ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1998

CRITICAL HABITAT: 845,000 acres in California designated in 2001

RECOVERY PLAN: 2000

RANGE: Restricted to east-facing, lower-elevation slopes (typically below 4,600 feet) of the Peninsular Ranges along the northwest edge of the Sonoran Desert from southern California into Baja California, Mexico

THREATS: Loss of habitat due to development and agriculture, collisions with cars, predation by mountain lions, and diseases contracted from domestic sheep

POPULATION TREND: Populations plummeted from 971 in 1971 to 276 in 1996, but since the species was listed as endangered in 1998, the number of bighorns has increased to 705.

Photo courtesy Flickr/Robb Hannawacker