THE MAMMAL FAUNA 



Extant forms 



The mammals of Alaska, like those of other 

 northern lands, represent a specialized fauna de- 

 rived from populations of further south. Some of 

 these forms are circumpolar in distribution ; many 

 of them have affinities with Siberian forms, for in 

 the geological past there was traffic in both direc- 

 tions over the intermittent land bridging the 

 Bering Strait. 



Extinct forms 



During the Ice Age, the fauna included such 

 forms as the dire wolf, saber-tooth tiger, giant 

 beaver, ground sloth, mastodon, woolly mam- 

 moth, and others, all extinct sinc« the Pleistocene, 

 as well as caribou, moose, and othere that are still 

 present. The horse, bison, and manmioth were 

 plentiful. As recently as the Pleistocene there 

 were lions, camels, wild horses, and yaks, but they 

 have disappeared from the Alaska scene. The 

 native musk ox apparently disappeared about 

 1850, and the sea otter nearly met the same fate. 



Introduced forms 



There have been many attempts to introduce 

 and transplant mammals in the State; some trans- 

 planted species have flourished, others persisted 

 only briefly. Many of these cases have been sum- 

 marized by Elkins and Nelson (195-1:). As early 

 as 1891, reindeer were imported from Siberia. 

 Mountain goats were introduced on Bai'anof Is- 

 land in 1923; beavers, muskrats, and snowshoe 

 hares on Kodiak Island in 1925 ; bison were fir.st 

 introduced in 1928, Roosevelt elk in 1929, and 

 musk oxen in 1930. In 1934, an allotment of 

 $25,000 was provided for restocking by the Alaska 

 Game Commission. This resulted in additional 

 plantings of black-tailed deer, martens, snowshoe 

 hares, beavers, muskrats, squirrels, and mannots. 

 Eaccoons were introduced by fur fanners in 1935, 

 and still persist on Prince of Wales Island. 

 Foxes were widely transplanted, particularly on 

 the Aleutians, some by the Russians early in the 

 19th centui-y. 



Although not distinguished by the variety of 

 its mammals, Alaska does possess some of the 

 world's most impressive creatures, both terrestrial 

 and marine, and at times they may be surprisingly 

 abundant. The pigmy shrew is one of the smallest 

 of all mammals; the big brown bear of Kodiak 

 Island is the world's largest land carnivore; the 

 gray wolf of Alaska has been known to attain a 

 weight of 175 pounds; the moose of the Kenai 

 Peninsula hold the record as trophy heads. 



A summary of the 103 species of mammals now 

 occurring in Alaska is tabulated below. Details 

 concerning each will be found beyond. 



List of Species 



Order INSECTIVORA 



Family Soricidae, shrews page 8. 



Sorex cinereus Masked or common 



shrew. 



Sorex tundrensis Tundra shrew. 



Sorex jacksoni St. LawTence Island 



shrew. 



Sorex hydrodromus Unalaska shrew. 



Sorex pribilofensis Pribilof shrew. 



Sorex obscurjis Dusky shrew. 



Sorex palustris Northern water shrew. 



Sorex alaskanus Alaska water shrew. 



Microsorex hoyi Pigmy shrew. 



Order CHIROPTERA 



Family Vespertilionidae, plain-nosed bats page 13. 



Myotis lucifugus Little brown bat. 



Myotis keeni Keen's bat. 



Myotis volans Long-legged bat. 



Myotis californicus California bat. 



Lasionyderis nocti- Silver-haired bat. 



vagans. 

 Eptesicus fiiscus Big brown bat. 



Order LAGOMORPHA 



-page 



14. 



Family Ochotonidae, pikas 



Ochotona collaris Cony or pika. 



Family Leporidae, hares and rabbits page 15 



Lepus othiis Tundra or Arctic hare. 



Lepus americanus Snowshoe or varying 



hare. 



