MAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ALASKA 



By Frank Dufresne 



Executive Officer, Alaska Game Commission, and Resident Representative of , 

 Fish and Wildlife Service 



THE TERRITORY 



IT IS SIGNIFICANT that the only objects of vahie that the Russian 

 discoverers of Alaska took back to Asia two centuries ago were 

 furs. The lustrous pelts of the sea otter found instant favor with 

 royalty and were the driving ui"ge that brought about the first white 

 colonization of the Territory. The fur resources have continued to 

 play an important part in the development of Alaska, together with 

 an abundance of a variety of fishes and big-game animals and of a few 

 widely distributed game birds. These furnished a dependable source 

 of supply of food for the early explorers and settlers, and even now if 

 the fur and game supply should be depleted, large parts of Alaska 

 could not support a human population. 



Alaska, with its 590,884 square miles, is one-fifth the size of the 

 entire 48 States. Its great expanse will be appreciated by comparing 

 a map of the Territory with one of the United States, which shows 

 that north and south Alaska would extend from Canada to Mexico, 

 and east and west from Georgia to California (fig. 1). It is twice the 

 size of Texas and nearly 120 times that of Rhode Island. Its human 

 population of 72,524 is scattered at the rate of about 1 to every 8 

 square miles, a density that is readily compared with 44 per square 

 mile for the 48 States, 24 for Texas, and 674 for Rhode Island. In- 

 cluded in the Territory are more than 3,000 islands, 1,100 of which 

 are in tlie Alexander Archipelago in southeastern Alaska. The total 

 coast line is about 26,000 miles. 



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