HAMILTON: MAMMALOGY IN NORTH AMERICA 677 



collections have increased correspondingly, approximately 10,000 specimens being 

 added since Doutt s survey in 1943. Smaller collections have increased accord- 

 ingly. The mammal collection at Cornell University has doubled in the past 

 nine years. It is quite likely that other museums have added materially to their 

 collections in the past decade. 



The Conservation of Mammals 



Early historians have left us with a record of the abundance of native mam- 

 mals a century ago. The once widespread distribution of the big game species 

 and their incredible numbers, even into the latter part of the nineteenth century, 

 has been faithfully catalogued. The primitive population of the bison has been 

 placed as high as 60,000,000, a figure which is probably extravagant. The prong- 

 horned antelope, native only to western North America and tj^pically a resident 

 of the Great Plains, probably rivaled the bison multitudes. In the middle of the 

 last century, the lordly American elk or wapiti roamed through eastern forests 

 from Quebec to Georgia. The whaling industry flourished, bringing riches to the 

 adventurous sea captains and their hardy crews. The pelts of fur animals were 

 much in demand, prompting hardy trappers and traders to invade the uncharted 

 wilderness in quest of a harvest. Many eastern towns, rivers, and lakes have taken 

 their names from the beaver, substantial evidence of its widespread distribution 

 during the past century. 



The eventual decline and near extirpation of many of our larger mammals 

 cannot be laid to any single cause. Insatiable greed and reckless slaughter by 

 man with no thought to the future was surely one of the major causes of this 

 decline. To be sure, the western plains could not support the livestock industry, 

 the rolling miles of wheat, and the hordes of buffalo. These great hoofed creatures 

 are now reduced to a few thousand semidomesticated animals herded on Federal 

 and private reservations. A free herd in the Wood Buffalo National Park of 

 Canada may be considered the only truly wild bison existing in North America. 

 Except for sporadic introductions, elk have disappeared from the East, and 

 are now largely restricted to the mountain country of the West. . By the turn of 

 the century, beaver had all but disappeared from the eastern forests. Market 

 hunting had been a notable instrument in the reduction of the deer. Settlement 

 of the country encouraged large-scale agricultural operations, while the trans- 

 continental railroad provided a ready means of getting wild meat to the eastern 

 markets. The continuing demand for hides and pelts resulted in further inroads 

 on our native mammals. Small wonder that state and Federal authorities and all 

 interested in our natural resources were alarmed at the appalling destruction. 

 Their concern is no less marked for species that today appear headed the way 

 of the bison. Less than a half-century ago the great Merriam elk, unable to com- 

 pete with cattle on the overgrazed range and susceptible to hunting pressure, 

 disappeared forever. Is the end at hand for the little Key deer, Odocoileus vir- 

 ginianus clavium t Inhabiting an area only 17 miles long and 15 miles wide, this 

 diminutive creature has the smallest range of any deer in the world. A full 

 grown buck of this elfin race stands but 25 inches at the shoulder and weighs 

 little more than 30 pounds. The entire population of the Florida Keys was esti- 

 mated at 57 individuals in January, 1952. 



