ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



39 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



0r;urtuirtlls : 



Birds 

 William Beebe. 

 Lee S. Crandall. 



Reptiles 



AVMOND L. Dll 



Published bi-monthly at the Office of the Society, 

 111 Broadway, New York City. 



Yearly by Mail, $1.00. 



MAILED FREE TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright, 1910, by the New York Zoological Society. 



Each author is responsible for the scientific accuracy 



and the proof reading of his contribution. 



Elwik R. Sanborn, 



Editor arid Official Photographer 



Vol. XXII. No. 2. 



March, 1919 



INCREASE OF DOMESTIC REINDEER 



IN ALASKA. 



By C. H. Townsend. 



THE February number of the Fisheries 

 Service Bulletin contains a report of the 

 resident agent of the Bureau of Fisheries 

 on the Prihilof Islands, respecting the domes- 

 ticated reindeer introduced there in 1911. 



The report is dated December, 1918, just 

 seven years after the deer were landed there. 

 The total number of animals received was 40. 

 The herd has increased to 269, although a num- 

 ber of males are slaughtered each year for fresh 

 meat. It is planned to increase the killing of 

 surplus males and thus lessen the number o! 

 sheep that have to be sent to the islands each 

 season. The increase indicates a satisfactory 

 condition of this entirely self-supporting herd 

 of reindeer. 



These deer are said to be 

 wild and difficult to drive, 

 resorting to the most ele- 

 vated and distant parts of 

 St. Paul and St. George is- 

 lands. 



The annual reports on the 

 Siberian domesticated rein- 

 deer introduced into north- 

 ern Alaska twenty-six years 

 ago, show that the reindeer 

 industry in Alaska is in a 

 most satisfactory condition. 

 There are now over 100,000 

 reindeer in that country, di- 

 vided into 98 herds. Of 

 these 67,448 are owned by 

 1 .568 natives. The income 

 of the natives from the rein- 

 deer industry during the 



year 1917 was $97,515. These figures could 

 be materially increased were the report for 

 1918 available. The distribution of the herds 

 now extends from the Arctic coast southward 

 to the Alaska Peninsula. 



A considerable amount of reindeer meat has 

 been sold in Seattle and other west coast cities 

 during the past three or four years. The sup- 

 ply of these valuable animals is now plentiful 

 and available. Small numbers should be placed 

 on at least a dozen of the large and mountain- 

 ous islands of the Aleutian Archipelago, all of 

 which are as well adapted for reindeer grazing 

 as the adjacent peninsula. Such a distribution 

 of reindeer would not only benefit the native 

 Aleutian islanders, now sadly reduced in num- 

 bers, but would convert these otherwise unused 

 pastures into profitable stock ranges yielding a 

 great meat and leather supply for the future. 



The larger of the islands are from 25 to 50 

 miles in length, with heights of 3.000 to 5,000 

 feet. Some of them have safe harbors, and 

 most of them are uninhabited. 



While the fisheries steamship Albatross was 

 at work in the Aleutians, I found all the islands 

 on which I landed to be covered with reindeer 

 moss high up into the hills. 



Shark Shins for Leather. — Manufacturers of 

 leather are much interested in the making of 

 leather from shark skins, and several of them 

 have called at the Aquarium seeking informa- 

 tion as to the supply of sharks. Some of them 

 have left attractive samples of leather made 

 from different species. These large and trou- 

 blesome fishes are abundant in many places, and 

 we are led to expect that profitable shark fish- 

 eries will be developed. 



IBERIAN DOMESTICATED REINDEER 

 graphed in Alaska in ihM by C. H. Townsend. 



