Big Horn Sheep – Finding

Big Horn Sheep Finding

Music; Ambience: Rock slide

JC: Definitely two ewes and probably a lamb…

JM: We’re in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert State Park tracking big horn sheep with environmental biologist Janine Colby. The sheep have radio collars that transmit a signal to a receiver, enabling Janine to hone in on them. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. After hours of looking and waiting under the hot sun, we spot our first sheep.

JC: I’m seeing a group of ewes that are way up the slope above us right now.

JC: You can’t help but admire them. They live in a really harsh environment. They live on the cliffs and they literally live on the edge. Especially these ewes they’re pregnant 6 months a year. In the spring they’ll have a lamb and have to nurse that lamb and produce milk for up to 4 to 5 months. And they’re doing this without ever drinking water. They’re getting all their water from the vegetation that they are eating AND producing milk for a lamb. It’s not until later on in the spring that they start going down and drinking water because it gets to be about 100 degrees and they’re not able to get enough water and produce milk. So they have to come down and get water. So any way, they bring their lambs down and it’s a dangerous place to be down here in the bottom of the canyon, there’s more predators, so they try to stay as little time as possible before they go back up.

JM: We’re waiting for the sheep to come to take a drink at the stream that runs through the bottom of the canyon. And slowly but surely they make their decent. But the sheep are quiet animals and the noise of the river masks most of the sounds that the sheep make. Listen carefully though, and you’ll hear the sounds of the ewes, the female sheep, scampering over the rocks as they head to the water.

JM: Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Big Horn Sheep - Finding

Big Horn Sheep spend the first several months of their lamb's life high up on rock canyon ledges before finally coming down for water.
Air Date:09/26/2016
Scientist:
Transcript:

Big Horn Sheep Finding

Music; Ambience: Rock slide

JC: Definitely two ewes and probably a lamb...

JM: We're in California's Anza-Borrego Desert State Park tracking big horn sheep with environmental biologist Janine Colby. The sheep have radio collars that transmit a signal to a receiver, enabling Janine to hone in on them. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. After hours of looking and waiting under the hot sun, we spot our first sheep.

JC: I'm seeing a group of ewes that are way up the slope above us right now.

JC: You can't help but admire them. They live in a really harsh environment. They live on the cliffs and they literally live on the edge. Especially these ewes they're pregnant 6 months a year. In the spring they'll have a lamb and have to nurse that lamb and produce milk for up to 4 to 5 months. And they're doing this without ever drinking water. They're getting all their water from the vegetation that they are eating AND producing milk for a lamb. It's not until later on in the spring that they start going down and drinking water because it gets to be about 100 degrees and they're not able to get enough water and produce milk. So they have to come down and get water. So any way, they bring their lambs down and it's a dangerous place to be down here in the bottom of the canyon, there's more predators, so they try to stay as little time as possible before they go back up.

JM: We're waiting for the sheep to come to take a drink at the stream that runs through the bottom of the canyon. And slowly but surely they make their decent. But the sheep are quiet animals and the noise of the river masks most of the sounds that the sheep make. Listen carefully though, and you'll hear the sounds of the ewes, the female sheep, scampering over the rocks as they head to the water.

JM: Pulse of the Planet is made possible by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.