A week-old female Desert bighorn sheep is romping around in her exhibit at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park, much to the delight of its keepers. Born on May 13, the healthy newborn lamb is the first of its kind born at the Wild Animal Park this year. According to the Park's animal care staff this female lamb may some day become important to the recovery of the Desert bighorn sheep, which are native to Southern California. There a currently an estimated 300 Desert bighorn sheep living in California today.

"This is the mom's fourth lamb," said Crystal Bingham, senior mammal keeper at the Park. "But more importantly, this is the first time she has given birth to a female. We hope the female lamb will serve as a contributor to the breeding program of this subspecies (Nelsoni) of bighorn sheep."

Both mom and lamb are doing well. When not nursing, keepers have observed the lamb periodically venturing away from mom to explore her new surroundings and romp around the exhibit at Condor Ridge.

"She's very brave for being just a week old," added Bingham. "You can tell though that mom keeps an eye on her and doesn't let her get too far away."

The Park's animal care staff has named the newborn lamb, Esther, after the Zoological Society of San Diego's postdoctoral field researcher Esther Rubin, Ph.D. Since 2001, Rubin has been conducting a long-term study in Anza Borrego on the critically endangered subspecies, Cremnobates, in an effort to learn more about the bighorn sheep's habitat use and behavior. Rubin's study is part of a collaborative effort with the California Department of Fish and Game, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, University of California in Davis and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, towards identifying the most effective conservation strategies for this highly vulnerable subspecies, which has disappeared from 14 mountain ranges.

The 1,800-acre San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (more than half of which has been set aside as protected native species habitat) is operated by the not-for-profit Zoological Society of San Diego. The Zoological Society also manages the 100-acre San Diego Zoo and the Center for Reproduction of Endangered Species (CRES), and is working to establish field stations in five key ecological areas worldwide.

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Media Contact: Paul Garcia +1 619-685-3291 pgarcia@sandiegozoo.org