Snow sheep
Ovis nivicola Eschscholtz, 1829
Status not recordedmammals
The snow sheep (Ovis nivicola) is a species in the family Bovidae, order Artiodactyla. Recorded adults weigh 69.1 kg to 119 kg and live up to 24 years.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the snow sheep
- Weight
- 69.1 kg – 119 kg
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 20.6 years – 24 years
- Diet
- Herbivore
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Gestation
- 180 days
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1
- Age at maturity
- 23.6 months – 2.05 years
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrial
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the snow sheep live?
Not recorded
Is the snow sheep endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the snow sheep classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderArtiodactyla
- familyBovidae
- genusOvis
- SpeciesOvis nivicola Eschscholtz, 1829
Other names and names in other languages (30)
- Asian bighornEnglish
- Asiatic bighornEnglish
- Siberian bighornEnglish
- Siberian bighorn sheepEnglish
- SneeuskaapAfrikaans
- خرف الثجArabic
- ovce sněžnáCzech
- SchneeschafGerman
- Oveja de las nievesSpanish
- LumilammasFinnish
- Mouflon des neigersFrench
- Pecora delle neviItalian
- ユキヒツジJapanese
- 시베리아빅혼Korean
- SnøsauNorwegian Bokmål
- KamtsjatkasneeuwschaapDutch
- owca śnieżnaPolish
- Carneiro-das-nevesPortuguese
- ЧубукRussian
- Снежна овца / Snežna ovcaSerbian
- Asiatiskt snöfårSwedish
- 雪山盤羊Chinese
- خروف كبير القرون السيبيريArabic
- siperianlammasFinnish
- Muflone delle neviItalian
- シベリアビッグホーンJapanese
- ТолсторогRussian
- Снежный баранRussian
- ChubukRussian
- Snezhnyi BaranRussian
Relatives of the snow sheep
Other species in the same genus Ovis.

Argali
Ovis ammon

Bighorn sheep
Ovis canadensis

Urial
Ovis vignei
Thin-horn
Ovis dalli
Mouflon
Ovis gmelini
Ewe
Ovis aries
CompareSnow sheep vs ArgaliSnow sheep vs Bighorn sheepSnow sheep vs UrialSnow sheep vs Thin-horn
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the snow sheep?
An adult snow sheep weighs 69.1 kg – 119 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
How long does the snow sheep live?
The snow sheep has a recorded lifespan of 20.6 years – 24 years.
How long is the snow sheep pregnant?
The recorded gestation period is 180 days.
What kind of animal is the snow sheep?
The snow sheep (Ovis nivicola) belongs to the family Bovidae in the order Artiodactyla.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits · CC BY 4.0 · v1
Oliveira, B.F., São-Pedro, V.A., Santos-Barrera, G., Penone, C. & Costa, G.C. (2017) AmphiBIO, a global database for amphibian ecological traits. Scientific Data 4: 170123. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.123. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4644424.v5 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Snow sheep (Ovis nivicola). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/snow-sheep
“Snow sheep (Ovis nivicola).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/snow-sheep.
@misc{snow_sheep_2026,
title = {Snow sheep (Ovis nivicola)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/snow-sheep},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}