244 ANIMAL LIFE IX THE YOSEMITE 



Valley, stated that sheep had not existed in the Park since his coming 

 there in 1893. We may thus conclude that sheep probably occurred within 

 the territory at present included in the Yosemite National Park until some 

 time in the seventies or possibly the early eighties. Occasional individuals 

 may have wandered in after that time. One resident of the region told 

 us in 1915 that he believed that sheep were then still present in the terri- 

 tory north of the Park ; but of this we have no further evidence. 



The skull of the mountain sheep, particularly that part of the head 

 which bears the ma-ssive bony horn cores and the horns, is very thick and 

 solid so that when exposed to the elements it disintegrates slowly. Con- 

 ditions along the crest of the Sierras are conducive to long persistence of 

 such relics (fig. 366). There are few or no rodents to gnaw at the bones 

 as they would in lower altitudes, and the climatic conditions are also favor- 

 able. The winter snow packs the bones in 'cold storage' for long periods 

 of time. Hence, such relics, when found by naturalists, merely indicate 

 that sheep once occurred in the region; no close estimate can be formed 

 of the time which has elapsed since the particular animal represented by 

 the relic lived there. 



Three fragments of this sort came to attention in 1915. Mr. Forest S. 

 Townsley of the Park Ranger Service discovered the frontal portion of 

 a mountain sheep skull on the slopes of Mount Dana. The senior author, 

 on September 6, 1915, while descending the upper slopes of Parsons Peak, 

 came upon a weathered horn and a portion of a skull in a grassy place at 

 about 11,500 feet altitude. Later, on September 24, he discovered another 

 relic toward the head of Warren Fork of Leevining Creek, at about 9500 

 feet altitude. This fragment was partially buried in the gravelly surface 

 of a sagebrush-covered slope. 



The best specimen of mountain sheep from the Yosemite Region which 

 has come to light is a skull of a big ram, with horns, all in good condition, 

 killed somewhere east of Crescent Lake, at an unknown date (fig. 36a.) 

 This trophy was for many years in the possession of Mrs. John S. Washburn 

 of Wawona, and from her it passed, in 1920, to the California Museum of 

 Vertebrate Zoology. The measurements of this specimen, {is compared with 

 those of a ram of the domestic sheep (fig. 36c), are given in the following 

 table. Both animals, as judged from the growth-rings of the horns, were 

 eight years old. The vastly greater basal circumference of the horn of 

 the wild sheep is the outstanding feature of difference. 



MouTitiiin Sheep Doinestio Sheej) 



(Rum) (Uiun) 



(Measurements in inches) Left Right Loft Uif;ht 



Circumference of horn at base 15V{j 15% 8 8 



Length of horn along outer curve 32 30 26 S.'iV^i 



Greatest spread of horns 23 18V4 



Spread of horns, tip to tip l^M 18% 



