1. http://www.rubymountains.net/Bighorn.jpg By: Horns the Bighorn With a little bit of help from Gretchen

2. If Found, Please return to: Name: Horns the Bighorn Address: 89234 S. Lumpy Hills Ct., Vast Valley, CO Phone #: 720-Big-Horn State: Colorado City: Vail E-mail: Hornsbighorn @ google.com © 11,25,08 Gconley Publishing Inc. Centennial, CO 80122

3. Dedications This Book is Dedicated to: My mommy, Betty Bighorn My daddy, Horney Bighorn My sister, Brenna Bighorn My brother, Benji Bighorn The Leader of the pack, Harold Horn My Best Friend, Buffy Bighorn

4. Could you imagine climbing up a steep, rocky, fourteen thousand foot tall mountain without trails, a car, or even special ropes, picks, or shoes? Leave those challenges for the triumphant Bighorn Sheep. These magnificent mammals will leave you breathless with their devastating description, their astonishing adaptations and challenges, their way-cool way of life, and the sensational senses of the proud Bighorn. I’m Horns and this picture shows me at the top of the Rocky Mountains 1

5. As you know, the Bighorn does have a delectable description from their sharp hooves to their creamy-white muzzle to their humongous circular horns. The horns, a light-brown, thirty pound, massive, coiling headset measures up to 45 inches around their curve near the top of their head which makes them difficult to see around. A beautiful coat, belonging to the Bighorn has a creamy-brown color, appearing darker than their horns. All Bighorns have long guard-hairs that trap warmth, shed water, and cover a hidden layer of wool. Their humongous head stores their mighty horns, their creamy-white muzzle, and their alert amber-yellow eyes. A Bighorn’s helpful split hooves pinch and hold onto rocks, have a sharp edge for cutting into rock and ice, have a spongy inner materiel that provides traction, and have claws higher up the foot to work as brakes if the Bighorn starts sliding down the slopes. Other physical features include their white belly and rump and their shaggy after shedding look. One and a half times as big as farm sheep, they may weigh 340lbs, and the fact that they might grow as tall as 3.3feet tall at the shoulder. As you can see, this bighorn fits its description. This bighorn is younger too because his horns haven’t completed a circle yet. Who are you looking at? 2

6. As you read about their amazing adaptations and challenges, the Bighorn’s story will reel you more and more into their secretive lives. For example, the bighorn can survive in the harshest of weather, the deepest of snows, and the coldest of winters. Usually after the first heavy snows, the Bighorn Sheep travels 25 miles or more to reach sheltered valleys. They even might use that same route year after year. In the deep snow food is often scarce and many will go hungry. O.k., what do you think a Bighorn eats? Did I hear a McDonalds? Nope, that’s not correct because their diet includes grass and “cud”. They don’t chew their grass like you would chew your food; they swallow their meal whole that then flows to a special storage stomach. When the animal rests, the grass travels back into the mouth for chewing and digesting. Also in their pack, they have an ambitious mating season. A great deal of fighting takes place during this time using a main weapon: their enormous pair of handsome horns attached to a sturdy skull. The fighting usually takes place when two males or rams choose the same female or ewe. They develop massive headaches after they smash their skulls together. Also, one ram might even be knocked out cold! If you think that’s interesting, wait until you hear this next fact. Their long, woolly coats shed in spring too! Don’t worry though, their coats won’t stay short for winter, they actually grow back when fall peaks around the corner. I think their senses come out on top though. They have extreme eyesight which helps them see five miles away and to spot lurking enemies. Their sharp sense of smell and helpful sense of hearing are actually almost as sharp as their eyesight. They even have the ability to leap two meters into the air, to land on its feet like a cat, and to balance on the narrowest of ledges. I guess that’s a type of “sixth sense”. Mmmm, this grass is scrumptious ! Charge! 3 4

7. The Bighorn’s survival key creates its wonderful way of life. They actually live in herds or “clubs”. About ten rams will form bachelor clubs while the females and young graze peacefully in the meadows. The young, healthy, and strong natural born leading male in charge takes on all challenges. Bighorn must be the new language for you to learn. One of the first words in “Bighorn” would be a low pitched baa which tells lambs to come to their mothers because danger might be nearby. Also, a loud bleat from a lamb tells the lamb might be tired or hungry. The rams usually snort for a variety of reasons. A female that is in charge talks too, but without using her voice box. For example, if she simply stamps one hoof on the ground she sends the band flying up the mountainside. The Bighorns also have adorable 16 inch tall babies that have tiny buttons where their horns will soon grow. The babies have as intricate designs as a fully grown bighorn with the same eyes, coats, and other features. The exhausted mothers babysit these energetic youngsters too. They really are frisky especially after eating grass. That’s because the Bighorn babies eventually stop nursing and start eating grass, which gives them more energy. Then, when they finally travel to their winter home they no longer need to stay close to their mothers. Wow, that’s a lot of information about the beautiful Bighorn’s description, adaptations and challenges, way of life, and senses. I wonder what astonishing creature I will study and if this animal will become more interesting than the Bighorn Sheep. If those humans scare me any more, I’ll charge at them with my mighty horns 5

8. Citation Page 1.http://www.jcshome.net/schoolvacation/DCP_1595.JPGhttp://www.jcshome.net/schoolvacation/DCP_1595.JPG 2.http://www.sierraclub.org/wildlife/images/bighorn.jpghttp://www.sierraclub.org/wildlife/images/bighorn.jpg 3.http://onlinephotolibrary.experiencewashington.com/images/003271- l.jpghttp://onlinephotolibrary.experiencewashington.com/images/003271- l.jpg 4.http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:AwMU4Txo07z5NM:http://ww w.erichufschmid.net/Dumb-down/Male-Bighorn-Sheep- compete.JPGhttp://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:AwMU4Txo07z5NM:http://ww w.erichufschmid.net/Dumb-down/Male-Bighorn-Sheep- compete.JPG 5.http://i.pbase.com/o6/78/695578/1/81839031.h915s9VJ.Bighornlam b.jpghttp://i.pbase.com/o6/78/695578/1/81839031.h915s9VJ.Bighornlam b.jpg 1.Ivy, Bill. Nature's Children Bighorn Sheep. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier, 1986. Books Pictures