Snow sheep
The snow sheep, or Siberian bighorn sheep, is a species of sheep from the mountainous areas in the northeast of Siberia. One subspecies, the Putorana snow sheep , lives isolated from the other forms in the Putoran Mountains.Subspecies
- Kolyma snow sheep, O. n. ssp
- Koryak snow sheep, O. n. koriakorum
- Okhotsk snow sheep, O. n. alleni
- Yakutian snow sheep, O. n. lydekkeri
- Kamchatkan snow sheep, O. n. nivicola
- Putorana snow sheep, O. n. borealis
- Chukotka snow sheep, O. n. tschuktschorum
Taxonomy and genetics
Ovis nivicola appeared about 600,000 years ago. These wild sheep crossed the Bering land bridge from Siberia into Alaska during the Pleistocene ; the sheep diverged into the three extant species. The snow sheep is most closely related to the North American bighorn sheep and Dall sheep.
