The Aoudad though neither a sheep nor a goat is still called the Aoudad Sheep as well as the Barbary sheep. The Aoudad is a native of the mountains of North Africa. Both the females as well as the males of this species have horns with the males of course having much bigger horns that curve out, back and then in toward the back, and has prominent wrinkles running horizontally across their entire length. The Aoudad is slightly whitish on its undersides but the prominent color is a slightly reddish tan. The males have an area of long hair running from the throat area to its brisket. There is also long hair on its front legs that look for all the world like chaps. A big male will tip the scales at around 250 pounds and the females around a 100 pounds.

An adult male Aoudad is probably one of the toughest of the exotics to put down and also one of the spookiest and wildest of the exotic species. Pictured below is the worlds record Aoudad taken with a handgun. This picture was taken about two months before the hunt.

Written by Steve Mahurin on August 24, 2000.