Animal A Day!

Caribou are also known as Reindeer, though that's mostly a European thing. In Canada and Alaska, wild creatures are Caribou, while the domesticated animals are sometimes called Reindeer. So because this is Alaska Week, and because I'll mostly be discussing the wild specimens, we're going to go with Caribou. There are seven subspecies of  Rangifer tarandus , only one of which, the Barren Ground Caribou, is found in Alaska. Two others, the Peary and Woodland, have ranges in Canada, while the other four are found in Europe and Greenland. There are over a million individual Caribou in Alaska, divided into 32 herds. These herds migrate, sometimes travelling up to 3,700 miles in a year. These migrations have been tracked and studied by scientists for years due to their massive range and overall distance. Caribou are unique as a deer species in that both the males and females have antlers, which they shed yearly. Antlers in males are substantially larger than those in female...

There are three species of King Crab fished commercially in Alaska, the Red King Crab, the Blue King Crab, and the Golden King Crab. A fourth species, the Scarlet King Crab , is also found in Alaskan waters, but is rare and does not support a commercial fishing industry. All four species belong to the overall super-family, Lithodoidea, which houses 113 living species overall. Golden King from Calacademy.com King crabs have five pairs of legs . The back pair are much smaller then the rest, and are usually hidden in the crab's carapace (body). They serve an important function during the mating season however, as females use them to tend to the embryos that she keeps under her tail, and they males use them in the fertilization process. The middle three sets of legs are used for walking, and the final set, that which is closest to the front of the body, sports pincers. In most crabs, the right claw is substantially larger than the left. Like most animals, the King Crab grows la...

So what is the difference between a Brown Bear, a Grizzly Bear, and a Kodiak Bear? A large part of it has to do with location. Brown Bears stick to the coastal areas, Grizzlies prefer inland habitats, and Kodiak Bears are native to a small chain of islands in Southern Alaska, where they have been isolated from the rest of the bear population since the last Ice Age. (12,000) years ago!) There are also a physical differences - most noticeably, a hump ! Grizzly have shoulder humps made up of fat and muscle that lend extra strength to their front legs, giving them a better ability to dig and swipe. Grizzlies also posses long, white-tipped guard hairs on their shoulders and backs that give them a " grizzled " appearance. Hence the name. There is also some pretty substantial sexual dimorphism going on with these guys, as the males can easily weigh double that of a female and be nearly 2 feet taller when standing on the hind legs. Grizzly bears are omnivores, notoriously consum...

Alaska's state fish, the Chinook Salmon, goes by a plethora of other names , including the King Salmon, Spring Salmon, Tyee Salmon, and Blackmouth Salmon. It is the largest of the pacific salmon, often exceeding 40lbs, and is and extremely important fish for commercial and sporting uses. They are found all along the Pacific coast, from the Bering Strait to Southern California. Image from Pacific Northwest National Library Male and female salmon differ in appearance, with the males possessing a hooked upper jaw and nose, some reddish coloration, and a ridged back. Females have a sleeker shape, blunt faces and grey coloring. Coloring in the males and females changes during spawning. The males also develop the hooked face at that time. Salmon are well known for their breeding practices. In the late summer/early fall, the normally ocean dwelling salmon make for deep, freshwater streams in order to spawn. Young fish (fry) remain in the freshwater environments for...

The Canada Lynx ( Lynx canadesis ) is the only wild cat found in Alaska. This initially surprised me, since I assumed Mountain Lions made it up there as well, but their range stops just south of the state. This leaves the 20lb Lynx as Alaska's top (and only) feline predator. They are very  elusive  animals and avoid human contact. Seeing one in the wild is a rare treat! Image from Center for Native Ecosystems Lynx are primarily nocturnal, and dwell only in forested areas, where their prey is abundant and where they can build their dens. Like many feline species, Lynx are solitary creatures. They travel and hunt alone, and come together during the March-April mating season. Young Lynx (kittens!) remain with their mother for a year, learning how to hunt. Lynx have exceptional adaptations -long legs, huge paws- for hunting snowshoe hare, which makes up most of their diet. The Lynx and the Hare populations are closely linked. Every ten years the Hare populati...

Rock Let's start off Alaska Week (which is now starting to look like Alaska Week-and-a-half based on all the suggestions I've been getting) with a Bird! The lovely bird that is one of our Alaska Week logo mascots- the Ptarmigan. Now, there are actually three species of Ptarmigan that share the genus Lagopus , which in turn shares its taxonomic family with grouses. The three species are the Willow Grouse (also known as the Willow Ptarmigan), the Rock Ptarmigan (which is often just called Ptarmigan), and the White-Tail Ptarmigan, which thankfully only as one common name. From here on out here I'm just going to refer to them as Willow, Rock and White-Tail. Willow All three species inhabit Alaska, with the Willow found pretty much everywhere, the Rock living everywhere but the flat tundras near the Western and Northern coats, and the White-Tail inhabiting the rocky uplands. When all three species live in a close area, the Willows live at the lowest altitudes, the...

The Przewalski's Horse was extinct in the wild for over 30 years. Also known as the Asian Wild Horse and Mongolian Wild Horse, it is a true wild horse, the only one left after the complete extinction of the Tarpan over 100 years ago. Other seemingly "wild" horses, like the North American mustangs and Australian brumby, are feral populations. This means they descend from domesticated individuals. The Przewalski's horse is completely untouched by human domestication, and even posess two more chromosomes in their genetic makeup than domesticated horses. Przewalski horses have short, stocky bodies and large heads. They stand about 13 hands (hand = 4 inches) at the shoulder and weigh between 550 and 750lbs. They are characterized by their brownish dun bodies and white underbellies, with dark muzzles and tails and a short, upright mane with no forlock (forehead hair). Visually they appear similar to the horses depicted on the walls of the Lascaux Caves which are ar...