Furbearer harvest study, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska
Swanson SA. 1994. Furbearer harvest study, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Alaska. National Park Service. Anchorage, AK. Technical Report NPS/ARRNR/NRTR-94/21
(Adopted from author's abstract). Red fox, lynx, and wolverine carcasses and marten heads were purchased from trappers operating in and near Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve. Carcasses were necropsied to obtain sex, age, body condition, and reproductive information. More male than female red foxes were taken in the northern part of the park during the study, but a 1:1 sex ratio was obtained for the eastern part of the park. In the northern part of the park, 80% of adult female red foxes and 50% of juvenile females had placental scars and mean litter size was 5.9. In the eastern part of the park, all adult females and 38% of juvenile red foxes had placental scars and mean litter size was 5.3. More female than male lynx were harvested during the study and juveniles comprised 32% of the harvest. Placental scars were found in 70% of adult lynx and 56% of juvenile females, and mean litter size was 4.4. The mael:female ratio for harvested wolverines was 2:1 for all years combined, and juveniles accounted for 74% of the harvest. No juvenile wolverines were reproductively active, but 4 of 9 adult females had placental scars or fetuses. More male marten were harvested during the study than females. The number of marten harvested declined during the study, and the juvenile:adult female ration dropped from 7.3:1 in 1988-89 to 1.4:1 in 1992-93. Monitoring strategies for each species include continued harvest monitoring, prey density studies, and identification of critical habitat.
- Type
- Book
- Authors
- Swanson, Shelli
- Date of Issue
- 1994-10
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GAAR
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Fur, Furbearer, Furbearers, Gates Of The Arctic National Park And Preserve, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve AK, Gulo gulo, Harvest, harvest monitoring, IAR, Inventory, Lynx, Lynx canadensis, Mammals, marte, Martes americana, Population, prey density, Red Fox, sex ratios, Survey, trapper, Trapping, Vulpes vulpes, Wolverine