The Dall sheep is a stocky sheep that utilize nearly inaccessible, steep mountain slopes, ridges and meadows for feeding and resting. They are generally high country animals but sometimes occur in rocky gorges below timberline in Alaska.
They are mostly white and weigh between 125 and 200 pounds. Male Dall sheep are called rams and are distinguished by massive curling, yellowish horns. The females, ewes, have shorter, more slender, slightly curved horns. Dall sheep are sometimes mistaken for mountain goats, however, the mountain goat has long fur and a beard, and small, slender, black horns that curve slightly backward.
A single young lamb is born in late May or early June. Lambs begin feeding on vegetation within a week after birth and are usually weaned by October. Sheep have well-developed social systems. Adult rams live in bands which seldom associate with female groups except during the mating season in late November and early December.
Dall sheep are found only in the extreme southwestern portion of the Refuge in the Mentasta Mountains.
