DESCRIPTIONS OF MAMMAL SPECIES GENERAL APPEARANCE.The Dall sheep
is somewhat smaller than the Rocky Mountain bighorn of the
United States. A fair-sized ram of the Dall sheep stands about
39 inches at the shoulders and weighs more than 200 pounds. The
older rams have large, much curled horns (frontispiece). Young
rams and female sheep have short, slightly curved goatlike horns
(fig. 74). The female is about two-thirds the size of the ram.
At a distance young rams are difficult to distinguish from the
females. The ears of the Dall sheep are short, round, and well
covered with hair (fig. 74). The tail is small and
inconspicuous, being only about 4 inches long. Total length, 58
inches; tail, 4 inches; hind foot, 16.6 inches.
IDENTIFICATION.Two important diagnostic characters of the Dall
sheep are the white color and, in the rams, the relatively
slender, wide-spreading horns (fig. 75). Contrasted with the
Dall sheep, the Rocky Mountain bighorn of the United States is
sandy-brown in color; its horns are large at th