Badlands bighorn explained

The Badlands bighorn (Ovis canadensis auduboni), commonly known as Audubon's bighorn sheep, is an extinct subspecies or population of bighorn sheep of the northern Great Plains in North America. Its existence as a separate subspecies is disputed.

Former distribution

While the one common name refers to the Badlands region of the Dakotas, it inhabited a larger range that included Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, and North Dakota.^[1]

Some sources assert that the subspecies was hunted to extinction in the early 1900s.^{[2] [3]} Others claim that the subspecies persisted as long as 1926.^[4]

Biologists Wehausen and Ramey assert that it was not a unique bighorn sheep subspecies but rather a variation of the widespread Rocky Mountain Bighorn (Ovis canadensis canadensis).^[5] Some later studies do not support the existence of the Badlands Bighorn as a distinct subspecies.^[6]

Rocky Mountain bighorn have replaced the subspecies/variation in its former habitats.^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: Shackleton, David M.. Wild sheep and goats and their relatives: status survey and conservation action plan for caprinae. 1997. IUCN. 978-2-8317-0353-4.
2. Book: Krist, John. Voyage of rediscovery: exploring the New West in the footsteps of Lewis & Clark. 2004. iUniverse, Inc.. New York. 978-0-595-33591-6.
3. Book: Les Kaufman. Kenneth Mallory. New England Aquarium Corporation. The Last Extinction. 1993. MIT Press. 978-0-262-61089-6. 121.
4. Book: Stephen Trimble. Words from the Land: Encounters with Natural History Writing. 1988. University of Nevada Press. 978-0-87417-264-5. 131.
5. Cranial Morphometric and Evolutionary Relationships in the Northern Range of Ovis Canadensis. John D.. Wehausen. Rob Roy II. Ramey. J Mammal. 2000. 81. 1. 145–161. 10.1644/1545-1542(2000)081<0145:CMAERI>2.0.CO;2. free.
6. Web site: The sheep that will not die. Montana Outdoors. Brett. French. 2004. 2011-08-11. 2012-12-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20121229103000/http://fwp.mt.gov//mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2004/audubonbighorn.htm.
7. Book: Wormell, J. Patrick Lewis. Swan song: poems of extinction. 2003. Creative Editions. Mankato, MN.. 978-1-56846-175-5. 1st.