Desert Kids News Vol. 4 Issue 3 Page 7
Imperial County is home to more than just small desert creatures. Desert bighorn sheep can be found in rocky slopes and mountainous areas in the desert. They are great climbers so moving through the mountains is very easy.
Desert bighorn sheep have great vision to help detect and escape predators. They are herbivores, which means they do not eat meat. They only eat plants, including a wide variety of desert plants like cactus!
They can be difficult to spot because of the color of their fur. The Desert bighorn sheep have adapted to be similar in color to their environment. They are a threatened species and are in danger of becoming extinct one day.
There was a reported sighting of a Desert bighorn sheep about two years ago. The sheep was spotted about 7 miles outside of Seeley by a local. He was later contacted by an environmental scientist because the scientist wanted to track the sheep.
The scientist tracked the sheep for a while and suspected it was a 10-month-old male and was surprised because of how close it came to the cities. They are normally further into the mountain areas.
Vocabulary bank
- Mountainous — an area with many mountains
- Adapted — when an animal changes over time to survive better
- Extinct — when the last animal of a certain species dies