NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Dall's Sheep
Ovis dalli Nelson, 1884
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Dall sheep or thinhorn sheep (Ovis dalli), is a species of wild sheep native to northwestern North America. O. dalli live in mountainous alpine habitats distributed across northwestern British Columbia, the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska. They browse a variety of plants, such as grasses, sedges and even shrubs, such as willow, during different times of the year. They also acquire minerals to supplement their diet from mineral licks. Like other Ovis species, the rams engage in dominance contests with their horns.
Wikipedia contributors, Dall sheep; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:19:44.087546+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ovis dalli Nelson, 1884
- Name authority
- Nelson, 1884
- Common name
- Dall's Sheep
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Bovidae
- Genus
- Ovis
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderArtiodactyla Owen, 1848
- familyBovidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyAntilopinae Gray, 1821
- tribeCaprini Gray, 1821
- genusOvis Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesOvis dalli Nelson, 1884
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ovis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Bighorn SheepOvis canadensis Shaw, 1804 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Snow SheepOvis nivicola Eschscholtz, 1829 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Marco Polo ArgaliOvis polii Blyth, 1840 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ladakh UrialOvis vignei Blyth, 1841 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Altai ArgaliOvis ammon (Linnaeus, 1758) | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bukhara UrialOvis bochariensis Nasonov, 1914 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Tibetan ArgaliOvis hodgsoni Blyth, 1841 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Laristan SheepOvis laristanica Nasonov, 1909 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Karatau ArgaliOvis nigrimontana Severtzov, 1873 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Punjab UrialOvis punjabiensis Lydekker, 1913 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Severtzov's ArgaliOvis severtzovi Nasonov, 1914 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Domestic SheepOvis aries Linnaeus, 1758 | BovidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180710 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4B9VH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.