Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) - female
Bighorn sheep in the Badlands National Park, South Dakota, are monitored to understand their dynamics and to help ensure their long-term survival. They carry GPS and VHF (Very High Frequency) collars around their necks to track their movements.
In summer 2021, Badlands National Park was home to a healthy and growing population of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, with approximately 300 total among the three herds. Then the sheep contracted a deadly, pneumonia-causing bacteria — Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae — that nearly wiped out a herd located in Custer State Park in the early 2000s. Pneumonia quickly spread throughout the rest of the three herds in Badlands and wildlife officials began to notice bighorns coughing regularly. Within three months, 50% of the radio-collared sheep were dead.
Now, three years later, with nearly 85% of the population lost, around 50 bighorns remain in the park.
It is suspected that some of the Badlands Bighorn Sheep came into contact with domestic sheep who are carriers of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and are seemingly unaffected by the bacterium. But for wild sheep, pneumonia is a death sentence, with mortality rates hovering between 50% and 80% for infected bighorns.
Bighorn Sheep (Ovis canadensis) - female
Bighorn sheep in the Badlands National Park, South Dakota, are monitored to understand their dynamics and to help ensure their long-term survival. They carry GPS and VHF (Very High Frequency) collars around their necks to track their movements.
In summer 2021, Badlands National Park was home to a healthy and growing population of Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, with approximately 300 total among the three herds. Then the sheep contracted a deadly, pneumonia-causing bacteria — Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae — that nearly wiped out a herd located in Custer State Park in the early 2000s. Pneumonia quickly spread throughout the rest of the three herds in Badlands and wildlife officials began to notice bighorns coughing regularly. Within three months, 50% of the radio-collared sheep were dead.
Now, three years later, with nearly 85% of the population lost, around 50 bighorns remain in the park.
It is suspected that some of the Badlands Bighorn Sheep came into contact with domestic sheep who are carriers of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae and are seemingly unaffected by the bacterium. But for wild sheep, pneumonia is a death sentence, with mortality rates hovering between 50% and 80% for infected bighorns.