MOOSE, Wyo. — Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) is providing a virtual presentation on April 13 with Carson Butler, GTNP wildlife biologist and Teton Bighorn Sheep Working Group member, on fecal DNA & bighorn sheep monitoring in the Teton Range.
According to GTNP, concern about the status of the small, isolated bighorn sheep population and the risk of local extinction in the Teton Range has created a need for accurate monitoring data. Teton Range bighorn are difficult to monitor because they spend summer and winter dispersed at high elevations.
The GTNP’s Vital Signs 2021 report outlines that, since 2019, local biologists have been collecting bighorn sheep fecal pellets near mineral licks to estimate population size. The fecal DNA can be used as a non-invasive genetics approach to identify individual sheep and evaluate diversity, inbreeding and population structure.
“They are far from doomed,” Butler says. “Other bighorn populations have rallied back from smaller numbers. We, as a community, can make decisions and take actions that will benefit Teton Range bighorn sheep and the ecosystem they are a part of.”
According to the Teton Bighorn Sheep Working Group, while recent winter aerial surveys have observed approximately 100 sheep in the population, preliminary results using DNA indicate there may actually be about 175 sheep.
“The new method is updating our baseline understanding and the higher abundance we preliminarily reported primarily reflects the new method, not that the population has grown,” says Butler. “When the research is complete we will have more to say about what the project’s findings mean for conservation and management of Teton Bighorn Sheep.”
The presentation will be held virtually over Zoom today, April 13, at 6 p.m. Visit the National Bighorn Sheep Center’s events page or email info@bighorn.org to receive the Zoom link to the presentation.
