Snow Sheep

snow sheep, (Ovis nivicola), wild sheep belonging to the subfamily Caprinae (family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla), which is distributed throughout the mountain regions of eastern Siberia and is closely related to North American species such as the bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis).

As in all wild sheep, sexual dimorphism privileges males, which are about 25 percent bigger than females; the males’ horns are much larger and similar to those of the bighorn sheep. The body weight of rams approaches 150 kg (330 pounds), and its height at the withers is about 1 metre (39 inches) in the largest subspecies. The diploid number of chromosomes is 52. The rutting season is December to January, and births occur about six months later, when the snow melts and green vegetation sprouts. The snow sheep habitat ranges from the upper line of the forested zone to the limits of vegetation, a maximum altitude of 2,000 metres (7,000 feet); southern slopes are the preferred wintering areas. The living conditions for these sheep are very severe in winter, with temperatures falling down to −60 °C (−76 °F), abundant snowfalls, and strong winds. Because of that, in Sakha, snow sheep undertake seasonal movements of 80–120 km (50–70 miles) to winter on the southern or eastern slopes of mountains, while in Kamchatka migrations of over 50 km (30 miles) have been documented. Snow sheep feed on lichens, grass, sedges, shrubs, moss, and mushrooms. Their main predator is the wolf, but the wolverine occasionally preys on them. Because of such hard living conditions, the mortality rate of the lambs can be very high—up to 50 percent in the first year of life.

The status of snow sheep appears to be satisfactory at present, with a population of about 90,000 head, although any increased level of hunting (such as intensive poaching) would quickly lead to a decline. A totally isolated subspecies, the Putoran sheep (O. n. borealis), which is separated from the nearest population by about 1,000 km (600 miles), is restricted to the Putoran Mountains on the northwestern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau in central Russia and numbers about 3,500 head. The other subspecies are thriving, with the Kamchatka sheep (O. n. nivicola) numbering 12,000 individuals, the Yakutian sheep (O. n. lydekkeri) over 55,000 individuals, and the Okhotsk sheep (O. n. alleni) 11,000 individuals. The remaining two subspecies, the Koryak sheep (O. n. koriakorum) and the Chukotsk sheep (O. n. tschuktschorum) have populations of around 3,000–3,500 head each.