Alaska’s records for thinhorn sheep, better known as Dall’s sheep, cluster around Denali National Park and Preserve, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, and the Copper River delta, stretches of the Alaska Range and Southcentral high country where steep, open terrain gives the species room to climb out of reach.
Nearly pure white and built for scaling bare rock, thinhorn sheep depend on cliffs and scree slopes as their main defense against wolves, brown bears, and golden eagles, none of which can easily follow onto ground that steep. Rams and ewes stay in separate groups most of the year, grazing grasses and browsing shrubs on open alpine slopes, and only mix during the fall rut.
Records climb sharply from May through August, the short alpine summer when fresh growth pulls sheep onto open slopes where people and aircraft are more likely to spot them, then drop off through the long Alaska winter as snow pushes animals onto more sheltered ground. Every documented record so far traces back to Alaska’s own mountain range, since this species doesn’t occur natively anywhere else in the US.
Full species profile
