Adolph Murie

“ How empty the woods and willow patches become with the decline of the rabbits and the departure of the lynx. It is like an empty stage after the actors have finished their play and departed. Scattered through the quiet woods are their signs of life and activity, but the action has stopped. On the tall willows, 6 feet from the ground, is the gnawed white rabbit-line, where rabbits had sat on the snow and gnawed the bark within reach. In places the ground is littered with severed twigs, many of them partially gnawed. ”

“ All the plants and animals enjoy a natural and normal life without human restrictions. Freedom prevails—the foxes are free to dig burrows where they will; to hunt ptarmigan, ground squirrels and mice as the spirit moves; and they share in the ownership of the blueberry and crowberry patches. The grizzlies wander over their ancestral home unmolested; dig roots and ground squirrels, graze grass, and harvest berries according to whatever menu appeals to them. The “bad” wolf seeks an honest living as of yore; he is a respected citizen, morally on a par with everyone else. ”

“ A drive from the Nenana River, the eastern boundary, to Wonder Lake, some 90 miles to the west and directly north of Mount McKinley, is always a fresh adventure. No two days are the same. One day we may see more grizzlies than usual; on another trip we may be especially fortunate and catch sight of a wolf or a wolverine. It is desirable to drive slowly and to stop occasionally to examine the landscape for animal life—the mountains for Dall sheep, the river bars and passes for grizzlies and caribou, and the water, for birds, beaver, or moose. ”

“ In the winter hunting, the old and weak animals are the most susceptible. It is a struggle, a testing for all, but through the ages, the sheep, moose, and caribou have survived and come down to us adapted to their particular way of life, with the wolf as one of the environmental factors.
At McKinley we have an opportunity to preserve a northern flora and fauna. But the future of the wolf is precarious because the home range of the park wolves extends beyond park boundaries into territory where the wolf has no protection, where there is a bounty on his head. ”

“ The only animal that the grizzly consistently hunts in the park is the ground squirrel, but a squirrel contributes only a mouthful and its capture usually requires excessive time and energy. Sometimes a squirrel is surprised and captured before it can disappear in a burrow. But generally a squirrel is secured only after extensive excavating which may involve as much as half an hour, and not infrequently the bear, after much digging, fails to unearth his intended victim. ”

“ The steep terrain is, so to speak, part of their legs. In my studies in the park, the losses showed that it was the very old, the ailing, and the lambs in their first winter that were most vulnerable to predation. The lynx (when rabbit numbers have crashed and these animals have become scarce) , wolverine, and grizzly may capture an occasional sheep but their effect is unimportant. The golden eagle may capture an occasional young lamb, but all my observations and food-habit studies indicate that any eagle predation that takes place is insignificant. ”

“ When attacked by a dog, a wolverine has been seen to lie on its back in a defensive attitude, a position that was effective. Powerful ripping claws and jaws face the attack.
Not much quantitative information has been gathered on his food habits. I have watched him pouncing on mice and suspect that mice (voles) and lemmings are the most important items in his diet. In summer he captures ground squirrels, sometimes by doing some digging. Once I noted that he had dug out a wasp nest hidden in the ground. The calves of caribou and moose, when very young, are no doubt potential victims. ”

“ The food habits of the black bear are similar to those of the grizzly, but in general they spend more time turning over rocks and tearing apart logs in search of insect life. They feed on herbs and grass, are fond of berries, hunt mice and dig out ground squirrels, and are ever on the alert for carrion. In the Rocky Mountains and on the West Coast, they occasionally strip the bark from trunks of spruces, pines, and firs in order to feed on the inner cambium layer. Along the coast of Alaska they sometimes congregate to feed on spawning salmon. ”

