Dall sheep on Marmot RockCopyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
DENALI NATIONAL PARK, AK -- Some days you'd swear the wildlife had all bought cheap off-season air tickets to the Caribbean. And then there are moments like this.
These two Dall sheep posed atop a formation called Marmot Rock Monday, bringing bus after bus to a stop as delighted passengers recorded the scene with cameras and camcorders.
Since I was driving, I was armed only with my little point-and-shoot. It was enough.
Dall sheep, named in honor of a naturalist named William Dall, are similar to the bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. Bighorns, however, are light brown instead of white, and bighorn rams' horns are bulkier and curl closer to their faces. Also, bighorns are intrigued by the braking capabilities of motor vehicles, and often march brazenly out into busy highways to see who'll be able to stop.
Dall sheep only rarely jaywalk, and are most often seen as a group of tiny white figures on a distant green slope. My passengers and I had looked at dozens of them through binoculars before we came upon these two, who had their own, much safer means of stopping traffic.
These two Dall sheep posed atop a formation called Marmot Rock Monday, bringing bus after bus to a stop as delighted passengers recorded the scene with cameras and camcorders.
Since I was driving, I was armed only with my little point-and-shoot. It was enough.
Dall sheep, named in honor of a naturalist named William Dall, are similar to the bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. Bighorns, however, are light brown instead of white, and bighorn rams' horns are bulkier and curl closer to their faces. Also, bighorns are intrigued by the braking capabilities of motor vehicles, and often march brazenly out into busy highways to see who'll be able to stop.
Dall sheep only rarely jaywalk, and are most often seen as a group of tiny white figures on a distant green slope. My passengers and I had looked at dozens of them through binoculars before we came upon these two, who had their own, much safer means of stopping traffic.
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