[1] Populations of the desert bighorn sheep declined drastically with European colonization of the American Southwest beginning in the 16th century.

[6] As of 2004, desert bighorn sheep numbers remained extremely low, although the overall population trend had increased since 1960.

Due to their unique concave elastic hooves,[7] bighorn are able to climb the steep, rocky terrain of the desert mountains with speed and agility.

They rely on their keen eyesight to detect potential predators, such as mountain lions, coyotes, and bobcats, and they use their climbing ability to escape.

Some may go without visiting water for weeks or months, sustaining their body moisture from food and from rainwater collected in temporary rock pools.

Wildlife ecologists are just beginning to study the importance of this adaptive strategy, which has allowed small bands of desert bighorns to survive in areas too dry for many of their predators.

Facing each other, rams charge head-on from distances of 20 ft (6.1 m) or more, crashing their massive horns together with tremendous impact, until one or the other ceases.

[8] The number of desert bighorn sheep in North America in prehistoric times is unknown, but most likely was in the tens of thousands.

[6][10] In 1939, after intense lobbying by Frederick Russell Burnham and the Arizona Boy Scouts, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a proclamation to establish two desert areas in southwestern Arizona to help preserve the desert bighorn sheep: Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge and the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge.

[6] In Southwestern Utah, desert bighorns were largely extirpated by 1960, until 14 sheep were re-introduced into Zion National Park in 1978.

The herd has now grown to over 500 animals, to the point that they often come in contact with visitors in the eastern part of the park, and may begin spreading into surrounding agriculture areas with domesticated sheep.

These gains, combined with Bush administration policies, prompted the US Fish and Wildlife Service to propose a reduction in protected sheep habitat by more than 50%, from 844,897 to 384,410 acres (3,419.18 to 1,555.65 km2).

[20][22] In 2020, three Texas Parks and Wildlife Department employees died in a helicopter accident working on desert bighorn sheep conservation.

Prior to release, all animals were fitted with GPS collars, tagged, and tested negative for the Mycoplasma ovipneumonia bacteria.

[24] In 2023 the desert bighorn was featured on a United States Postal Service Forever stamp as part of the Endangered Species set, based on a photograph from Joel Sartore's Photo Ark.