Left: Atnorii; lite ttniny iirvol ntoiintiiin chains lluit slriiilJlr 

 Maskii arc cotintlt'ss U-shaped ami Ivvcl valleys such as this 

 with gently curvittii sides goufied out by flowing ice. 



Right: The porcupines of Alaska and the Northwest are very 

 large and covered with long hairs that hide their spines. 



more e.isily distiiiRuishcd. Thfv live today only along a narrow 

 strip of territory from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to Glacier 

 Bay and they stay strictly within the coastal rainforest belt 

 These animals vary considerably in size, and there are eight 

 distinct races described. These are Ursus sitkensis from the 

 Baranof and Chichagof Islands; U. shirisi from Admiralty Island 

 only; (/. sheldom from Montague Island; V . dalli, gyas. and 

 kriiaicnsis from the mainland; and finally the famous Ursus 

 middeiidorjfi from Kodiak Island and the adjacent mainland. 

 The last is customarily stated to be the largest flesh-eater on 

 earth. This is inaccurate, since the Killer Whale exceeds it in 

 bulk by about one hundred times. A large male Kodiak Bear 

 standing on its hind legs can top twelve feet, and is indeed the 

 largest land animal that (sometimes) eats flesh. 



These so-called Brown Bears are not by any means all brown. 

 Some of the island races are black, at least in certain phases or 

 at certain times of the year, or even from year to year. They are. 

 however, quite distinct, as may be seen by the shape of their 

 muzzles seen in profile, which are concave in front of the eyes, 

 instead of convex like those of the Polar and Black Bears. The 

 largest of these bears are very splendid and may weigh up to 

 fifteen hundred pounds. They are primarily fish-eaters but take a 

 great deal of vegetable food as well, and they eat insects, shell- 

 fish, mice, and more or less anything else they can get. They will 

 readily smack down any larger animal they happen to stumble 

 upon, but they are not hunters. As a general rule they do not 

 take umbrage at the approach of humans, but they have a habit 

 of gathering in considerable numbers; and if they are encoun- 

 tered thus gathered in areas where they do not know humans, 

 they may become exceedingly aggressive and are then frightfully 

 dangerous due to their enormous strength and great speed. They 

 can outgallop a horse, track through water faster than any other 

 animal, and outswim almost any other land animal. A large 

 brown bear has been seen pulling the head off an adult moose! 



The Black Bear (Euarctos), which we will meet more inti- 



.^ > 





mately later, is also found in this province and. most confusingly, 

 all over it. including the territory of both the grizzled and the 

 ordinary Brown Bears. Even more confusing for the naturalist, 

 it also varies greatly in size and comes in a variety of colors 

 from almost pure white on Gribble Island in British Columbia, 

 through pale grayish blue (the "Glacier" Bear) mostly from 

 around Yakutat Bay, coffee colored, cinnamon, reddish brown, 

 and black with brown face, to pure black. Even so, this species 

 should never be mistaken, for the shape of its head is distinctive 

 and it does not have the hump over the shoulders that is so 

 characteristic of the dish-faced bears. 



Alaska is a country in every sense of the word — politically, 

 naturally, and actually. We have really only started to learn 

 what is in it. It has already produced many surprises; it will 

 assuredly produce more, and if you can believe the hints the old- 

 timers give you. the best place to look for these is probably in 

 the great Mackenzie Range, tucked away in the back of nowhere. 



