That’s gotta hurt.
When it comes to going on the offensive, big horn sheep don’t mess around. The wild animals will never shy away from utilizing the horns that sit atop their head. So in other words, they use what their momma gave them.
You’ve probably seen videos of big horn sheep clashing horns with one another, but I can confidently promise that you’ve never seen one like this. These two sheep in Colorado went with the “one-and-done” method, and seemed to be frozen in place after they brutally head-butted.
One might assume that’s because they’re giving their brain some time to stop rattling around. However, since the animals mainly use their head and horns to protect themselves, big horn sheep have actually adapted to be able to withstand such hits to their noggin.
There’s actually a lot that contributes to the safety of the sheep’s brain. The spiral horned creatures are able to avoid concussions thanks to the tighter fit of the brain cavity (which reduces brain shaking), their increased skull thickness, and the fact that their brain is immobilized by fat that is inside their skulls.
Big horn sheep also impressively have control over their brain’s blood flow. All that means is that a sheep can prepare to take a hit by sending additional blood to its brain, which in turn inflates the blood vessels and creates a “bubble wrap” like effect.
Long story short, the big horn sheep are built for big hits like this one… even though it does look like these two stout animals were a little dazed right after their impact. They went from peacefully grazing to banging horns at high speed in the blink of an eye.
Then afterwards, they went back to standing and looking at one another just as fast. As you’ll see, one of them didn’t even ever stop chewing on their food during the clash:
Those are some tough sheep right there.
Even though we now know that big horn sheep are capable of avoiding blunt force trauma to the head, social media commenters were still taken back by the big hit between the big horns:
“Bro took it like a champ and continued chewing like it’s nothing.”
“It’s a wonder they didn’t have headaches.”
“Wow! What a cool thing to see up close!”
“Ouch! I felt that.”
“They head-butted each other into mutual respect.”
