On the Land Mammals of St. Lawrence Island, Alaska

Abstract

The mammals occurring on St. Lawrence Island represent species which are widely distributed in boreal regions. They are not well known, hoiwever, and are poorly represented in colIections. In the past, some of these mammals have been regarded as being specifically distinct from closely related forms occurring on the adjacent continents. It is the purpose of this paper to present some new data on these mammals, with particular reference to their taxonomy. Begun in the winter of 1950, the investigation of animal-borne diseases on St. Lawrence Island has been carried on by the Animal-borne Disease Branch of the Arctic Health Research Center, located at Anchorage, Alaska. The collection of mammals has been an important part of this work, and a large volume of material has been assembled. With the exception of an occurrence of unusual mortality in walrus during 195 lt reported separately by Schiller (1953), nothing of extraordinary mammalogical interest involving the marine forms has been observed. St. Lawrence Island, of volcanic origin, is about 90 miles long. It lies in the Bering Sea about 104 miles from the nearest point on the Alaskan mainland, and 38 miles from Cape Chukotskyi, Northeast Siberia. Low mountains, few exceeding 1000 feet in altitude, cover nearly half the total surface of the island. Steep cliffs, the nesting places of great numbers of sea birds, border the sea in the mountainous regions. Mucl] of the island is low and wet, with numerous tundra ponds. Here, vegetation is characteristic of wet tundra. At higher altitudes the vegetation is typical of dry alpine tundra.