Bighorns Gather for Mating Season

During the rutting season in Canada's Rockies, bighorn sheep gather for an intense and competitive display. Rams, the male bighorn sheep, come together in groups and engage in head-to-head battles to establish dominance and win mating rights with females, or ewes. The rut is not only about physical battles. Rams display behaviors such as lip curling (called the flehmen response) to assess the reproductive readiness of ewes by sniffing and tasting pheromones in the air. Ewes tend to gather in smaller, more stable groups during the rut, and as the season progresses, they observe the rams’ displays of strength and dominance. Once a ram has established his position, he gets exclusive access to mate with the ewes in his group. After mating, the ewes undergo a gestation period of about six months, leading to the birth of lambs in the spring.