1. The Bighorn Sheep By: Horace Yao

2. Great Facts About The Bighorn Sheep They are large enough to continue to be hunted down, unlike other near extinct animals. The bighorn sheep are now restricted to 3 Mexican states, not the entire country. Only people licensed can hunt the bighorn sheep. Once their population had herds of under 100 per herd, but the population has increased since then In Canada, more than 4,500 Rocky Mountain bighorns are fully protected within five National Parks (Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Waterton, Yoho).

3. Habitat The bighorn sheep lives in the desert and mountains. They live among the rocks, and are segregated outside the rut.

4. Reproduction The females wait for about 175 days, then produce offspring. Females can start giving birth at the age of 18 months.

5. Diet, and the Prey/Predator Relationships It eats grass, and forbs. It is a predator to the grass, and shrubs. But it is prey to many kinds of animals, such as mountain lions, coyotes, wolves and bears.

6. Consumer Levels, Limiting Factors The bighorn sheep is a 1 st level consumer, because it eats the producers, but the 2 nd level consumers eat the 1 st level consumers. Limiting factors include the hunting for bighorn sheep, and the competition with others for food.

7. Threats, #’s at present and Biotic/Abiotic factors  Threats include poaching, other animals eating it, and hunting by hunters.  Biotic factors include: snakes, mountain lions, or coyotes.  Abiotic factors include: rocks, pebbles and soil  There are more than 42700 bighorn sheep now.

8. Ability to Adapt They have the ability to adapt, by learning to eat things that they don’t usually eat, and use their horns to move snow to get to the grass, they can still survive. They would have to be fast and stealthy, because that way the hunters won’t shoot them so easily, at the sound of a gun or footsteps, they would flee.

9. Why my species is a butterfly species My species is a butterfly species because it is limited to 3 Mexican states, the Sierra Nevada, mountain range, and the rocky mountain range. They used to be spread all across Mexico, but due to changes in their habitats, the sheep have had to move to these three states. Poachers constantly hunt down the sheep illegally, and diseases limit down the numbers as well.

10. Bibliography  Festa-Bianchet, M. 2008. Ovis canadensis. In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2.. Downloaded on 31 January 2013www.iucnredlist.org  "Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis)." Arkive. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Jan 2013.  "Sierra Nevada forests." World Wildlife Fund. N.p., 13 Sep 2013. Web. 31 Jan 2013.