“ The snowshoe hare is one of the more obvious examples of a cyclic species. From acute scarcity the population in about 10 years pyramids until the country is full of rabbits. The woods are alive with a variety of activity. Enterprise, lovemaking, and tragedy are at their peak. Not only have the rabbits multiplied, but their enemies have flourished, and the lynx, fox, wolverine and birds of prey have all prospered, and certain enemies such as the lynx, become especially abundant. ”

“ Ground squirrels are an important factor in the park ecology. They furnish about 90 percent of the golden eagle’s diet, and in some localities they are the chief food of the gyrfalcon. The wolf at times feeds extensively on them, and they contribute heavily, sometimes 50 percent, to the fox diet. The information available indicates that the wolverine often captures them, and with the disappearance of the rabbits, the lynx deigns to hunt them for a season. For the grizzly they furnish his most dependable taste of meat. The bears spend many hours excavating for ground squirrels. ”

“ His long legs are thicker than seem necessary to support the lean body, but they are no doubt valuable for long jumps and pouncing. The large, widespreading feet serve him well as snowshoes, and strong, curved claws enable him to scramble readily up a tree. The eyes are startlingly big and yellow and the throat ruff gives to the face a squarish look. Long, glistening black tassels adorn the ears. The stub tail, about 4 inches long and tipped with black, serves to register emotions. The winter fur is soft and grayish, with few markings except for the facial pattern ”

“ Sharp claws and squirrel agility give him the climbing ability to get quickly up a tree. Where trees are widely spaced as they are in some stands of large cottonwoods, he may in winter make a five-point landing in the snow, his broad thickly-furred tail serving as rudder and gliding surface, and to a less extent as a landing ski. I have seen tracks showing a touch and a raise before the final landing with legs drawn under; then follow long jumps over the snow to the nearest tree. The nest is usually built in a tree cavity. ”

“ Like the ptarmigan and the northern weasel, the snowshoe rabbit, or varying hare, each autumn changes from a dominantly brown summer coat to a white winter ensemble. (In Washington where snow is scarce in its habitat, the snowshoe rabbit remains brown the year round.) His coat color blends at all seasons with his background, so all he need do to be fairly sure of escaping visual detection is to have confidence in his camouflage and sit motionless. The fur is so long, thick, and warm that he can sit all day in fifty below zero weather without freezing. ”

“ But the wolf also, and primarily, feeds on the ungulates—the mountain sheep, caribou, and moose. Under natural conditions the relationship between the wolf and these prey species is old and tried. There is the aphorism, “nothing in nature offends nature.” In the hunting of these animals the wolf appears to be an evolutionary force in that there is a tendency for the weaker individuals to succumb.
In spring the wolf hunts the caribou calves, which early develop surprising speed, so that when a wolf chases a group of caribou, the calves race along with the adults. ”

“ Perhaps the height of night esthetics is lying in a sleeping bag under the open sky, the stars and moon lighting up the spaces between the trees, and watching a family of flying squirrels gliding overhead in their night play, their shadowy forms silhouetted against the moonlit sky. ”

“ Each jump usually leaves a set of three imprints; the one in front is made by a hind foot; the middle imprint is made by a hind foot falling in the track of a front foot; the rear imprint is made by the other front foot. As in the tracks of a hopping rabbit, the hind feet tend to be brought up ahead of the front feet.
The wolverine readily climbs trees. One winter, near a moose carcass, tracks in the snow showed that a wolf had chased a wolverine up a tree on two or three occasions. ”

“ The fabled red fox is abundant, widely distributed over the park and frequently seen. Silver, cross, and red color phases, along with some intermediate variants, are well represented, and two or three of these types frequently show up in a single litter. The prominent white tip on the tail distinguishes the fox from the coyote and wolf.
Hundreds of dens are scattered over the countryside, many more than are used in any one season. They are located indiscriminately in spruce woods and out on the open tundra miles from the nearest tree. ”

