Bighorn Sheep in the Badlands National Park
Bighorn Sheep Taxonomy
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Artiodactyla
- Family: Bovidae
- Genus: Ovis
- Species: canadensis
In 1964, the Badlands received a herd of bighorn sheep that were successfully re-introduced to the park !
Twenty-two bighorn were relocated from Pike’s Peak in Colorado to the Badlands National Park. In 2004 a second herd of sheep were brought to the park from Wheeler Peak in New Mexico.
Around 250 bighorn sheep now call the park home.
Bighorn sheep live in separate groups depending on their age and sex. One of these groups consists of lambs and ewes that live in large herds.
The other is called a bachelor group and can consist of up to 10 rams. Females will stay with their mothers herd their entire lives while males will leave to find a bachelor group between the ages of 2-4.
We were lucky enough to see bighorn sheep all 4 days we were in the park. We saw multiple herds of females and babies and a number of bachelor groups.
One day a ram was just chilling on a cliff by one of the viewpoints so I was able to get close for great pics.
We also saw two full grown male bighorn sheep ram a car on a side road when multiple cars were crowding around them. Be careful and make sure you give all wildlife room when you encounter them.
We boondocked at Nomad dispersed camping during our visit which is located just 1/2 a mile from the Pinnacles entrance of the park. We had herds come through our camp and climb on the cliffs multiple days which was pretty cool too.
