In its most recent production, Conservation Media followed researcher Jack Hogg into the field to watch baby bighorn sheep at play in the Northern Rockies. Practicing what they’ll have to do as adults, the rambunctious lambs jump on ledges, run about and even occasionally ram one another.

But it’s not all fun and games. Hogg has studied bighorn sheep for more than 30 years, and is worried about the potentially fatal impact climate change is having on these animals. The reproductive cycles of bighorn sheep are timed with the same cycles of the plants found in their mountainous homes. But differences in average rainfall and temperature caused by climate change is altering the time when plants are at their most productive.

This shift may leave nursing mothers without enough food, and could be devastating for the survival of bighorn sheep. According to Hogg, “If we keep on the path we’re going, we’re just gonna to have to live with a very messy fallout.”

Watch this beautiful footage to learn more.

Learn more:

Watch Conservation Media’s films on wolverines, sage grouse and the preservation of open space.

See how climate change is impacting the Northern Rockies on our interactive map.

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