenth of one per cent of the people of the United States has ever seen any kind of a mountain sheep. The bighorn owes its very existence to its ability to live in terrain so rough, rugged and uninviting to man, or the larger predatory animals, that, as a consequence, it has been but little observed or studied, while photographs of these animals, except those taken in protected areas, are very scarce.

It is quite likely that after a few years the bighorn sheep within the Kofa and Cabeza Prieta Game Ranges will come to realize that man is no longer their enemy, within those areas at least, and gradually attain a tame condition, just as bear and elk have within the Yellowstone Park. Then our Arizona people and our winter visitors will have the pleasure of seeing these remarkable animals in their natural environment.