Volunteers and Nature Conservancy staffers counted this July to see if efforts to conserve the endangered species' population are working.
The 40th annual bighorn sheep census took place in triple-digit heat at California's . The results are in, and it was one of the best years in the history of the count, according to . “A total of 255 sheep were counted,” said the Conservancy's website, making this year's count the third highest count in the 40 years of the census, “a good sign that the sheep are recovering.”
Why count sheep? The Conservancy says, “Bighorn sheep populations have been negatively affected by habitat fragmentation, diseases from feral cattle and predation by mountain lions.”
Tomorrow, The Nature Conservancy is launching a multi-media website to tell the story of the sheep count. Check it out .
–Erin Beresini