Image from San Francisquito and Nearby Islands, Baja California, November 1998

An old and sobering picture on the wall at the resort at San Francisquito^^^. Bighorn sheep population have long been hunted on Isla Tiburón, opposite of San Francisquito on the Sea of Cortes. The population of Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis mexicana, the Sonoran Desert subspecies*) has increased from 20 in 1975 to approximately 650 in 1999, and low genetic variation has been blamed on a significant founder effect (Hedrick et al., 2001, pdf here). Across the Gulf, the Baja California bighorn subspecies (Ovis canadensis weemsi) is a highly endemic taxon only found in the Sierras El Mechudo, La Giganta, and Las Tres Vírgenes within the peninsula of Baja California (source). Links on mountain sheep in Gulf of California xeric scrubland: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4.

Return to Fieldtrip to San Francisquito or Phylogeography of Baja California Home Page

*Monson, G. 1980. Distribution and abundance. In: G. Monson and L. Sumner (eds). The Desert Bighorn. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. pp. 40-51.

Original photographer unknown.

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