Natural History Wanderings

published last October by LAist

Half of the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep tracked by scientists died during last season’s record-breaking winter, according to researchers interviewed by LAist.

Some sheep got trapped in avalanches, some died of starvation, and some were killed by mountain lions when the sheep were forced to move to lower elevations to look for food.

The population is now estimated at 360 sheep, a 40% decline from a year ago, according to Tom Stephenson, who heads the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Program. That estimate includes new lambs that were born in the spring.

Read more at California’s Big Snow Year Decimated Endangered Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep