A rare pair of bighorn sheep

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Scientists who study peninsular bighorn sheep were surprised — and delighted — when a ewe was spotted last month leading a pair of twins. The mother and young, believed to be about 2 days old when discovered, were in the northern Santa Rosa Mountains, near Rancho Mirage.

Bighorn ewes seldom give birth to twins. This pair was photographed by the Bighorn Institute, a nonprofit organization that researches Peninsular bighorns and conducts a captive breeding program to increase the declining numbers of sheep. The bighorns were placed on the federal endangered species list in 1998.

Institute biologist Aimee Byard tracked the mother by her radio collar and observed her suckling both lambs.

Ewes will often babysit other lambs, but feeding is evidence that these little ones are true examples of twinning, which has rarely been documented among bighorns in the wild. At least 17 other single lambs have been born in the area so far.

-- Leslie Carlson