Bighorner

Bighorners are creatures found in the Mojave Wasteland, and Zion Canyon in 2281.

Background
Bighorners are mutated bighorn sheep that live in the areas' high mountains. While settlers use them for their horns, meat, and hides, it has been observed that they can usually be found in close proximity to a banana yucca fruit, making for rather effective herb tracking. Several settlements, such as Goodsprings and Jacobstown, have domesticated them for a source of fresh meat.

Biology
Bighorners are mutated bighorn sheep from the areas' high mountains of the American Southwest. Humans have since domesticated them for their horns, meat, milk, and hides, but wild herds can be found in mountainous regions, usually in close proximity to banana yucca fruit, which the bighorners love. This makes them rather instrumental in herb tracking. Several settlements, such as Goodsprings and Jacobstown, keep domesticated bighorners in order to survive.

Bighorners are herbivorous and are primarily found in wild herds of three to seven in the Mojave Wasteland, or in domesticated drifts of varying size in settlements such as Goodsprings, Jacobstown, Spring Mt. Ranch State Park, or around Cottonwood Cove. Some more wild bighorners can also be found northwest of Snyder Prospector Camp and as far as Zion Canyon. Bighorners are communal animals; if one member of the herd is distressed, the entire herd becomes aggressive.

They are generally "laid-back" beasts with surprisingly docile dispositions, in spite of being quite capable of being extremely dangerous when provoked. However, according to Easy Pete they cannot be used as pack animals, as "they just lie down until you take [the load] off". Strangely, ewes grow horns just like rams; this is most likely caused by mutations due to exposure to radiation.

Gameplay attributes
In combat situations, bighorners are unique in that they are rarely outright hostile unlike most other creatures. Though marked as hostiles on the compass, unprovoked bighorners will not actively pursue the player character like other creatures, and if left alone, are content to graze and mind their own business. They will not attack unless something comes within four to five feet of them or their young. If this barrier is trespassed, they will rear their heads up and bellow, at which point they will charge and ram into their foe.

Bighorners cannot take a huge amount of abuse (they are squarely on par with a radscorpion in terms of health), but their head-butting attacks are devastating, capable of sending enemies flying backwards or knocking them down. Bighorners can also run very fast.

Bighorner
A regular bighorner with all the attributes mentioned above. Bighorners are not hostile unless provoked and are commonly found in the woods in the northwest area of the map near Jacobstown and the Silver Peak Mine, the cliffs east of Nipton, near Lake Vegas and Camp Golf, and near Snyder Prospector Camp.

Bighorner bull
Bighorner bulls are stronger, larger versions of bighorners, and are likely to be found in any herd of bighorners in the wild, and can completely replace regular bighorners at higher levels.

A killed bighorner bull can drop up to five pieces of bighorner meat, which can be turned into bighorner steak at a campfire.

Bighorner bulls can cause a lot of damage when attacking in packs, as their charges will continue to knock the Courier over until they are beyond their range.

Bighorner calf
Bighorner calves are small, younger bighorners that have not fully matured, and grown to full size. They can be found in any bighorner herd in the wild.

Like normal bighorners, calves can also be found in towns, domesticated and raised for their meat and hides. Be wary of killing penned-up calves; unlike the free roaming ones, these are often guarded by ranchers that become hostile if any harm comes to their livestock.

Young bighorner
Young bighorners are roughly a third of the size of their fully grown counterparts, with far fewer Hit Points. While they are not hostile when standing near them, attacking one of these will cause their nearby family members to turn hostile and attack.

Malnourished bighorner
Malnourished bighorners have been deprived of food and are near death. Quite a few can be found at the Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm. They are not hostile even if the Courier moves close to them, most likely due to the fact it has no energy to fend off attackers, let alone charge them.

Malnourished bighorner calf
Malnourished bighorner calves are extremely rare, as are their brahmin counterparts, the malnourished brahmin calf. A malnourished bighorner calf is guaranteed to be found at Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm. They can also be found near Cottonwood Cove. They do not respawn if killed. They are not hostile even if the Courier gets near them.

Lost Mountain bighorner calf
The Lost Mountain bighorner calf is located north of the Dead Horses camp up in the mountains. Just follow the paths up and around, and eventually there will be a narrow canyon path with the lost bighorner calf at the end. Guiding this calf back to its mother is the object of the quest Bighorners of the Eastern Virgin.

Locations

 * A few bighorners can be found on the path to Jacobstown.
 * There is a large number of bighorners near Snyder Prospector Camp; around 8-12 bighorners can be found here.
 * Several malnourished bighorners and their calves can be found at Matthews Animal Husbandry Farm.
 * Several of them can be found north of Bonnie Springs and south of Red Rock Canyon.
 * Several can be found at Spring Mt. Ranch State Park.
 * Several can be found around the Follower's outpost and near Camp Golf.
 * Several groups can be found on the cliffs around the road from Nipton to Novac (on the right-hand side if traveling from Nipton).

Appearances
Bighorners appear in Fallout: New Vegas and the add-on Honest Hearts.

Bugs
Old World Blues changed the bighorner knockdown script to provide the effect of the sonic emitter - Gabriel's bark weapon, which subsequently broke the script for the bighorners themselves.
 * Lonesome Road includes a new bighorner script that fixes this problem.

Sounds

 * Attacking bighorner
 * Bighorner chewing
 * Breathing bighorner
 * Death sound
 * Reacting bighorner