After a nine hour drive from KC to Badlands National Park we were in need of a hike. Parking at the trailhead of one of our favorite trails, off we went. Just a few minutes later, we encountered a group of five bighorn rams. They were too scattered to get all five in one shot but I did manage to get this trio ambling along side by side.
It was a relief to see these healthy looking rams and several ewes in the Park as the Badlands bighorns are suffering through an outbreak of pneumonia which is known to be about 50 percent fatal to bighorn herds.
For the next few days, I'll post a shot from each of the destinations during our recently completed trip.

Tags:   Badlands Bighorn Sheep badlands national park bighorn rams nature conservation wildlife of the west ram trio protect the environment protect public lands protect wildlife Ovis canadensis

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I've been posting a few landscapes and now I'm posting this "hybrid" wildlife/landscape as a transition back to wildlife. I came close to deleting this shot. The original was way too bright, and the ram was pretty far away. But, after some aggressive processing, I decided to keep it and post it because it shows how well the ram's colors blend with the grasses and eroded formations of Badlands National Park.

Tags:   Bighorn Ram Badlands Bighorn Sheep badlands national park Wildlife Ovis canadensis blending in nature conservation badlands landscape protect the environment protect public lands protect wildlife

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The Badlands wildlife series continues with this mature bighorn ram. The Bighorn sheep in Badlands National Park are among the most tolerant of people of any wildlife I've seen anywhere. As you can see by the focal length this guy had no concern with my close proximity. In fact I didn't have to approach him...rather I just sat down and waited as he slowly but surely came closer to me. As he walked by I whispered "pssst" and he turned to give me this nice pose.

Tags:   Bighorn Ram Badlands Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis badlands national park nature wildlife of the west wild sheep conservation protect the environment protect public lands

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A bighorn ewe easily negotiates a narrow ridge high up in Badlands National Park, South Dakota.

Tags:   bighorn ewe Ovis canadensis badlands national park Badlands Bighorn Sheep nature conservation blue sky protect the environment protect public lands protect wildlife badlands wildlife

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A bighorn sheep ewe (the gal) in Badlands National Park.

Tags:   bighorn ewe badlands national park Badlands Bighorn Sheep Ovis canadensis nature conservation female bighorn sheep south dakota bighorn sheep protect the environment protect public lands protect wildlife

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