{"id":423093,"date":"2026-01-22T15:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423093\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T15:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T15:05:09","slug":"bighorn-ewe-draws-a-dozen-amorous-rams-in-late-rut-frenzy-near-yellowstone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/423093\/","title":{"rendered":"Bighorn Ewe Draws A Dozen Amorous Rams In Late Rut Frenzy Near Yellowstone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A female bighorn sheep, or ewe, near Yellowstone\u00a0National Park\u00a0had no shortage of attention, as a dozen or more rams butted heads and jockeyed for a chance to mate with her, in a spectacle that went on for hours.<\/p>\n

It was proof that bighorns, to put it politely, aren\u2019t exactly monogamous. It\u2019s not unusual for ewes to have multiple suitors, and they frequently mate with more than one.<\/p>\n

But a dozen rams going after one ewe was next level, tour guides Dan and Cindy\u00a0Buell\u00a0told Cowboy State Daily.<\/p>\n

That particular ewe was likely so wildly popular because it was Jan. 10. That\u2019s extremely late in the rut, or mating season, Cindy said.<\/p>\n

By then, it\u2019s likely that all of the other ewes in the herd had already been bred and had gone or of \u201cestrus\u201d (heat), she said.<\/p>\n

The amorous bighorns are part of herd of about 100 animals hangs out near Corwin Springs, Montana, just outside of Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n

The herd is immensely popular, because the bighorns are highly visible from the road during the rut \u2014 putting on a show for admirers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are completely habituated\u201d to humans being nearby and carry on as if the people weren\u2019t there, Cindy said.<\/p>\n

However, the ewe with a dozen would-be boyfriends was a rare sight, Cindy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a really cool sighting. We go there quite a bit, but we hardly ever see that much activity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the day, \u201cthere were 15 to 20 attempts (by rams) to mate, and maybe five successes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"RockyRocky Mountain bighorn sheep rams put on a show for fans along the roadside near Corwin Springs, Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park. (Courtesy Dan Buell, Cheap & Cheesy Yellowstone Tours)Running a Circuit<\/p>\n

The Buells run\u00a0Cheap & Cheesy Yellowstone Tours<\/a>, and the Corwin Springs bighorn herd\u2019s hangout a favorite stop for guests.<\/p>\n

The rut typically runs from late October until about the first week of January.<\/p>\n

Unusually warm and dry weather so far this winter might have pushed the rut back a little later than usual, Cindy said.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0ewe\u00a0almost appeared to be running a circuit on repeat, Dan said.<\/p>\n

She would hunker into a large crack in the rockface, while frustrated rams jostled and butted heads right next to her.<\/p>\n

Then, she would make short runs out into the open ground with the rams right on her tail.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see in the video, she repeatedly hides herself in the crack in the rocks, until the rams sort it out,\u201d Dan said.<\/p>\n

That same pattern repeated itself countless time as the courtship game dragged on, he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018I Was Traumatized\u2019<\/p>\n

Cindy said initially, the sight of one ewe being pursued by such a big mob of rams seemed cruel, from the ewe\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were sitting there watching it, and I was just traumatized. I thought, \u2018that poor ewe, she\u2019s just being brutalized,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

However, she eventually realized that the ewe was in her element.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, in the video, you can see she\u2019s running away from them. But I think she was testing their persistence and their stamina,\u201d Cindy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe seemed to know how to protect herself the way she needed to,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

And even while the rams started to look tuckered out, the ewe seemed no worse for wear, Cindy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven after hours and hours of this going on, she was energetic and her eyes were bright,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Some of the biggest rams were latecomers and might have been disappointed to find only one ewe still in heat, she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat time, on\u00a0Jan. 10, was the first time some of the really big boys (huge rams) were there. Something was pulling in some of those big boys that we hadn\u2019t seen before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A female bighorn sheep, or ewe, near Yellowstone\u00a0National Park\u00a0had no shortage of attention, as a dozen or more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-423093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}