Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota   By: Kenneth W. Andersen

Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 361 393, 8 figs. January 18, 1971

Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota

KENNETH W. ANDERSEN and J. KNOX JONES, JR.

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE 1971

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PUBLICATIONS, MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

Editors of this number: Frank B. Cross, Philip S. Humphrey, William E. Duellman

Volume 19, No. 5, pp. 361 393, 8 figs. Published January 18, 1971

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PRINTING SERVICE LAWRENCE, KANSAS 1971

[Transcriber's Note: Words surrounded by tildes, like ~this~ signifies words in bold. Words surrounded by underscores, like this , signifies words in italics.]

Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota

BY

KENNETH W. ANDERSEN and J. KNOX JONES, JR.

The mammalian fauna of the western Dakotas and adjacent Montana is relatively poorly known. Few published reports have dealt with mammals from this part of the Northern Great Plains, and none of these involved detailed study of a restricted area. The present report summarizes information gathered in Harding County, northwestern South Dakota, and includes material on the more than 50 species of mammals that are known to occur there.

Harding County has an area of approximately 2700 square miles (Fig. 1). The county first was organized in 1881, but the present boundaries were not fixed until 1908. Physiographically, it lies in that part of the Missouri Plateau frequently termed the "Cretaceous Table Lands." The general topography is one of rolling hills and flats mostly range land vegetated by short grasses and sage broken by spectacular buttes and hills that rise 400 to 600 or more feet above the surrounding plains. These monadnocks are "... part of a system of Tertiary erosional remnants standing above the Late Cretaceous rocks of northwestern South Dakota...," according to Lillegraven (1970:832), who went on to point out: "The butte tops are flat and grass covered. The western sides are being actively cut away by slumping, and the topography below the western cliff walls is hummocky with sparse vegetation. The eastern flanks of the tables are, by contrast, less cliff forming and less slumped and are generally well forested with coniferous and deciduous trees." Slim Buttes, the North and South Cave Hills, the East and West Short Pine Hills, and the Long Pine Hills, which barely enter the county north of Camp Crook, comprise the pine clad buttes; other prominences, such as Table Mountain and Sheep Buttes, are all but nude of coniferous cover. The highest point in the county, "Harding Peak," is 4019 feet above sea level.

Sediments underlying northwestern South Dakota include rocks assignable to the Pierre (shale), Fox Hills (sand), and Hell Creek formations of Cretaceous age and the Ludlow and Tongue River formations of the Paleocene. These rocks may be exposed at the surface, but usually are overlain by relatively thin soils that are mostly derived from them; the best soil in the county for agricultural purposes is the loessal sandy or silty loam in the northeastern quarter, which is derived from Tongue River sediments (Baker, 1952).

[Illustration: FIG. 1. Map of Harding County, South Dakota, showing location of places named in text.]