CALIFORNIA FISH AND GAME 93 



glacier measuring expedition. We paused at this point to regain our 

 breath when I chanced to glance over to my right, where, to my great 

 astonishment, I saw what appeared to be, at first glance, a living 

 mountain sheep staring at us across the ice. I called Harwell's atten- 

 tion to this apparition when we immediately realized that the animal 

 lacked both hair and horns, and in fact was a mummified specimen. 



We discovered that the life-like position was due to the fact that 

 the animal was supported in an upright position by a pedestal of ice 

 that the body had shielded and thus prevented the sun from melting. 

 The warm summer had melted the ice of the glacier sufficiently to expose 

 all of the animal, with the exception of two of the feet. 



The ram seemed to be in a perfect state of preservation, the flesli 

 dried in the manner of "jerky"; the skin dry and taut as a drum's 

 head. The missing horn shells were found with little difficulty in the 

 moraine below, one at a distance of 30 feet and the other about 75 feet 

 from the specimen. 



A closer examination showed that the neck of the animal was 

 broken, but none of the leg bones or other bones was broken. One 

 front leg had come apart at the knee joint. We found the missing 

 part intact near one of the horns, and we realized that we had dis- 

 covered the first complete skeleton of a Sierra mountain sheep for the 

 region. 



After photographing the ram, we transported it, witli some 

 difficulty, to our base camp at Lyell Fork and ultimately back to 

 Yosemite Museum where it is now being prepared for exhibition. 



In attempting to piece together the story of the animal, it was 

 found necessary to have more data, so a return trip was made with 

 steel stakes and surveying equipment to measure distances and rate 

 of flow of the glacier. We found that the glacier moved only one inch 

 during a four-day period, or at the rate of seven and one-half feet 

 per year. The ram was found 1936 feet from the head of the glacier. 

 Now, assuming that the animal fed or was caught in a slide while 

 feeding on the crest of Mount Lyell and was buried in the bergschrund, 

 it would take close to 250 years for the glacier to carry the sheep to the 

 spot where found. This great length of time is borne out by the aged 

 appearance of the horns and the dehydrated flesh. 



The animal shows a broken neck, probably sustained at the time 

 of death, and a concave body, probably the result of varying ice 

 pressure. 



The only hair found on the body was directly back of the ears 

 and in the folds of the neck. 



This mountain sheep is a mature male specimen measuring 55 

 inches in length and 33 inches in height. 



The circumference of each horn at the base is 12 J- inclies, and 

 the length of the horns along outer curve 27 inches. Judging from 

 the growth rings on the horns, the animal was a 7-year-old. 



The weight, as is, is 45 pounds. 



National Park officials feel that this find is one of the most 

 important discoveries of the year in the whole park system. — M. E. 

 Beatty, Assistant Park Naturalist, Yosemite, December 18, 1933. 



