Dall sheep

The sheep inhabit the subarctic and arctic mountain ranges of Alaska, the Yukon Territory, the Mackenzie Mountains in the western Northwest Territories, and central and northern British Columbia. O. dalli are found in areas with a combination of dry alpine tundra, meadows, and steep or rugged ground. This combination allows for both grazing and escape from predators.[8]

O. dalli can often be observed along the Seward Highway South of Anchorage, Alaska, within Denali National Park and Preserve (which was created in 1917 to preserve the sheep from overhunting), at Sheep Mountain in Kluane National Park and Reserve, in the Tatshenshini Park Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in northwestern British Columbia, and near Faro, Yukon.

Primary predators of this sheep are wolf packs, coyotes, black bears, and grizzly bears; golden eagles are predators of the young.[9] O. dalli have been known to butt gray wolves off the face of cliffs.

Rams interacting in Denali National Park

Rams and ewes are rarely found in the same groups outside of the mating season, or rut, which occurs from mid-November through mid-December. For most of the year, rams feed in the best foraging areas to enhance their reproductive fitness. During spring and summer, ewes are more likely to select areas such as steep, rocky slopes with lower predation risk to raise offspring.[10][11]

Dall Sheep herd

Social order and dominance rank is maintained in ram groups through a variety of behaviors including head-on collisions. These dramatic clashes involve each ram getting a running start before colliding, horns-first into one another. Other behaviors associated with establishing social order include leg kicks, bluff charges, and dominance mounting. Most of this behavior establishes order year-round, but clashes between males with similar horn sizes intensify as the rut approaches.[8] Ewes occasionally engage in similar competitive behavior over feeding or bedding sites. Young sheep practice such interactions as part of their play.[10] While rams do clash horns, it is done to establish order, not over fights to possess ewes.[8]

Rams are known to occupy up to six seasonal ranges, including different areas used during autumn, rut (or mating season from mid-November to mid-December), midwinter, late winter/spring, and summer, as well as spending time at salt licks.[9][10]

For most of the year, ewes select areas free of snow and close to forage. After lambs are born in May, close proximity to escape terrain as well as nearby forage are important in habitat selection. Ewes and lambs will travel farther from escape terrain to forage when in larger groups.[10]

In the summer, food has a high variety and is abundant. In the winter, food is limited to what is available in snow-free areas, such as frozen grasses, sedges, lichens, or mosses. O. dalli will travel long distances in the spring to visit mineral licks to supplement their diet.[8]

Sport hunting of O. dalli, 1953

The Inupiat people have a long history of hunting O. dalli that dates back to at least the 16th century. Sheep are valued for their skin, which is used for warm clothing, and their meat, especially in times when caribou are not available. Historically, the sheep were hunted in summer by foot and in winter by dog sled teams. Today, the rugged terrain in which they live still requires foot travel to reach these animals. The dependence on O. dalli for meat and clothing fluctuates with caribou populations. Caribou herds declined considerably in the 1940s, and O. dalli became an important harvest species. Since the 1990s, caribou populations have been large enough to sustain people. Consequently, subsistence harvest of O. dalli is lower now than in the 1940s, but sheep continue to be an important meat source when caribou migration routes shift during the winter or between years.[12]

Where sport hunting is allowed in Alaska's national preserves, hunters can harvest mature O. dalli rams that have horns that are full-curl or greater, have both tips broken off or are eight years of age or older.[12]

Changes in O. dalli abundance, distribution, composition and health may indicate changes happening with other species and ecosystem processes. The sheep live in alpine, or high mountain, areas. These areas are expected to experience significant changes associated with climate change. Changes may include shifts in locations of plant communities (e.g., an increase in shrubs in alpine areas), diversity of plant species (e.g., loss of important forage species for sheep), and local weather patterns (such as increased incidence of high winter snowfall and icing events), which may affect sheep distribution and abundance.[13]

O. dalli ram eating grass

Some species are expected to benefit from climate change while others will not. Shrubs and woody plants typically dominate plant communities at lower elevations. As elevation increases, the dominant plant community transitions to one dominated by low-growing grasses, flowers, and lichens. Warming climate trends, longer growing seasons, and changes in precipitation have the potential to allow woody plant species to find suitable habitat at higher elevations.[13]

As a result, low-growing alpine species may be out-competed or shaded by the encroaching woody plants. Changes in the seasonal availability and diversity of alpine plants may affect O. dalli populations by altering sheep diets and consequently where they can live in mountain parks, as well as ewe pregnancy rates and lamb growth and survival.[13]