Harbor Seal

Our final Alaska Week animal will be one of my favorites - the Harbor Seal. Like some of our other Alaskan friends, Harbor Seals, also known as Common Seals, can be found in other locations. In fact, they exist on the Northern Hemisphere coats of the both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Harbor Seals are abundant in Alaska, numbering over 150,000. This is a substantial amount when the entire Pacific population is only around 300,000.

Taxonomically, Harbor Seals (Phoca vitulina) are considered True or Eared Seals, and are members of family Phocidae. This differentiates them from the fur seals and sea lions (Otariids or Eared Seals) with whom they share the overall Pinniped super family. True Seals have no external ears, dense, short hair, internal or retractable reproductive organs, and are better suited to ocean swimming and endurance than the Eared Seals, though they trade off is a definite awkwardness on land.

Image from Seal Sitters

Harbor Seals can dive to depths of 1640 feet and hold their breath for over 20 minutes. Males are slightly larger than females, reaching 6.5ft as opposed to 5.5. They feed on fish, squid and octopi, and they in turn are fed upon by killer whales, sharks, sea lions, and even land predators like bears and wolves. They are also huntedThey are relatively solitary animals, sometimes living completely alone and sometimes living only in small groups. The mother/pup bond is exceptionally strong due to the lack of large protective colonies. Interestingly the milk that mothers feed their pups can contain up to 45% fat.

Harbor Seals are incredibly non-vocal. While I'm sure a lot of people think of loud barking when they think of any type of seal or sea lion, the Harbor Seal doesn't bark at all. Young pups have unique cries to tie them to their mothers, but beyond that, most of the seals' vocal communication is done underwater. Above water, physical communication is far more common.

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Arctic Tern

The Arctic Tern has the longest migration of any animal in the entire world. In a single year, these 4oz, 15 inch wingspan seabirds can fly 44,000 miles. Forty Four Thousand. And with their lifespan of over 30 years, that is equivalent to three round trip flights to the moon. For further perspective, that's 1.5 million miles, or 62 full trips around the Earth. Numbers!

Image from the Seabird Group

Terns reside in the coastal areas of the two poles, though they also have breeding grounds as far south as England and Ireland. They spend the winters down in Antarctica, feasting off of fish and crustaceans in preparation for the springtime commute up to the Arctic areas to breed and raise their young. Terns mate for life, and both parents care for their offspring, which number between one and three per clutch. Eggs take 3-4 weeks to hatch, and then it is only another 3-4 weeks after birth before the chicks fledge. They remain with their parents a few months after that, and will eventually join them and the rest of the flock on the flight back to the wintering grounds. Terns reach sexual maturity at 3-4 years of age. Like another one of our Alaska Week friends, the Chinook Salmon, the Arctic Tern returns to its birthplace in order to breed, sometimes even to the exact same colony. Happily though, they do not die!

Arctic Terns are not a threatened species overall. Populations in certain areas (such as new England) have declines or gone extinct altogether, but on the whole their remote living quarters has kept the species stable.

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Caribou

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 females, whose antlers are smaller and more irregular. Male caribou can also reach weights of over 400lbs, with figures of up to 700lbs recorded. Females top out at around 250. Caribou have some pretty neat hooves to help them with both their food supply and their migrations. They have very wide set feet with spongy footpads to help them move over snowy and wet surfaces. In winter the pads shrink, which exposes the hoof edge to form a kind of ice pick / shovel. These hooves give them better traction by allowing them to dig into icy terrain. They also help to uncover lichens, which is one of their most popular food sources.

Lounging (taken at Milwaukee County Zoo)

Caribou were domesticated several thousand years ago (the exact date seems up in the air, but between 5,000-2,000 years ago seems the most likely) Domesticated Caribou (more often referred to as Reindeer) are vitally important to many Arctic societies. In Scandinavia and and Siberia, the entirely livelihood of a culture can depend upon the herd. Notable examples are the Sami's, who used and still use the reindeer for multiple purposes including transportation (not only do they pull sleighs, you can ride them!), food, and clothing. Domesticated Caribou are not as common in North America, but the usefulness of the wild populations has had an impact on those cultures as well.

