Current Range: Hawaiʻi Island and Lānaʻi

Region of origin: Europe

Date of first introduction: 1954 (Lānaʻi), 1957 (Hawaiʻi Island), 1958 (Kauaʻi)

Average size: 30 - 50 kg

Litter frequency: 1 litter per year

Litter size: 1 to 2 lambs

Home range: 5.77 ± 0.86 km to 9.81 ± 1.97 km

Diet: Opportunistic grazer, likely to consume a variety of plants

2

Mouflon Sheep

(Ovis gmelini musimon)

References: Tomich 1986, Adams 2019, Duffy and Lepczyk 2021, CABI 2021

Identifying Markers

Physical Appearance: Short, coarse hair, reddish-brown to dark brown with a white belly, and white rump patch, medium in size (35 kg to 50 kg), short and stiff ears and tail, large, thick, curved spiral horns that curl backward in males, and smaller horns or absent horns in females.

Tracks: Heart-shaped or teardrop cloven hoof print, 2–2.5 inches long, similar to goat or deer tracks but generally rounder and more compact.

Scat: Small, hard, dark brown to black, oval pellets, uniform in size, may be scattered or in tight piles, typically near bedding or grazing areas.

Feeding/Browsing Signs: Grazers and browsers that feed on grasses, shrubs, and small plants, grazing grass down to a uniform height (up to 3 ft high), and browsing shrubs by clipping and tearing leaves and twigs.

Environmental Impacts

Mouflon sheep in Hawaiʻi have distinct environmental impacts due to their preference for rugged, high-elevation terrain. Mouflon are highly mobile and inhabit a wide variety of areas across the island of Hawaiʻi. They heavily graze on native grasses, shrubs, and māmane seedlings as well as important forage species for cattle ranching. This leads to vegetation loss, soil erosion, and the degradation of fragile alpine and subalpine ecosystems and rangelands. Their browsing prevents the regeneration of māmane forests, threatening the habitat of the endangered palila bird, which depends on these trees for food and nesting. They also severely degrade the viability of rangelands for livestock due to overgrazing.