Angela Duvall, age 10, of Glendale, Ariz., for her question:

HOW BIG ARE A BIGHORN SHEEP’S HORNS?

A big horn is a wild sheep of North America. It has horns that curve backward from the forehead, then go down and then forward. The  largest set of horns on record were on a ram found in British Columbia. These horns measured four feet three inches along the front curve and spread 31 inches apart.

Male bighorns stand three feet two inches to three feet six inches high at the shoulders. Rams, as the males are called, weigh from 200to 300 pounds. The ewes, as the females are called, are not as large. Bighorns are wild sheep. They do not have wool as domestic sheep do. Instead, they have coats of hair similar to that of deer. There are three kinds of bighorns: the Rocky Mountain sheep, the Dall sheep and the Stone sheep.

The Rocky Mountain sheep live on the open slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada from southeastern British Columbia southward to northern Mexico. The Dall sheep live in much of Alaska and in the western part of Canada’s Yukon Territory. The Stone sheep are found from the south central part of the Yukon Territory to thecentral part of British Columbia.

Bighorn make their homes in the highest parts of the mountains, where human beings find it very difficult to go. The sheep live in bands numbering as many as 60 animals. The lambs are born in the spring. The ewes usually have one lamb at a time, but sometimes twins are born. In the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the ewes are often seen urging their lambs to jump from one rock to another. Lambs only two or three weeks old can go wherever their mothers go.

Bighorns jump and climb easily in dangerous places. They escape coyotes, wolves and other enemies by racing to heights far above them. Bighorn sheep are very sure footed. They can easily plunge down steep slopes at great speeds. Elastic pads on the bighorn’s feet grip the rocks and absorb the shock of the animal’s gait.

Bighorn feed on grasses and other small plants. They also eat the tender twigs of certain bushes. Many bighorn sheep have been killed by big game hunters who prize their heads as trophies because of their great horns. Stock grazing and diseases have also cut down the number of these wild sheep in the United States and southwestern Canada. Mountain lions and eagles also prey on the wild sheep. However, governmental agencies and other groups are now trying to preserve the bighorn. And they seem to be winning. The Dall and the Stone sheep are more lightly built than the Rocky Mountain sheep and have slender horns with graceful curves.