“ The mouse populations have a tremendous influence on our wildlife economy. Foxes, martens, weasels, owls, hawks and a host of others feed extensively on this fauna and react to its abundance. When the lemming increase in the north, the snowy owls (and others) increase, and when the lemming become scarce, these owls come south in search of food and we have the snowy owl invasions, especially in north-central and eastern states. In 1955, when mice were abundant, the hawk owls in the park reached a high point, but again became scarce when the mouse population dropped. ”

“ A male is apparently with a female for only a short time.
A number of animals are subject to cycles of extreme abundance and scarcity. The pendulum swings from one extreme to the other. A population, in spite of enemies of all kinds, increases until the numbers become so large that they threaten the food supply or, because of congestion, are drastically reduced by diseases. The length of cycle in a species depends upon annual losses and the rate of increase. Cycles are relatively short in voles and lemmings which breed at an early age (a few weeks) , breed often, and have large litters. ”

“ Because of the shrew’s small size and long nose, Alaskans frequently refer to them as long-nosed mice.
Thousands of shrews (four species) are vigorously active in the park but are rarely seen. Occasionally, one may be discovered crossing an open area, like a mechanical toy, or one may flash from cover and as quickly disappear. They share with the voles and lemmings the shade and darkness of the hidden runways beneath the moss and grassy cover. Here they are active predators, darting about in their search for prey. ”

“ Mice and lemmings are the staple all-year food, but in summer the ground squirrel may make up about half the diet. When snowshoe hares and ptarmigan are plentiful, they become prominent in the diet. Carrion is especially attractive in winter, and the fox attends carcasses and curls up on the snow to wait until the wolves and wolverine have eaten. He robs wolf and wolverine caches, and he sometimes has his own caches robbed. ”

“ Wolves raised in captivity from puppyhood are extremely friendly.
For a den, the wolf considers an enlarged fox burrow both convenient and suitable. Dens have been found in a variety of situations. One was located on a wooded rock bluff, another was beyond timber near the top of a bluff bordering a river, and one was on a wooded island between old river channels. The four to six young, probably the average size of litter, are born the early part of May. The mother remains at home with the pups and the male provides the victuals. ”

“ As the snow deepens, some foods are buried but the change of level brings new food supplies within reach. A variety of other shrubs are also eaten at this season. Spruce bark is relished. Porcupines, and also red squirrels, feeding in a spruce tree inadvertently add to the rabbit menu many dropped spruce twigs. In summer, the rabbits turn to a variety of fresh green foods.
The young of the snowshoe rabbit are furred and active when born and apparently there is no real nest provided. (In the cottontail branch of the family the young are born hairless, helpless and in a warm nest.) ”

“ The mother must sometimes protect her calf from prowling grizzlies and this she generally seems fully capable of doing, judging from incidents in which the bear is chased away by an infuriated mother. A large male grizzly, however, is apparently not easily discouraged. By autumn the calves have made a surprising growth and have a new coat that resembles that of the adults. They remain with the mother until near the time for a new calf, when she no longer tolerates their presence.
The moose is a wilderness animal, requiring for his haunts big country. ”

“ The tundra supports a growth of willow and dwarf birch. Over twenty kinds of willow occur in the park. They range in size from small forms only 2 or 3 inches in height, to brushy growths 20 feet tall. In places the small willows may grow dense enough to form a sod. These shrubs are highly important for wildlife. Alder brush is widely distributed and plentiful on canyon slopes; near Wonder Lake there are many clumps of alder in the rolling tundra.
The low ground cover over the park consists of mosses, lichens, sedges, grasses, horsetails, and herbaceous plants—many species of each. ”

“ Pieces of such bear trails may be seen a half mile above Teklanika bridge and a short distance below the bridge, on the west side of the river bar.
The grizzly has survived in only a few states, more by accident than by our planning for his future. In Alaska we have a great opportunity for giving the grizzly and the rest of the fauna ample room for carrying on their living in a natural, free manner. The grizzly needs extensive wilderness country for his way of life, and wild country is also vital for the highest development of human culture. ”