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Alaskan King Crab

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 larger as it ages. However, its carapace does not grow with it. As they age, the crabs must molt and grow new shells (which are made primarily of calcium). This molting process happens much more often when they are juveniles, and less when they are adults and have more or less plateau'd in size. King Crabs can live 25-30 years, and crabs that make it to those ages can be as many as five feet in leg span. King Crabs feed on all sorts of small marine life, including each other. They are preyed upon by fish, octopuses, and otters.

Red King from Alaska Fisheries Science Center

The Red King Crab is the most harvested of the Alaskan King Crabs. Crab fishing is also one of the most dangerous of all professions, with fatalities over 20 times greater than the average U.S. rate. The amount of danger involved in the Alaskan King Crab Industry has led to the creation of the Discovery Channel series, Deadliest Catch.

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Grizzly Bear

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 consuming whatever food is easily available to them. Salmon swimming to and from spawning areas are a popular meal, and the bears are also known to go after large prey such as Moose and Caribou. However, they also consume large amounts of plant material, including roots, which is where the digging skills come in.

Grizzlies are solitary animals. They mature sexually at around 5 years of age, and the males and female come together to breed in June or July. Females go in to hibernation and give birth, usually to twins, during the winter while hibernating. Mothers take excellent care of their young, who stay with them for about two years.

While the Grizzly Bear is found in only 2% of its original, native habitat down the the lower 48 states, the Alaskan population is thriving. 98% of America's Brown Bears (including Grizzlies) are found in Alaska, which also houses 70% of the overall North American population.

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Chinook Salmon

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 around a year before becoming smolt (juvenile fish) and heading out to the saltwater estuaries. The salmon then spend anywhere from 1-8 years in the ocean, before travelling back up river to the place of their birth to spawn. Males and females pair up to breed, and then the female will dig a nesting hole where she will deposit between 3,000 and 14,000 eggs. The males then fertilize the eggs, and both parents stand guard over them to keep them safe from predators. Unfortunately the long migration, sometimes constituting hundreds, if not thousands of miles, followed by the taxing process of spawning, saps all of the adult's remaining energy. Because of this, all Chinook Salmon die during their spawning migrations.

Chinook are valuable not only because of their commercial impacts, but also because of their role as a role source for numerous other species. Whales, bears, seals and birds of prey all consume Chinook Salmon. Habitat loss, over fishing, and waterway development (such as the creation of dams) are all human made threats to the Chinook Salmon. They are endangered in the lower 48 states, but the stocks in Alaska remain healthy.

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Canada Lynx

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 population peaks, and the number of Lynx also rises. The same is true for population decreases. There is concern that global warming will have a huge negative impact on this predator/prey relationship. As less snow falls, the snow on the ground is prone to freezing. This creates a hunting climate unfavorable to Lynx, who use their large paws to hunt in deep, soft snow and gain the predatory advantage over other hunters such as coyotes.

Canada Lynx are listed as threatened in the lower 48 states according to the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set up a recovery plan for the species, which includes designating recovery zones. However, according to the IUCN Red List, Canada Lynx are of least concern, as their populations in Canada (except New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) and Alaska are still quite abundant. Lynx can be legally hunted in various areas of Alaska.

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Ptarmigan

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 Ricks take the middle slopes, and the White-Tails inhabit the higher ridges.

They like to hide around rocks and bushes, and though they are able to fly, they prefer to walk around. Their nests are on the ground, and they lay eggs in clutches of 4-7 in the summer. In Autumn and Winter they become nomadic, moving from place to place for shelter. In spring massive flocks can be found moving back to their breeding grounds.

White-Tail

Ptarmigan have two different colorations depending on the time of year. In winter they are entirely white, and in summer they are brown with white flecks. These colors help to camouflage them with their ground surroundings. Unfortunately their coloration is not uncommon in the rest of the arctic world, as some of their major predators, including owls and foxes, also change color seasonally. This helps them to hide from their prey.

The Willow Ptarmigan is the State Bird of Alaska!

Images from Animal Pictures Archive, State Symbols USA, & Alaska in Pictures

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