00:00Music
00:06Antelope Island is a fascinating place.
00:09It's the largest island in the Great Salt Lake,
00:12but it's the only island that is accessible to the public.
00:20Music
00:27It's got beautiful landscape.
00:29We've got beautiful sunrises, beautiful sunsets.
00:32Today we went out to look for California bighorn sheep,
00:35which are a subspecies of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.
00:39The California bighorn sheep came to the park in 1997.
00:45Music
00:50We saw 25 bighorn sheep rams today, and those are the males.
00:56Rams are the males of the species.
00:58That is the most rams I've ever seen in one time.
01:01We saw a small herd of six at first, and then there was another group that came over the hill,
01:0619 in that herd.
01:07So all together we were able to see the 25 of them all together.
01:12And so that was pretty awesome.
01:14The rams actually move out of the herd outside of breeding season.
01:18So the rams will herd up.
01:20Usually they're in smaller herds, you know, maybe five to six, seven animals.
01:24The males typically stand about three to three and a half feet at the shoulder.
01:29So they're not a real tall animal, maybe about six feet long in length.
01:34The males have the great big huge horns.
01:38The females actually have a smaller horn and typically don't curl.
01:41Bighorn sheep are typically found in the rocky, steep areas on the park.
01:47So most of those areas are on the west, south side.
01:49But they really like the rocks because they have great feet that actually hold really well on rocks, on steep
01:57areas.
01:58Currently we probably have about 150 bighorn sheep on the island.
02:08My favorite thing about bighorn sheep is I just enjoy to watch them.
02:13They're graceful.
02:14It's just fascinating to see how fast and quickly they can move on steep rocky slopes without falling.
02:19They're graceful.
02:21You can see the strength in their bodies.
02:23You can see their muscles move as they move around and they jump.
02:27And they're just fascinating to watch.
02:29We'll see you next time.
02:30Bye.
02:33Bye.
02:36Bye.
Comentarios