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Bighorn sheep are named for the large, curved horns borne by the rams (males). Ewes (females) also have horns, but they are shorter and straighter. [20] They range in color from light brown to grayish or dark, chocolate brown, with a white rump and lining on the backs of all four legs.
The ewes' horns are much smaller and lighter and do not tend to curl. After eight years of growth, the horns of an adult ram may weigh more than 30 pounds. [7] Annual growth rings indicate the animal's age. The rams may rub their own horns to improve their field of view. [7]
Rams' horns may be very large – those of a mature bighorn ram can weigh 14 kg (31 lb) – as much as the bones of the rest of its body put together. Rams use their horns to fight with each other for dominance and the right to mate with females. In most cases, they do not injure each other because they hit each other head-to-head, and their ...
Arguments against dehorning include the following: Dehorning (removing fully grown horns) without the use of anesthesia is extremely painful to the animal. [8] A 2011 study that surveyed 639 farmers found that 52 percent of farmers reported that disbudding caused pain lasting more than six hours, that only 10 percent of the farmers used local anesthesia before cauterization, 5 percent provided ...
Skull of an old male with large horns. The sheep is particularly known for its long, spiraling horns which have been measured having a span up to 140 cm (55 in). [10] They have the longest horns of all sheep, [11] with the longest individual horn ever recorded measuring 1.9 m (6.2 ft) and weighing 60 lb (27 kg). [12]
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Horns usually have a curved or spiral shape, often with ridges or fluting. In many species, only males have horns. Horns start to grow soon after birth and continue to grow throughout the life of the animal (except in pronghorns, which shed the outer layer annually, but retain the bony core). Partial or deformed horns in livestock are called scurs.
The European mouflon has a smooth hairy coat, the rams are fox red-brown in the summer, usually with a whitish saddle patch, the ewes are brownish. Both sexes are darker in winter. The rams have helix-shaped horns up to 80 cm long; females have no horns on Sardinia, but on Corsica they have smaller horns that are slightly curved towards the rear.