The snow sheep (''Ovis nivicola''), or Siberian bighorn sheep, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated sh ...

from the mountainous areas in the northeast of

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

. One subspecies, the Putorana snow sheep ''(Ovis nivicola borealis)'', 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

into

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S ...

during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

(about 750,000 years ago); the sheep diverged into the three extant species. The snow sheep is most closely related to the North American

bighorn sheep The bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') is a species of sheep native to North America. It is named for its large horns. A pair of horns might weigh up to ; the sheep typically weigh up to . Recent genetic testing indicates three distinct subspe ...

and Dall sheep. Currently the mitochondrial genome of ''Ovis nivicola'' has been completely mapped out.Dotsev, A. V. et al. "The First Complete Mitochondrial Genomes Of Snow Sheep (Ovis Nivicola) And Thinhorn Sheep (Ovis Dalli) And Their Phylogenetic Implications For The Genus Ovis". Mitochondrial DNA Part B, vol 4, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1332-1333. Informa UK Limited,

References

External links

''Ovis nivicola'', Snow Sheep, on ultimateungulate.com
Ovis Mammals described in 1829 {{sheep-stub