In our area, the elk rut certainly commands the lead position on the playbill each fall. There is another animal, however, that mates during the fall and, as the state animal of Colorado, takes center stage in representing our state.

This is the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

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Starting in mid-October, the rams will move down from their summer range, where they hang out in bachelor herds, to rejoin with the ewes and lambs.

At this point, however, they are no longer friendly compatriots hanging out together but bitter rivals looking for the top spot in the dating game.

Rams begin the season by determining the dominant males. These rams will mate with multiple females, wandering from ewe group to ewe group throughout a herd’s range.

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In our region, the Big Thompson Canyon herd, which has three distinct ewe groups, is the largest in the area, with 70 to 90 individual sheep. This canyon is also the easiest location to observe sheep during the rut season. Another group of sheep live in the Mummy Range, but are hard to reach this time of year, and a smaller herd of 60 to 70 sheep live in the St. Vrain Canyon region.

The rams perform a series of behaviors to determine a dominance hierarchy, with the classic head-butting behavior the top method and most animated.

The dominance rituals start with a little leg kicking in the abdomen or between the back legs to instigate a ram of a similar size. A ram may also mount another ram, an insult that says, “I am bigger than you,” and a sign of attempted dominance over the other male.

The fierce competition escalates into the iconic head-butting activity. In this action, two rams of equal size and age, including horn size, will pull apart, turn to face each other, rise onto their hind legs and then run towards each other at speeds of 20 to 40 miles per hour. The action culminates with the two males ramming their horns together, creating a cracking sound that can be heard up to a mile away.

But how do rams prevent injury to their brains during all of this fierce competition?

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Although new research data released in May 2022 from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has shown that bighorn sheep may actually sustain some traumatic brain injuries during the head-butting process, the anatomy of rams is designed to absorb the impact generated by bashing horns.

Bighorn sheep, along with woodpeckers, muskox and a few other animals, have a sort of bubble wrap design in their heads. The theory is that rams take in a deep breath prior to clashing their horns, adding oxygen to their blood and expanding the blood volume in their head. Bighorn sheep have additional adaptations that slow the return of blood so the brain can settle within the skull before the oxygen returns to normal levels. These anatomical modifications reduce the chance for rams to sustain brain injuries.

Dominant rams typically have the largest horns, which can weigh up to 30 pounds and grow over three feet long. A herd’s dominant ram will mate with the most females each season, which ends in early December.

That’s a lot of headaches, when you consider that the Big Thompson Canyon herd had 20 new lambs in the spring of 2022.

Dawn Wilson is a professional and award-winning nature photographer and writer who has lived in northern Colorado for more than 20 years. You can see more of her work, join one of her Rocky tours, purchase prints and calendars, or suggest future topics at DawnWilsonPhotography.com.

Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHY