This fine reprint from Safari Press is perhaps the most complete work done on all the species and subspecies of the wild sheep of the world.

Mountain sheep epitomize wilderness for many people because they occupy some of the most inaccessible and rugged habitats known to man, from desert crags to alpine mountains. But of all hoofed mammals in North America, wild sheep present the greatest management problems to biologists. This book is a major reference on the natural history, ecology, and management of wild sheep in North America. Written by wildlife biologists who have devoted years of study to the animals, it covers Dall's and Stone's sheep and Rocky Mountain, California, and desert bighorn and examines a variety of factors pertinent to their life histories: habitat, diet, activity, social organization, reproduction, and population dynamics. Additional chapters consider distribution and abundance, adaptive strategies, and management guidelines. Discussions on diseases of wild sheep present a wealth of information that will be of particular use to wildlife biologists, including detailed clinical descriptions of conditions that threaten sheep populations, from pasteurellosis to capture myopathy. An appendix reviews the cytogenetics and genetics of wild sheep. North American wild sheep may face extinction in many areas unless critical questions concerning their management are answered soon. Prior to the publication of this book, there was no single reference available in which one could find such a synthesis of information. Mountain Sheep of North America provides that source and points toward the preservation of these magnificent wild creatures.

"A landmark, fundamental for all students in the field. . . . The material, in itself fascinating and lucidly presented, will draw the reader through and increase his understanding of the bighorn at just about every turn of the page." —Orion Nature Book Review "An intelligently researched and fully documented analysis of this noble rock-climber's life history, and ecology, and the human management of this nearly impossible-to-manage wilderness species." —American Field "An outstanding and comprehensive work." —Books of the Southwest "There is quite simply nothing else around that can tell you anywhere near as much about desert sheep, by anywhere near so distinguished a crew of authors." —Safari

One of the world's most popular writers on pets and wildlife takes us on an exhilarating journey through the animal kingdom and shows how the domestication of animals transformed the entire course of civilisation.

Once plentiful in the mountains of southern Arizona, by the 1990s desert bighorn sheep were wiped out in the Pusch Ridge Wilderness of the Santa Catalina Mountains as a result of habitat loss and alteration. This book uses their history and population decline as a case study in human alteration of wildlife habitat. When human encroachment had driven the herd to extinction, wildlife managers launched a major and controversial effort to reestablish this population. For more than forty years Paul R. Krausman directed studies of the Pusch Wilderness population of these iconic animals, located in the mountainous outskirts of Tucson. The story he tells here reveals the complex relationships between politics and biology in wildlife conservation. His account of the evolution of wildlife conservation practices includes discussions of techniques and of human attitudes toward predators, fire, and their management.

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