Alaska animals. Mysterious Peninsula - Alaska. Landscapes and wildlife Alaska wildlife

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Fauna of Alaska

The two continents Eurasia and America converge here very closely, and the Bering Strait has a relatively recent (in a geological sense) origin, and in its place there was a Bering land bridge. That is why the fauna of Alaska has a lot in common with the fauna of Siberia and northern Eurasia as a whole.

Quite varied and characteristic animal world tundra and forest regions of Alaska. There are only about 20 species of various fur-bearing animals here. Among them, there are mainly representatives of the order predatory (American mink, wolverine and other mustelids, several varieties of foxes, wolves, bears), hares and rodents (muskrat, beaver, etc.). The number of large predators (wolves, coyotes, bears, wolverines) especially increased during the Second World War, when they became a real scourge of Alaska due to the fact that they multiplied in huge numbers as a result of the fact that large herds of domestic reindeer were actually thrown on will of fate.

A number of mountainous and forested areas of Alaska, as well as the forest tundra, are home to a variety of wild ungulates such as caribou (American reindeer), moose, bighorn goat and bighorn sheep. Musk oxen, completely destroyed in Alaska by the Americans, are now in the amount of about 100 heads on the island of Nunivak, where they were brought from Greenland. On the island of Afognak, the American red deer, imported from Oregon (USA), was acclimatized - wapiti, and in the Big Delta area (southeast of Fairbanks) there is a small herd of bison.

Birds are extremely richly represented in Alaska, among which there are many species related to Siberian (three-toed woodpecker, hazel grouse, ptarmigan, Alaskan goose, etc.), but there are also specific American species, such as the fire-bearing hummingbird.

Life boils not only on land, but also in the seas-oceans washing the shores of Alaska. Off the coast of Alaska, widespread different kinds sea ​​animal. These include, first of all, the seals possessing precious fur, spending time on the rookeries of the Pribilov Islands from May to August; walruses, common on the Arctic coast and the coast of the Bering Sea; sea ​​lions, seals and several types of whales. Many species of animals, especially mammals inhabiting Alaska, are of great commercial importance.

The fish canning industry, as the main branch of the Alaska economy, is based on fishing for various species. salmon fish that are of particular value. In the waters of Alaska, in addition to salmon fish, there are such valuable fish such as cod, herring, halibut, and along the Pacific coast, various types of crustaceans (crabs, shrimps), as well as cephalopods and other molluscs, are found in large numbers. In the summer months, the air is hinterland Alaska is literally teeming with midges, that even a mosquito net does not save a person from them.

Visiting Alaska is involuntarily associated with wild animals. We, citizens of Russia, brought up in the Soviet Union by Yuri Senkevich with Vitaly Peskov's and Nikolai Drozdov's Travel Club and Animal World, have seen these animals many times, though it was a long time ago and, unfortunately, through a TV screen with a far-from-flat low-resolution screen! I also wanted to note here my attitude towards zoos. After visiting the Moscow Zoo, my heart bleeds: I cannot look at poor suffering wild animals in captivity! There are certainly better zoos, for example in Miami. But all the same - bondage! Well, that's why we really wanted to see wild animals in Alaska, moreover, in their natural environment. And Alaska is 100% ready for such a formulation of the question! A whole bunch of all kinds of tours are offered by car, buses, airplanes, boats and ships. We took a guided tour of the Kantishna Experience. 12 hours round trip on a 90 mile dirt road. And this is what came of it ...

The first to meet us right on the road was a caribou or a reindeer. He just walked along the road in the oncoming lane on his reindeer business. To be honest, I thought that all the animals would follow in turns along this road.

Caribou grazes in the meadow

Mountain goats grazed very far away

And here the main character Denali National Park: Grizzly Bears!

Its shoulders, neck and belly are covered with dark brown, lighter hair at the ends, which gives its fur a grayish tint; hence the name - grizzly means "gray, gray".

Lifestyle grizzly are typical Brown bear- flows into hibernation and feeds mainly on plant foods. Only in early youth can a grizzly climb trees until claws (growing the largest of all bear) claws interfere, but later it easily swims across wide rivers. Skillfully catches fish. Also, grizzlies love to destroy hives and eat honey.

And here is the whole family.

The grizzly bear is one of the largest and most ferocious North American carnivores. The scientific name for this subspecies, horribilis, translates to "terrible, terrible". In the old days, grizzlies were often described as a terrible and ferocious animal; they said that he was not afraid of a person - on the contrary, he went directly to him, whether he was on a horse or on foot, armed or unarmed. The grizzly bear population declined dramatically in late XIX- at the beginning of the 20th century, when farmers began to shoot them en masse in order to protect livestock from attacks.

Just a bird

Partridges were hiding in the bushes along the road

Two moose (female and male) stand in Wonder Lake with McKinley in the background

The diet of moose includes aquatic and semi-aquatic plants. They probably found them in the shallow waters of this lake.

