As our study progressed, 51 different bighorn were
observed in the monument frequently enough and at sufficiently close
range to receive identifying names in our field notes. The names of
these individuals and their identifying characteristics are given here.
The subject is discussed further under "Field Identification."
Rams
|
Black and Tan |
Prime. Tan with blackish mane, ears, and legs. At Nevares
Springs. |
Broken Nose |
Heavy, mature ram with crooked, humped nose. Dark, chipped-away
patch on left horn. At Nevares Springs. (See figs. 51 to 59.) |
Flathorn |
Big dark ram, aloof and suspicious, with a flat area on the top
curve of his left horn. At Nevares Springs. |
Full Curl |
The oldest ram we knew. Possibly 14 years. Very heavy and badly
broomed, but still full-curled horns. Potbellied, but still sleek and
intimidated by no one. At Nevares Springs. |
The Hook |
Prime. About 8 years old. Slim, dark shiny red (mahogany). High,
round close curl, straight nose, and straight neck. Quarter-horse type.
Light mark across nose. Beetle browed, left horn broken off leaving
jagged, sharp "hook." Right horn split off in jagged point, making
identification easy. At Nevares Springs. |
Kinky |
Young, mature (5 years old, with widespread horns with a "kink" near
tips of both horns. At Big Wash, Echo Canyon. |
Knocker |
Young ram with outsized testicles to match his overactive ego. At
Nevares Springs. |
Little Joe |
Small young ram with a belligerent disposition that reminded us of a
small man we knew by the name of Joe. At Nevares Springs. |
Low Brow |
Young ram, with heavy projecting forehead. At Nevares
Springs. |
Mahogany |
Big, mahogany red, archetype of the desert Bighorn ram. At Nevares
Springs. |
Nevares |
Called by this place name because he typified the rangy appearance
of the majority of the first Nevares sheep we knew. Long body, long
legs, long ewe neck, high shoulders. About 7 years old. Definitely
mature, but gangling. Hindlegs bent out a little, willowy. Last 10
inches of curve of horns extremely thin and flat, sharper curve or
"hook" toward end. On September 2, left horn splintered off 2 to 3
inches. Brown color. Dull pelage. |
Nevares II |
Named for older prototype. Younger than Nevares (about 5 years old),
but also rangy, ewe necked, high shouldered, long bodied, long legged,
horns deeply corrugated, lots of hair back of head with a "shawl" of
unshed hair over shoulders. No "hook" on left horn, but left tip turns
toward his body, right tip away from body. |
Paleface |
Dark gray young ram with whitish face, who herded Droopy for 3 days
below Badwater near Keystone Canyon. |
Rambunctious |
Aggressive adolescent of the Furnace Creek band. Scar on his back
and right side; pronounced sectioning of his horntips. (See fig. 30.) |
Roughneck |
Not yet prime. Rough pelage on neck and shoulders fitted his
aggressive nature. At Nevares Springs. |
Skinny |
Older than Slim. Rough coated, aggressive. At Nevares
Springs. |
Slim |
Gangly, high horned. About 3 years old. At Nevares Springs. |
The Stranger |
An old "traveling man" on the rut run in March 1956. At Dead Man's
Curve. |
Tabby |
Blunted full curl, last 6 to 8 inches of left horn chipped thinner
and lighter than rest of horns, slimmer than Broken Nose, with extra
"tab" of skin on scrotum. Scar on right flank. No eye rings or other
facial markings except black spot on nose. No white on front legs or
inside back legs. Eight to nine years old. At Nevares Springs. (See
figs. 51 to 59.) |
Tan Rump |
Prime. Brown, with tan instead of white romp patch. A traveling ram,
with occasional stop overs at Nevares. |
Tight Curl |
Mature. Light tan, low shouldered, with peculiar tight curl of right
horn, nick near tip of left horn; bases of both horns scarred by heavy
fighting. At Nevares Springs, Navel Spring, Big Wash, Furnace Creek,
Echo Canyon. (See fig. 25.) |
Toby |
Tall, bony, high shouldered, scraggly "wig" on back of head. About 8
years old. At Nevares Springs. |
Ewes
|
Big and Little Sandies |
The two unmarked sand-colored ewes, perhaps sisters, who were
inseparable companions at Furnace Creek. Big Sandy had three faint
"warble" scars on the right side. (See figs. 18 and 19.) |
Blondie |
The distinctively light-colored, young, and slender proportioned
glamour girl of the Furnace Creek band. |
Brahma |
Broken or malformed horns, drooping ears, and the light, blue-gray
color of a Brahma cow. She was the lightest colored ewe at Nevares
Springs. She had a single-foot gait. About 5 or 6 years old. Had
3-month-old ram lamb, slightly buckskin colored. We knew her for over 4
years. |
Brahma II |
Brahma II looked like Brahma, but she was the leader of the band on
Death Valley Buttes, 9 miles northwest. |
Brokeoff |
Brokeoff led her forlorn little band to Nevares Springs in 1958. She
was tall, gaunt, and gray, with one very long horn and onewhat
else? Broken off! |
Dark Eyes |
This was the only ewe we ever knew who seemed to have black eyes. We
never could get close enough to her to analyze the reason. At Nevares
Springs. |
Droopy |
The Badwater contender for leadership, with the unique, down-curved
horns that led many to think that she was a ram. (See figs. 5 and 6.) |
Gimpy |
Lame in her right hindleg but a great traveler. Observed at Furnace
Creek, Big Wash, Paleomesa. We last saw her, browsing alone, in the Red
Amphitheater in 1957. |
Little Brownie |
The smallest ewe at Nevares Springs except Little Ewe. |
Little Ewe |
Pale gray. Dainty, gentle mother at Nevares Springs. |
Long Brownie |
Named for reddish-brown color and descriptive conformation.
