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Is It a Bighorn or an Aoudad?
Big Bend Ranch State Park is sheep-rich. Both native desert bighorn sheep and imported aoudad, or Barbary sheep, scramble effortlessly around on the mountains there, and from a distance it’s easy to mistake one species for the other. Having evolved on the edge of the Sahara in North Africa, aoudads have an easy time in the Chihuahuan Desert. Researchers worry they may eventually outcompete the native sheep, and restoration projects are underway to help out our Texas bighorns (read more on page 28). Below, learn to tell Texas’ native sheep from their imported African cousins.
Aoudad
Brown all over
Shaggy “beards” down the front of their necks
Horns are more slender and curl out to either side of their heads
Large and tough; sometimes called the “feral hogs of the mountains”
Have a much larger range in the state than bighorns. They were introduced into the Palo Duro Canyon area of Texas in the 1950s, and their range now extends from far West Texas into the Panhandle and parts of Central Texas. Estimated Texas population: around 20,000
Shaggy “beards” down the front of their necks
Horns are more slender and curl out to either side of their heads
Large and tough; sometimes called the “feral hogs of the mountains”
Have a much larger range in the state than bighorns. They were introduced into the Palo Duro Canyon area of Texas in the 1950s, and their range now extends from far West Texas into the Panhandle and parts of Central Texas. Estimated Texas population: around 20,000
Bighorn
Have white patches on their muzzles and rumps
Hair is short
Usually have large, thicker horns that curl back from their heads
On average, slightly smaller than aoudads
In Texas they are found in extremely limited ranges. The population consists of 11 separate herds, all in far West Texas from the Big Bend region to El Paso. Estimated Texas population: around 1,000
Hair is short
Usually have large, thicker horns that curl back from their heads
On average, slightly smaller than aoudads
In Texas they are found in extremely limited ranges. The population consists of 11 separate herds, all in far West Texas from the Big Bend region to El Paso. Estimated Texas population: around 1,000
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