Population Update - Winter 2016

In January, bighorn in the wild are aged one year older to make field aging methodology more consistent. That means lambs are now yearlings. There was good lamb survival, or recruitment, in the San Jacinto Mountains near Palm Springs and there are now around 50 bighorn in that herd. The northern Santa Rosa herd near Rancho Mirage remains stable at 80 sheep however, lamb recruitment was low. The sheep in La Quinta that utilize the golf courses also did not have good lamb survival. While many lambs were born, most showed signs of illness and subsequently died. We know of only 2 lambs that made it to yearling age in that area. The last population estimate for the La Quinta herd was about 130. We look forward to seeing what the coming year brings.