What the Walrus said . . .

Photos and Anecdotes from a vagabond!

Cliff Hanger

Driving through the Badlands was awesome! The scenery was incredible (that will be the next post!) but watching the wildlife was really the highlight of the park.

This is a Bighorn Sheep. Apparently, the “big” horns fall off and then grow back every year.

Bighorn Sheep are noy very big, at least not as big as I originally assumed from seeing them on the television. They are maybe slightly larger than a large goat . . . and when it comes to climb rocky cliff faces, they are experts.

Driving up a switch back along the Badlands scenic loop, I saw a few Bighorns standing on the edge of the cliffs above the road.
Perched on the side of the cliff, about 30 feet below the top, was this single sheep . . . just standing there enjoying the day!
I initially thought that the sheep had worked itself into a pickle . . . seeing that it was stuck under an overhanging layer of rock.
This had apparently been going on for a lengthy amount of time, because the leader of the herd was now napping up on the ledge, waiting for the wayward sheep below to figure out what to do!
Uther members of the herd were walking back and forth along the edge of the cliff giving moral support to the lone sheep below!
And the wayward sheep was well aware that the rest of the herd was ready to move on to greener pastures!!
Tentatively testing the slope, the loner decided to head up the cliff face.
Hanging by the edges of its hooves, the sheep scaled the face . . .
. . . under the watchful eye of the lead sheep.
It was slow going, but never a misstep along the way! A small crowd of us sightseers were now cheering the sheep on!
Almost there!!
Topping out!!
With a final look back, over the top and away the herd went!
Bighorn Sheep are everywhere and to see them you just need to train your eyes. Can you see the three sheep in this photo?
On the left side of the previous photo, you can see this lone sheep, again standing in the most precarious location for some totally unknown reason except that this is what sheep do!
The other two sheep are just relaxing in the sun, probably trying, like me, to figure out what in the heck the other idjit sheep is up to!!

As I was taking these photos, besides being amazed at the antics of the sheep, I could not help but chuckle at some of the antics of the humans around me. Why do young women, riding in the passenger seat of cars, relax by putting their bare feet up on the dash or out the passenger side window? Imagine if the driver foolishly tapped the bumper of the car in front of him who suddenly stops to look at a sheep up on the cliff . . . how many operations would it take to build those women’s legs again after the airbag crushes their limbs into the car roof? Or better yet . . . what compels humans to let their three- or four-year-old offspring sit on their lap while driving through winding roads . . . or any roads for that matter? I can almost guarantee that if the same airbag issue occurred, that child would probably be dead when it was all said and done.

Bighorn sheep start out and grow up living a very dangerous existence between the things that want to eat them or kill them for sport, trying to find food in a hostile desert, or simply living on or along the sheer slopes of some crumbling mountain. Sheep cannot alter their way of life and the daily dangers they face. On the other hand, we humans can easily not do stupid things that endanger our lives or the lives of others around us, but we seem to just disconnect the commonsense switch in our brain and do our utmost to prove the Darwin Principle of Evolution. Sadly, we all see it happening, but like lemmings running for the proverbial cliff and falling into the sea, we just can’t seem to help ourselves at times!! I personally, try to stay more engaged in the world now, because life truly is short, and I want to make the most of it!

majik756

Leave a comment