Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats

Abstract

AbstractBighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), and to a lesser extent mountain goats (Oreamanos americanus), historically occupied much of the mountainous rangelands of western North America. Both ungulates inhabit rugged terrain and feed on grasses, forbs, and browse. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats are widely recognized for their consumptive and non-consumptive value. Indigenous peoples valued these species for cultural and subsistence purposes. Populations of these ungulates have declined since the latter part of the nineteenth century—for mountain goats, this decline has occurred particularly in the southern portion of their distribution. Historical declines have been attributed to unregulated harvest, habitat loss, competition with non-native ungulates, and disease contracted from domestic livestock. Regulated hunting has played an important role in the conservation of bighorn sheep, and recent reintroductions of these ungulates have bolstered current populations in rangelands of western North America. Although competition for habitat is minimal for bighorn sheep and mountain goats with domestic livestock (compared with other wild ruminants or feral equids), diseases of domestic sheep and domestic or exotic goats have long posed challenges to the conservation of bighorn sheep. In parts of their distributions, mountain goats and bighorn sheep are sympatric, and both species may encounter domestic livestock on grazing allotments on public or private rangelands. If management of bighorn sheep and mountain goats is the goal, spatial and temporal separation is recommended between these species and domestic sheep and goats; doing so will improve the conservation of populations of bighorn sheep and mountain goats and their habitat on rangelands of western North America.