KAMSCHATKAN BIGHORN 



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Skull and Horns of Male Kamschatkan Bighorn. 



KAMSCHATKAN BIGHORN (Ovis canadensis nivicola). 



Although the Kamschatkan wild sheep can be readily distinguished 

 from the Rocky Mountain bighorn {0. canadensis typica) by the slender- 

 ness of the horns at the points, and their wider tip-to-tip measurement, 

 as well as by shorter, blunter, and more thickly haired ears, the shorter 

 face, the longer hair of the body, and the inferior size of the white 

 patch on the rump, yet there are several varieties of the bighorn from 

 the more northern districts of America which tend more or less com- 

 pletely to bridge over these points of difference. Among these are the 

 Alaskan bighorn (0. canadensis dalli) and the N.W. bighorn {0. canadensis 

 stonei), in which the horns are of the Kamschatkan type, and the ears 

 are shorter than in the Rocky Mountain race. These transitions 

 indicate that all the bighorns are essentially local modifications of the 

 same animal ; the Kamschatkan form being, as might be expected from its 

 isolation, the most aberrant. Like the Alaskan race, the Kamschatkan 

 bighorn appears, at least sometimes, to turn white in winter. Height 

 at shoulder about 37 or 38 inches ; weight about 330 lbs. 

 Distribution. — Kamschatka, and the Stanovoi Mountains as far south 



as the sources of the Utschuri River ; perhaps also in parts of 



Siberia. 



2 B 



