Fauna Series No. 5

Fauna of the National Parks — No. 5 The Wolves of Mount McKinley

CHAPTER FOUR:
CARIBOU (continued)

Animals Found Dead From Causes Other Than Predation

One encounters enough carcasses on the range to indicate that quite a number of caribou die from natural causes other than wolf predation. Sometimes upon examining these carcasses no cause for death can be found; at other times diseased conditions are evident. Below is information regarding some of the carcasses found on the range which were sufficiently fresh that I could at least eliminate predation as a cause of death, and in some cases determine the cause.

May 1939.—Ranger Edward Ogston reported that some caribou calves lost their lives in crossing McKinley Fork. During May 1939, the stream was open in places but was bordered by perpendicular walls of overflow ice several feet in thickness. He saw calves go into the streams and fail to get out. Since hundreds of cows with calves crossed the stream at that time, he thought that several of the calves probably were trapped by the overflow ice. The number of calves lost in this way is probably small.

July 21, 1939.—The carcass of a cow which was found on a tributary of East Fork was being eaten by eagles and magpies. There was not a bear or wolf track leading to it so it probably was not a victim of predation. No cause for death could be determined.

August 8, 1939.—A cow which had recently died had severe necrosis around the lower molars. It appeared that the necrosis was sufficiently severe to have weakened the cow and possibly killed her.

May 19, 1940.—A newborn calf was found dead. Apparently it had died at birth. No doubt a certain percentage of the calves die at birth. No food was found in the alimentary canal.

June 2, 1940.—Near Teklanika River a yearling was examined which had been reported hamstrung by wolves. The hide had been bruised on one tendon but the tendon was intact. The joint below the tendon was swollen to about twice its normal size and was bursting with pus. There were no tooth marks on the joint. Apparently the infection had killed the yearling.

June 7, 1940.—The carcass of an old cow was found which had not been fed upon. There was no indication of what might have caused her death except that she was very old.

July 15, 1940.—Late one evening a Road Commission employee arrived with a message from photographer Al Millotte stating that there was a dead caribou in a tributary of Igloo Creek. I drove there that night to examine the carcass while it was still intact. The caribou had died within the last day or so. Two legs had been carried away and birds had eaten the meat from the backbone. The animal was an adult cow. Upon examining the organs I found one lung completely filled with pus, the other partially filled. The tissue adjacent to the lung was in one spot swollen with pus, forming a round ball 2 inches in diameter. This infection was, no doubt, the primary cause of the animal's death. I dragged the carcass out of the water and in a few days wolves and bears had consumed the flesh and dragged away the bones. The main caribou herds had moved westward so this one was a straggler which had been left behind.

June 2, 1941.—On the flat on top of Sanctuary Mountain I found a cow with one antler shed. The animal had been dead for about 2 weeks. There was an unborn calf, normal in appearance and as large as one already born. The only indication of disease was blood in the nostrils. The animal had not been killed by wolves. Later it was eaten by bears.

Crippled Caribou

Figure 50: A caribou calf bruised beyond recovery by a fall in the rocks. [McKinley River, June 25, 1939.]

Crippled animals were noted on several occasions. Often they brought up the rear of a band. Most of the crippling was probably due to natural accidents since the herd is not hunted heavily by man. These crippled animals would be highly vulnerable, and probably are the first to succumb to the wolf. Those seen are listed to give an indication of their prevalence. Perhaps if the wolf were absent more cripples would have been evident. One trapper told me that since the wolves became common he has seen far fewer crippled caribou.

June 10, 1939.—The front leg of a cow was bent as though it had been broken and had later healed. She had a decided limp.

June 14, 1939.—A cow was noted limping on a front foot.

June 16, 1939.—Two cows limped decidedly. Both were lame on a front foot.

June 19, 1939.—A cow, limping badly on a foreleg, brought up the rear of a band.

June 25, 1939.—Near the base of some steep cliffs and talus slopes I found a calf which was breathing with difficulty, unable to stand. Upon examining it, I found a femur and mandible broken, and ribs and shoulder bruised. It apparently had fallen in the rocks. There was no cow in the vicinity.

July 7, 1939.—I saw a calf with a severe limp on a front foot. I also saw a very thin yearling with one horn about 6 inches long and the other horn 2 inches long, a stunted condition which indicated that the animal was not normal.

July 9, 1939.—I found an old ulna and radius of an adult caribou which had been broken and later healed. The healing had been accompanied by considerable exostosis. This animal no doubt had been handicapped in traveling.

July 13, 1939.—Bringing up the rear of a band of about 800 caribou I saw a calf limping on a front foot, a thin cow limping on a front foot so that her head went up and down violently with each step, and another cow with a hind leg which most of the time was not used.

July 16, 1939.—A calf, bringing up the rear of a band of about 200, limped badly on a foreleg, hardly using it. In another band there was a cow with a pronounced limp.

July 27, 1939.—Near Teklanika River I saw a lone caribou with a definite limp in a foreleg.

June 7, 1940.—In the rear of a band I saw a cow not using one of its hind legs.

January 8, 1941.—In a band of six, a cow brought up the rear, limping badly.

July 8, 1941.—A lone bull on Igloo Creek was lame.

Continued >>>

Last Modified: Thurs, Dec 20 2001 10:00:00 pm PDT
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