Open Access
How to translate text using browser tools
1 April 1984 FURTHER STUDIES ON HORN ABERRATIONS IN DALL'S SHEEP (OVIS DALLI DALLI) FROM YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA
Thomas D. Bunch, Manfred Hoefs, Robert L. Glaze, Homer S. Ellsworth
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

The prevalence of horn aberrations in Dall's sheep from the Kluane Lake area of Yukon Territory observed during July 1982 represented 1% of the total population and 7% of rams 6 yr or older. Ewes were not considered in these percentages because they were too difficult to inspect by aerial survey. When these data were combined with other data collected from 1977 through 1981, the prevalence equalled 2.4% of the total population and slightly exceeded 16% in mature rams (≥6 yr). The anomaly followed necrosis of the terminal region of the horn core and the sequestering of portions of the core within the sheath as the sheath continued to grow. Sheath that was produced after the core was anatomically altered resulted in abnormal growth patterns of the horn. Rams with aberrant horns could not maintain homeostatic temperatures within horn cores when horns were experimentally exposed to −80 C for 30 min. Histologic examination of superficial and cornual vascular systems did not reveal any structural alterations that would restrict blood flow within cores of affected horns. Examination of museum specimens consisting of 130 skulls from rams and 81 from ewes collected from Alaska, USA, Yukon Territory, Canada, and Northwest Territories, Canada, established only one ewe and no rams with the horn aberration. The skull was from a ewe and had both horns affected and was collected from the Joe River Drainage, Yukon Territory in 1912.

Bunch, Hoefs, Glaze, and Ellsworth: FURTHER STUDIES ON HORN ABERRATIONS IN DALL'S SHEEP (OVIS DALLI DALLI) FROM YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA1
Thomas D. Bunch, Manfred Hoefs, Robert L. Glaze, and Homer S. Ellsworth "FURTHER STUDIES ON HORN ABERRATIONS IN DALL'S SHEEP (OVIS DALLI DALLI) FROM YUKON TERRITORY, CANADA," Journal of Wildlife Diseases 20(2), 125-133, (1 April 1984). https://doi.org/10.7589/0090-3558-20.2.125
Received: 6 October 1983; Published: 1 April 1984
Back to Top