A female bighorn sheep, or ewe, near Yellowstone National Park had no shortage of attention, as a dozen or more rams butted heads and jockeyed for a chance to mate with her, in a spectacle that went on for hours.
It was proof that bighorns, to put it politely, aren’t exactly monogamous. It’s not unusual for ewes to have multiple suitors, and they frequently mate with more than one.
But a dozen rams going after one ewe was next level, tour guides Dan and Cindy Buell told Cowboy State Daily.
That particular ewe was likely so wildly popular because it was Jan. 10. That’s extremely late in the rut, or mating season, Cindy said.
By then, it’s likely that all of the other ewes in the herd had already been bred and had gone or of “estrus” (heat), she said.
The amorous bighorns are part of herd of about 100 animals hangs out near Corwin Springs, Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park.
The herd is immensely popular, because the bighorns are highly visible from the road during the rut — putting on a show for admirers.
“They are completely habituated” to humans being nearby and carry on as if the people weren’t there, Cindy said.
However, the ewe with a dozen would-be boyfriends was a rare sight, Cindy said.
“That was a really cool sighting. We go there quite a bit, but we hardly ever see that much activity,” she said.
Over the course of the day, “there were 15 to 20 attempts (by rams) to mate, and maybe five successes,” she said.
Running a Circuit
The Buells run Cheap & Cheesy Yellowstone Tours, and the Corwin Springs bighorn herd’s hangout a favorite stop for guests.
The rut typically runs from late October until about the first week of January.
Unusually warm and dry weather so far this winter might have pushed the rut back a little later than usual, Cindy said.
The ewe almost appeared to be running a circuit on repeat, Dan said.
She would hunker into a large crack in the rockface, while frustrated rams jostled and butted heads right next to her.
Then, she would make short runs out into the open ground with the rams right on her tail.
“You can see in the video, she repeatedly hides herself in the crack in the rocks, until the rams sort it out,” Dan said.
That same pattern repeated itself countless time as the courtship game dragged on, he said.
‘I Was Traumatized’
Cindy said initially, the sight of one ewe being pursued by such a big mob of rams seemed cruel, from the ewe’s perspective.
“We were sitting there watching it, and I was just traumatized. I thought, ‘that poor ewe, she’s just being brutalized,’” she said.
However, she eventually realized that the ewe was in her element.
“Obviously, in the video, you can see she’s running away from them. But I think she was testing their persistence and their stamina,” Cindy said.
“She seemed to know how to protect herself the way she needed to,” she added.
And even while the rams started to look tuckered out, the ewe seemed no worse for wear, Cindy said.
“Even after hours and hours of this going on, she was energetic and her eyes were bright,” she said.
Some of the biggest rams were latecomers and might have been disappointed to find only one ewe still in heat, she added.
“That time, on Jan. 10, was the first time some of the really big boys (huge rams) were there. Something was pulling in some of those big boys that we hadn’t seen before,” she said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
