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Nature > Hoofin'
I!t
Hoofin'
It!
Background
”If
Qayaq had not frightened his guest with his big toe, the Dall sheep
would still be grazing on the tundra like caribou. This could have
been the case, but the Dall sheep was frightened by Qayaq’s toe
and ran all the way up the mountain. This is why the Dall sheep
live in the mountains today.” - from Qayaq - The Magical Traveler,
1991
Dall
sheep are a wild sheep that lives on steep mountain slopes across
the Alaska. The sheep are an integral part of the natural ecosystem,
and they are prized by subsistence and recreational hunters. In
the early 1990s, the Dall sheep population in the Baird Mountains
of Noatak National Preserve declined dramatically, losing half its
population in two years. Wildlife managers closed the sheep hunting
season for seven years to allow the population to grow again.
Why did the population drop so suddenly? What are the natural and
human factors that affect the Dall sheep population? In the spring
of 2000, Brad Shults, a wildlife biologist for the National Park
Service, began a research project to learn more about Dall sheep
population dynamics. Shults hopes to better understand sheep by
studying the number of lambs that are born, how long sheep live,
what are the most common causes of death, where do they go from
season to season, and just how many sheep are there?
Students
will learn the basics of animal classification and what characteristics
are common to mammals. They will follow sheep through the seasons
and better understand population dynamics. Finally, students will
learn about radiocollars and satellite collars, aerial surveys and
other research techniques, used to study the population dynamics
of these sheep.
Thank
you!
to the many people that helped make this project possible. Particularly
to Brad Shults, the wildlife biologist whose research is highlighted
in this unit, and to the WILD Education Office (Ministry of Environment,
Lands and Parks and Ministry of Forests, Canada) from which much
of this material was adapted.
Credit
for graphics belongs to: Cover: (top left clockwise) - William Ruth,
National Park Service files, Leeanne Ayres. Unit II, III, IV: National
Park Service. Clipart: Microsoft Corporation Activities credits:
Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game and Project WILD U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service Alaska Natural Resource and Outdoor Education Association
National Wildlife Federation Ministry of Environment, Lands, and
Parks - Wild Education Office, British Columbia, Canada.
For
more information about these materials, contact:
National Park Service
Western Arctic National Parklands
Box 1029
Kotzebue, Alaska 99752
907-442-3890 or 1-800-478-7252
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