ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE

PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered

YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1998

CRITICAL HABITAT: 845,000 acres in California designated in 2001

RECOVERY PLAN: 2000

RANGE: Restricted to east-facing, lower-elevation slopes (typically below 4,600 feet) of the Peninsular Ranges along the northwest edge of the Sonoran Desert from southern California into Baja California, Mexico

THREATS: Loss of habitat due to development and agriculture, collisions with cars, predation by mountain lions, and diseases contracted from domestic sheep

POPULATION TREND: Populations plummeted from 971 in 1971 to 276 in 1996, but since the species was listed as endangered in 1998, the number of bighorns has increased to 705.