Distribution of Alaskan Mammals 



Growing interest in tlie native fauna of the 

 State of Alaska, on the part of students, tourists, 

 and those ciiarged with management of wildlife, 

 has prompted publication of this circular. Mam- 

 mal specimens were taken in Alaska by Robert 

 Kennicott and others before the purchase of the 

 Territory in 1867 (Herber, 1954), and much mate- 

 rial is now available in the national collections. 

 The maps presented here summarize the data of 

 interest to those concerned with manmial distribu- 

 tion; there remains the long-term problem of sys- 

 tematic revision of many of the groups. This 

 publication is therefore preliminary in nature, to 

 be followed (it is hoped) after some years by a 

 more thorough treatment of tlie Alaskan mam- 

 mals. Those desiring further details on natural 

 history, aids to identification, and such matters, 

 are referred to the Selected References (p. 71). 



THE ENVIRONMENT 



The vast State of Alaska encompas.ses an area 

 of some 586,400 square miles (571,065 of land, 

 15,335 of inland water), about one-sixth of all the 

 United States. It stretches 1,300 miles north and 

 south, 2,400 miles east and west. Along its 33,000 

 miles of deeply indented coastline are more than 

 3,000 islands, large and small. Elevations range 

 from sea level to iiO,oO(] feet at the sunnnit of 

 Mount McKinley in the Alaska Range — highest 

 point on the continent. Alpine conditions obtain 

 also in the Brooks Range and in the Kuskokwim, 

 Baird, Richardson, St. Elias, Wrangell, and Coast 

 Mountains, and elsewhei'e. Such rivei-s as the 

 Yukon, Kuskokwim, Tanana, Matanuska, Sus- 

 itna, Kobuk, Porcupine, Copper, Noatak, Colville, 

 Koyukuk, and Chandalar drain the mainland. 



Physiography 



Alaska today is a country of glaciers and fog- 

 swept shores, of ice-clad peaks and erupting vol- 

 canoes, of endless tundra, flat coastal plain, and 

 permanently frozen sul)soil beyond the Arctic 

 Circle, of countless rivers and lakes. The present 

 scenery is, of course, the result of millennia of 

 action by geologic forces. The oldest known rocks 

 in Ala.ska, originally laid down as sediments in the 



sea, are from the Precambrian era — over 520 

 million years ago. During later times the country 

 was subjected to inundation by, and emergence 

 from, the ocean ; to violent earth movements that 

 buckled and fractured the surface, raising moun- 

 tains and flooding coastlines; to volcanic activity 

 which still continues on a small scale; to climates 

 alternately hot and cold, at times almost subtropi- 

 cal as far north as the Arctic Slope; and finally, 

 during the Ice Age of perhaps a million years ago, 

 to glaciers that covered most of the land, advanc- 

 ing and retreating and carving the earth as they 

 moved. 



During all this time, land surfaces above the 

 sea were constantly eroded by wind, wave, frost, 

 water, or ice. As the glaciers grew, the sea level 

 dropped, and parts of the present Bering Strait 

 became dry land, providing an avenue for move- 

 ment of animals eastward and westward. Now the 

 clinuite has moderated, the sea has regained a 

 higher level, and only remnants of the glaciers are 

 left — but the work they did put the finishing 

 touches on the present landscapes. 



The results of these geologic processes are the 

 diverse landforms of today. Four principal re- 

 gions are recognized in Alaska (Williams, 1958), 

 each with its distinctive characteristics because 

 of different geologic evolution. These regions in 

 turn are subdivided into 14 smaller areas, or physi- 

 ographic provinces, as follows : 



Pacific Mountain System : 



1. Southea.stern Alaslta. 



2. St. Bjlias Range. 



3. Chugach-Kenai Mountain.s, and Kodialv Island. 



4. Wrangell Mountains. 



5. Copper River Plateau. 



6. Talkeetna Mountain.s. 



7. Susitna-Cools Inlet Lowland. 

 S. Alaska Range. 



9. Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian I.slands. 

 Interior Alaska and Western Alaska : 



10. Scattered lowlands and plains, including the 



islands of the Bering Sea. 



11. Highlands, scattered. 



12. Seward Peninsula. 

 Brooks Range. 



Arctic Slope : 

 i;i. Foothills. 

 14. Coastal Plain. 



