DESCRIPTION

Brown-red coat. The male can be recognized by his large spiral-shaped ringed horns. White spot on the flanks.

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HABITAT

The mouflon, distant ancestor of the sheep and therefore ruminant, is found in very different regions as a result of its introduction by man. Its real habitat is in Corsica where it lives in the forest massifs with clearings or on the rocky escarpments in the maquis. It is also present in the Alps. There are mouflons between 500 and 1800 meters above sea level, but when it snows it descends into the valleys to find food.

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WAY OF LIFE

It is a strictly diurnal animal with seasonal variations in social structure. In winter, the mouflons live in groups. In the spring, the females, accompanied by the young, separate from the males who live in the scrub during the summer, while the females and the young occupy the rocky ridges. In the fall, herds tend to regroup. The mouflon usually hits its horns against tree trunks or against rocks to mark "audibly" its territory. Sight is the most developed sense in the mouflon. It whistles with its nose as soon as it is disturbed.

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FOOD

Its diet is very varied. The basic diet, however, is composed of herbaceous plants, including grasses. The consumption of other plants (shrubs, shrubs, or even fruits) mitigates the low palatability or temporary inaccessibility (snow, for example) of herbaceous plants, or promotes the qualitative diversification of the diet

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BREEDING

In the rutting period, males engage in furious fighting, violent but never fatal, striking head-to-head. In late April or early May, the female calves, in a remote location, one or rarely two young.

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THREAT

The mouflon is a game hunted but protected !

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