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This ewe and her two lambs, surprised me as much as I might have surprised them. We were snowshoeing to the top of a ridge and as I came close to the edge the ewe popped her head up over the ledge. I took a quick step back and immediately brought my camera lens up to get a few images of the three big horn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Not long after two other females came up over the ledge and joined the mother and her babies. We backed off, getting out of their way so that they could continue up to where another group of females were sitting farther up the ridge.
Ewes, female big horn sheep, have shorter horns with a slight curvature. Nothing like the heavy curving horns of a ram. Ewes tend to stay within female groups led by a female matriarch for their entire lives. Female lambs will spend their entire lives within their motherâs group but males leave their motherâs group between the ages of two and four joining a bachelor group.