With but one exception the cloven-hoofed animals of our southwestern mountains bear either horns or antlers. The exception is the collared peccary, “javelina,” (_pecari tajacu_) which, during the heat of the summer, sometimes ascends to the Transition Life Zone in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Essentially an animal of the low desert, it will not be included in this book. The species which have hollow, permanent horns are the bighorn and pronghorn. The pronghorn is distinctive in shedding the sheaths of its horns each year, but the hollow, bony core remains intact. In this group both sexes bear horns. Animals bearing antlers are the elk and the deer. The antlers are deciduous, being shed each year at about the same time as the winter coat. Only the males of these species have antlers, any female with antlers can be considered abnormal. The Southwest is fortunate in still having a number of the species of this order native to the United States. The bison can hardly be considered a wild species, since it exists now only through the efforts of a few conservationists who brought it back from virtual extinction. Mountain goats, caribou, and moose are the only other species not known to inhabit the Southwest. In Nature’s balance the order _Artiodactyla_ seems to have been meant as food for the large predators. Their protection against the flesh eaters consists mainly in fleetness of foot, keen hearing, and a wide range of vision, as evidenced by the large eyes set in the sides of the head. They are but poorly equipped to actively resist attack by the larger carnivores. Their best defense is flight. Bighorn (mountain sheep) _Ovis canadensis_ (Latin: a sheep from Canada) Range: This species, with its several varieties, inhabits most of the mountainous region of the western United States. In Mexico it occurs in the northern Sierra Madres and over almost the whole length of Baja California. [Illustration: Habitat map] Habitat: Among or in the vicinity of more precipitous places in the mountains. Description: A blocky animal, rather large, with heavy, curving horns. Total length of adult male 5 feet. Tail about 5 inches. Weight up to 275 pounds. General color a dark gray to brown with lighter areas underneath belly and inside of legs. The rump patch is much lighter than any other part of the body; in most cases it can be described as white. Females are similar in appearance to the males except that they are smaller and the horns are much shorter and slimmer. Young, one or two, twins being common.