Mammals taken Along the Alaska Highway   By: Rollin H. (Rollin Harold) Baker (1916-2007)

BY

ROLLIN H. BAKER

University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History

Volume 5, No. 9, pp. 87 117, 1 figure in text November 28, 1951

University of Kansas LAWRENCE 1951

University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History

Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, A. Byron Leonard, Edward H. Taylor, Robert W. Wilson

Volume 5, No. 9, pp. 87 117, 1 figure in text November 28, 1951

University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas

PRINTED BY FERD VOILAND, JR., STATE PRINTER TOPEKA, KANSAS 1951 [Union Label] 23 7607

Mammals Taken Along the Alaska Highway

BY

ROLLIN H. BAKER

INTRODUCTION

Mammals from along the Alaska Highway were obtained for the University of Kansas Museum of Natural History in the summers of 1947 and 1948 by Mr. J. R. Alcorn, field representative of the Museum. He and his family visited Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon Territory and Alaska in an automobile and trailer from June 9, 1947, to September 6, 1947, and again from June 8, 1948, to August 24, 1948. In 1947, considerable time was spent by Alcorn in Alaska; trips were made on the Steese Highway to Circle and on the Glenn Highway to Anchorage. In 1948, most of the collecting was done in British Columbia and in the Yukon Territory but a side trip was taken to Haines, Alaska. The collecting stations are shown in figure 1. Alcorn's 1,252 specimens include several large series from areas where few or no mammals had been taken previously. Time spent at each collecting station was of short duration (usually less than three days) and although 56 species and subspecies of mammals are represented in the collections, it is recognized that not all of the kinds of mammals at any one locality were taken.

For the loan of comparative mammalian material, grateful acknowledgment is made to officials of the following institutions: California Academy of Sciences; Biological Surveys collection of the U. S. National Museum; Provincial Museum, Victoria, B. C.; National Museum of Canada. The promptness of officials of the game commissions of the provinces and territories concerned, in providing permits for collecting also is acknowledged. A part of the funds for field work was made available by a grant from the Kansas University Endowment Association. Elevations above sea level are given in feet. Capitalized color terms refer to those in Ridgway, Color Standards and Color Nomenclature, Washington, D. C., 1912.

[Illustration: Fig. 1. Map showing localities where J. R. Alcorn collected mammals in Alaska, Yukon Territory, British Columbia, and Alberta, in 1947 and 1948.]

COLLECTING LOCALITIES SHOWN IN FIGURE 1.

Alaska

1. Circle.

2. Twelve Mile Summit, Steese Highway.

3. Chatanika River, 14 mi. E and 25 mi. N Fairbanks.

4. 1 mi. SW Fairbanks.

5. North side Salcha River, 25 mi. S and 20 mi. E Fairbanks.

6. Richardson Highway, 32 mi. S and 4 mi. W Big Delta.

7. Yerrick Creek, 21 mi. W and 4 mi. N Tok Junction.

8. Tok Junction.

9. Fish Creek, 5 mi. N and 1 mi. E Paxson.

10. East side Deadman Lake, 15 mi. SE Northway.

11. Glenn Highway, 6 mi. WSW Snowshoe Lake.

12. 1 mi. NE Anchorage.

13. East side Chilkat River, 9 mi. W and 4 mi. N Haines.

14. 1 mi. S Haines.

Yukon Territory