Stephen Fishel, age 11, of Clarksville, Tenn., for his question:

What kind of animal is the bighorn?

The bighorn is one of the most agile acrobats on earth. He has to be, for his native home is in the jagged pinnacles of our western mountains. He is a wild mountain sheep named for his massive pair of curved rams horns. Even Mrs. Bighorn wears horns though they are merely slender spikes curving up and backwards.

We think of a mountain goat as a sure‑Footed climber. But, compared to the bighorn sheep, he is slow and clumsy. The bighorn seems to climb up a precipice and leap straight down a 200‑foot cliff. Actually, he does neither. Nor does he land on his horns to break his fall as some people say. However, he moves so fast that we need a slow‑motion camera to be sure how he does it.

The hooves of the bighorn are especially fitted for mountain climbing. They are padded with spongy cushions which break the shock when he lands and cling to prevent him from slipping. He leaps with head down and, from a distance, he does seem to land on his horns. Actually he lands with all four feet close together.

Coming down a steep cliff he leaps from ledge to ledge, pausing only to spring. The ledges are so small and the pauses so short that, from a distance, he seems to take one suicide plunge from top to bottom of the cliff. Actually he comes down in a series of 20‑foot leaps. But ho dogs this acrobatic trick at breakneck speed.

All through the summer the bighorn looks down on the world from his rocky crags. He leads his enemies, the lynx and the puma, a merry chase and dines on grass and flowers. In winter, he descends to forage on lower ground.

In size the bighorn is larger than the domestic sheep and he door not wear a woolly coat. A big ram may well weigh 350 pounds and stand 40 inches at shoulder level. His coat is made of coarse hair, brownish on the head and back and aaler below. He is a stocky animal and he wears his huge, handsome curved horns with pride.

The children are left to the care of the mothers. The papas go off to live a bachelor life before the lambs are born. A group of mothers pool their youngsters and bring them up in a herd.. One mother, the oldest and wisest, keeps watch. She stands like a statue on a lofty ledge and not much escapes her keen smell, hearing and eyesight. At the first sign of danger the whole troupe of acrobats is off at top speed.

At one time there were bighorns in the mountains from the Canadian border to Arizona. But hunters reduced their numbers. There are some left in the wildest mountains and, of course there are many safe in our national darks. In most places it is now against the law to hunt these agile acrobats. If you want to shoot a bighorn sheep, use a camera and, for best results, a slow‑motion camera.