Wildlife of Alaska

Other major mammals include moose and caribou, bison, wolves and wolverines, foxes, otters and beavers.

Fish species are extensive, including: salmon, graylings, char, rainbow and lake trout, northern pike, halibut, pollock, and burbot.

The bird population consists of hundreds of species, including: bald eagles, owls, falcons, ravens, ducks, geese, swans, and the passerines.

[2] Alaska's McNeil River Falls has one of the largest brown bear population densities in the state.

They are considered a nuisance because they frequently stroll through local towns, camps, backyards, and streets because of their curiosity and easy food sources such as garbage.

[16] Though in the 1970s there were worries that oil drilling and development in Alaska would harm caribou populations, they seem to have adapted to the presence of humans, and so far there have been few adverse effects.

[16] The Alaskan subspecies of moose (Alces alces gigas) is the largest in the world; adult males weigh 1,200 to 1,600 pounds (542–725 kg), and adult females weigh 800 to 1,300 pounds (364–591 kg)[17] Alaska's substantial moose population is controlled by predators such as bears and wolves, which prey mainly on vulnerable calves, as well as by hunters.

Moose can sometimes cause problems, as when they eat crops, stand in the middle of airfields, or dangerously cross the path of cars and trains.

Dall sheep live, rest, and feed in the mountain regions of Alaska where there is rocky terrain and steep, inclined land,[22] and are seen below their usual high elevation only when food is scarce.

Alaska contains a good size population of Dall sheep, and are commonly sighted in the eastern and western sides of Denali National Park.

The curling of the horns on a male Dall sheep correlate with age, and reach their full circular potential in seven to eight years.

Another reason is their tendencies to eat other whales and large prey animals such as seals and sea lions.

It is the largest turtle in the world, weighing up to two thousand pounds and reaching up to six and a half feet by their adult years.

The two-note male can signal a mating call via the two large and round vocal sacs that inflate beneath the chin repeatedly, sounding like a chorus.

[31] The red-legged tree frog can grow past five inches given their long hind legs and elongated abdomen.

This species of tree frogs live in wet environments such as wetlands and moist forest and typically breed in well shaded streams and rivers.

This frog gets its name from its habitat choice, which consists of heavily forested areas containing rocks, trees, and more.

Western toads inhabit low elevation aquatic areas like wetlands, lake shores, wet meadows, marshes, and beaver ponds.

Long-toed salamanders live in a variety of habitats including sagebrush communities, coniferous forest, and in alpine meadows.

Eggs and larvae have been spotted in watery areas including lakes, ponds, wetlands, springs, and puddles.

Its lakes, rivers, and oceans are home to fish, some including trout, salmon, char, grayling, halibut, lampreys, lingcod, longnose sucker, pacific herring, black rockfish, salmon shark, sculpin, walleye pollock, white sturgeon, and various forms of whitefish.

Arctic char in Alaska are closely related to both trout and salmon, but are heartier and can live in harsher conditions such as colder and deeper northern water.

The halibut swims sideways due to its lateral flattening, and most adults have both eyes on their upward-facing side.

Colors range from brown, grey, green, blue, and pink, and they have dark and light spotting.

The lingcod thrives in the depths of the ocean floor and are found in coastal regions around Alaska and in the Bering Strait.

The sides, head, and top of the longnose sucker range from dark green to slate black while the belly is often white or yellow.

[49] The black rockfish is a blackish grey fish with a large mouth, spinous dorsal fin, and dark stripes for its eyes to its gills.

The sculpin are flattened and have wide fins to help them secure themselves to the bottom of water bodies in harsh conditions.

[53][54] The white sturgeon is different from other fish because they do not have scales, but rather boney plates extending from its gill to tail called scutes instead.

[55] Alaska has 3,708 recorded species of marine macroinvertebrates inhabiting the marine waters from the intertidal zone, the continental shelf, and upper continental slope to abyssal depths, from the Beaufort Sea at the Arctic border with Yukon, Canada; the eastern Chukchi Sea, the eastern Bering Sea, the Aleutian Islands to the western border with Russia; and the Gulf of Alaska to Dixon Entrance at the southern border with British Columbia.