302 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Sea coast, in most of the Kuskokwim region, along the lower 

 Yukon, and in the vicinity of Norton Sound, and much of this 

 area is now occupied by domestic reindeer" (Murie, 1935). 



(2) The Alaska Range herds, consisting of scattered bands 

 along the entire length of the Alaska Range. Murie believes 

 that an approximate estimate of this group would be between 

 25,000 and 30,000 animals, of which the principal aggregation 

 is included in Mount McKinley National Park. 



(3) Northern herds, including the scattered remnants on 

 the Arctic slope, comprise the animals "ranging along the 

 Endicott Mountains, through the upper Koyukuk and Chanda- 

 lar watershed, across the Porcupine into Yukon Territory." 

 An estimate of 60,000 for the animals of this area is "probably 

 conservative." In early times caribou were plentiful along 

 the Arctic coast, but "in later years they largely disappeared 

 in this area, owing no doubt partly to the activities of whalers, 

 fur traders, and natives." 



(4) The Yukon-Tanana herds, which comprise the largest 

 numbers of all, occupy the country west of the Mackenzie 

 River, on the uplands between the Yukon and Tanana Rivers. 

 Migrations of these herds, often numbering many thousands 

 of animals, are described by Murie from accounts gathered. 

 Except locally, their numbers show no depletion of importance. 



GRANT'S CARIBOU 

 RANGIFER ARCTICUS GRANTI J. A. Allen 



Rangifer granti J. A. Allen, Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 16, p. 122, Mar. 31, 



1902 ("Western end of Alaska peninsula, opposite Popoff Island"). 

 FIGS.: Allen, J. A., 1902a, figs. 1-6 (skulls and antlers). 



The caribou of the Alaska Peninsula and Unimak Island is 

 distinguished by "averaging somewhat smaller and paler than 

 R. a. stonei, many antlers diverging widely and with sharply 

 recurving beams, although these antler characters may not 

 hold uniformly in a large series." The average length of the 

 maxillary tooth row is 94.5 mm., or about as in stonei. 



"In their present depleted numbers" the caribou of the 

 peninsula are "islolated from the interior herds" but appear 

 to have been "sufficiently isolated to form a local race" 

 (Murie, 1935). The antlers show a "tendency toward wide 

 divergence of the beams," which "average lighter in weight 