Exaggerated Nevares typelong bodied. Only red-brown ewe seen in
area. Gives impression of white-socked horse. No lamb. Horns almost as
long as Longhorn's. |
Longhorn |
Prime. Clear gray, slender, aloof, and with the longest horns we
ever saw. At Nevares Springs. |
New Mama |
Slender and elegant compared with Old Mama, but a nervous leader of
the new band that came in March. At Furnace Creek. (See fig. 37.) |
Old Eighty |
The eighth to join the Furnace Creek band. The leader when Old Mama
wasn't there. Right horntip missing; pronounced annular hornrings on
both horns, 1 set of annual rings deeply grooved. Face whitish. (See
figs. 17 and 31.) |
The Old Lady |
The mother of sad Little Fuzzy, who had the un rewarding distinction
of having a canyon named after him because he died there, half a mile
north of Nevares. |
Old Leader or The Patriarch |
The dignified, unhurried old leader of the Badwater band. (See figs.
1, 5, and 7.) |
Old Mama |
To whom we owe so much. Old, potbellied, runny-nosed, but tough and
worldly wise in bighorn ways. Her right horn was chipped on the inside
(rare) near the base, and distinctively broomed at the tip. Her eyes
were yellow, with light patches below. At Paleomesa, Furnace Creek, Big
Wash, Navel Spring. (See figs. 10 and 28.) |
Pearl |
Pearl was a big ewe who got her name because of the peculiar quality
of the gray of her coat. She and her lamb lived somewhere on Pyramid
Peak and came down across Paleomesa now and then on their way to water
at Navel Spring. |
Scarface |
An otherwise sleek and beautiful 2-year-old who had apparently
fallen from a cliff when she was very young. That she survived the
severe facial lacerations and possible skull injuries which left her
face the way it was is remarkable. At Furnace Creek. (See fig. 29.) |
Whitehorns |
Bad Boy's mother. She had a white patch of hair at the base of each
horn, which seemed to extend her horns down the side of her
head. |
Lambs
|
Baby Brownie |
She got lost before dawn in the rut run and survived several days
alone on Nevares Peak before Little Brownie, her mother, found her
again. |
Bad Boy |
A 6-month-old who was already pestering the ewes when he came out on
Paleomesa in the autumn of 1956. (See figs. 32 and 33.) |
Light Neck |
Named for whitish patches on both sides of neck. Dark Eyes was this
ram lamb's mother. About 7 to 8 months old. Had 6- to 7-inch horns.
Still nursing. Dark gray with blackish tints, light neck. Long legs.
Horns already showing male characteristics. |
Little Brahma |
This lamb had begun to look more and more like his mother (Brahma)
when we last saw him heading toward Red Wall Canyon at the foot of
Nevares Peak. |
Little Fuzzy |
Named for its "fuzzy" brownish coat. Old Lady was its mother.
Scrawny legs, potbellied, like a skim-milk calf, possibly owing to
malnutrition, since the mother looked dry. No horns. Looked about 6
weeks old. Found dead August 30 (fig. 44) after being seen alone on August 23. Younger
than we thoughtperhaps 4 weeks. |
Little Whitey |
Bad Boy's inseparable companion. A ewe lamb, much lighter colored
than he and with white rump, white face (relatively rare), and a
peculiar carriage of the head. (Sec figs. 26, 32, and
33.) |
Marco |
Six months old. A tough, homely little fellow with a tendency toward
travel and independence. Buckskin color (rare) with a blackish
mane. |
Mischief |
Mischief was the first lamb we knew and the only child of the
Badwater family. (See figs. 27
and 48.) |
Old Mama's Lamb |
This lamb had a wonderful time for the first few weeks of its life
in Furnace Creek. Then from watching her, however, we began to learn how
difficult it is to be a bighorn lamb in Death Valley. (See figs. 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, and 39.) |