^FAMMALS AND BIRDS OF ALASK.^ 15 



BIG GAME TRANSPLANTED 

 ELK 



Experiments have hvon made ui the introduction of game animals 

 that could subsist \ii)on certain foods not much utilized by native 

 Alaskan species. A shipment of 8 Roosevelt elk, liberated on Afognak 

 Island in 1927, has increased to a present herd of 200 or more fme, 

 healthy animals. It is believed that the larger neighboring island of 

 Kodiak Mill at some time be naturally stocked from this herd. 



BUFFALO 



Another hiteresting and successful transplanting experiment was 

 that of moving 23 buffaloes in 1928 from the National Bison Range, 

 in Montana, to the Big Delta section southeast of Fairbanks on the 

 Ta]iana River (fig. MV). From tlic v(My fu-st tliese animals showed 



FicuRE 16. — Buffalo reintroduced into Alaska — Big Delta section. (Photo by 

 Calvin Gripes.) 



complete ability to care for themselves. The herd now manbers 

 nearh' 300 animals, has withstood the severest w^inter weather, and is 

 increasing at a gratifying rate. 



MUSK ox 



The reintroductioxi of musk oxen to Alaska, after an absence of 

 about 75 years, was accomplished in 1930. At one time these shaggy- 

 coated (fig. 17) ruminants appear to have been fauiy well distributed 

 along the Arctic coast, but owing to lack of fear of man they were 

 exterminated by the early wdialers and traders. In 1930, 34 individ- 

 uals, captured in Greenland, were brought to Fau-banks. The herd 

 was later placed on Nunivak National Wildlife Refuge, in Bermg 

 Sea, where it has increased to more than 90 animals. 



REINDEER 



Though not strictly classed as wildlife, the reindeer, semidomesti- 

 cated relative of the caribou, mav be mentioned as one of the earliest 