These are the wild animals we saw in the national park. The distance to the bears was more than 300 meters, to the elk - more than a hundred. In the zoo you can see them very close, but here they are at home. This is the whole point of visiting the national park. To be honest, a 400 mm focal length is just nothing for shooting these beauties. I wonder what happened to those who shot at a shorter distance on a machine with a constantly pop-up flash?

pondered

chase: terns are very brave birds, they attack gulls, which are three times larger!

sippers

yes, we see there is a train)

horns are impressive

deer antlers are unusual, not "naked" like the rest, but covered with fur, I would say suede!

battle cry

so the clubfoot got out

big guy

the lower lip does not close

caribou, if I could speak, would be a humorist)

nature cheated the caribou - instead of horns, some kind of intestine sticks out of the head

do you see the ocean?

here's another ocean

and in the evening bam - and there is no ocean! I saw many low tides, but so that the whole ocean disappeared!: 000

here comes the tide!

there are many fish in the tide, judging by the birds

surfers enjoy the tide too

seagull babies have gray-brown plumage, but when they grow up, they become white

tern, attacking, makes heart-rending sounds

In Alaska, the farther north, the later the sunsets and the earlier sunrises. Sunsets are at about 23-24, and after 2-3 hours dawn, so I missed all the sunrises, who wants to get up at 3 in the morning? :)

Friends, the fact is that I have already told everything about Alaska that I wanted to tell in previous posts, but there are a number of photos left that I would like to show you, so I had to make another post and write at least something to it! I hope the text is not too boring)

I took pictures with animals at an animal reservation (I don't remember the name), which is located near Anchorage. This is a famous reservation in America, because such monsters as Animal Planet, National Geographic, Discovery, etc. were filmed about it!

The reservation contains almost all of Alaska's animals, such as buffalo, caribou, deer, bald eagles, wolves and bears. Here animals are not kept in small cages, each animal has a fairly large space for existence! Some animals can be touched and hand-fed, but of course we are not talking about bears, you can only feed them with your hand, but not with your hands!)
Generally interesting place, worth a look once!

A few words about the locals.

Earlier, when I heard conversations that Americans are a nation of fat people, I was surprised because I had been to the USA so many times, I didn’t seem to notice that they were very different from us, but being in Alaska, I realized that the audience in country side was completely not the same as in megalopolises, these real piggy banks for calories are really fatty (I don't mean just curvy people, but those whose weight exceeds a ton), there are people of some unreal, I would say unearthly, shapes and sizes! Only here you can meet a mammoth / hippopotamus / walrus! I had no idea that Gulliver is not a mythical character, but every third resident of Alaska!

In metropolitan areas such as New York, LA or Miami, people are more fit and lean, the cult of the body in such cities is perhaps the only "religion"! In Miami Beach, not having cubes on your stomach is like not having tattoos for a biker!

In big cities, appearance decides everything or a lot! It is easier to find a job, the attitude towards the thin, read the rich and fit, is better, and they are very popular with the opposite (and not only) sex!

The reason for getting fat in boredom is that people seem to have money, but there is nowhere to put it in a small town, the only entertainment is huge, fatty, at the same time tasty, burgers! Gluttony is as addictive as drug addiction or gambling, if you are addicted to burgers, then the third chin is inevitably difficult to stop! I do not believe what obesity is, a consequence of genetic abnormalities (as the fat men themselves claim), because every third person cannot have a genetic predisposition to obesity!
I want to note - no matter how these people look outwardly, they are all very sympathetic and benevolent, which is much more important than their appearance, "Kindness is better than beauty", as Heine said! I do not in any way mock people who have strong excess weight, I'm sorry that people are good, but they do not have a strong enough will to defeat gluttony!

For ten days we drove around Alaska in a car, drove into any places where there were signs on brown (that is, sights), stopped in picturesque places for the night, walked through the woods, ate the same burgers, fed mosquitoes, in general, we had a great rest!

To summarize the trip to Alaska, I got a tremendous aesthetic pleasure traveling through this fantastically beautiful land. I recommend to everyone!

On the last day in Alaska, I broke my record - I made as many as 5 flights in a day! Tired as never before.
I don’t know whether you noticed or not, beards and nails grow much faster on the plane, at a rate of one centimeter per hour, wrinkles become deeper, old age is literally pounding at the door!: 0 After a long flight, you look 10 years older! , is it really dry air in the cabin?

This is the last post about wonderful Alaska, thanks for reading!

Mysterious Peninsula- Alaska ...

During the reign of Alexander II, ... on March 30, 1867, a land sale transaction was legally formalized, for which America paid off with Russia with a check, which is still kept.

What is the climate in Alaska and is this wild region suitable for recreation? If you are looking for natural beauty and tranquility, then a trip to one of the most beautiful places in the world is what you need.

Despite the different climatic zones- from permafrost to relatively high temperatures, summer in Alaska is warm and green, winter is also quite comfortable. Permafrost is an unusual phenomenon for us. But nothing can compare with such a miracle of nature as glaciers with their icy might. The largest glacier is Hubbard.

It takes your breath away when the carved monuments of the giant snowy mountains float in the immediate vicinity. In warm weather, the glacier melts, chunks of ice break off from it and fall into the water with a crash. A stunning spectacle that photographers from amateur to professional are hunting for.

In addition to the climate in Alaska, it is worth noting it natural features... Intricate fjords, forested mountains, formidable volcanoes, glacial lakes, land rich in furry animals and gold and the purest subarctic air - all these are the hallmarks of the Alaska Peninsula.

The largest state in America is rich in water resources and has about 3 million lakes, 3 thousand rivers and streams, as well as 100 thousand glaciers. Marshes cover about 490,000 square kilometers. There are a lot of volcanoes, both extinct and active. Volcanoes are interesting and almost not dangerous.

The state of Alaska is a multipurpose destination for tourists, where both extreme lovers will choose their hobby, and there are attractions for aesthetes. Lovers of rich nature will definitely not get bored, because here it is especially diverse.

A large number of travelers who prefer sea cruises tend to get to the Alaska Peninsula in the summer, when it is great to fish or hunt. Travelers have access to picturesque fjords, gorges and waterfalls. If you're lucky, you might see mountain goats. Real wild bears often roam along the coast. Alaska is a land of daredevils.

Sheep Creek has a dedicated platform for watching salmon spawn. Alaska has the largest colony of kittiwakes. The rocks, like Easter cakes sprinkled with sesame seeds, are covered with these graceful birds. For extreme walks in the bays and reservoirs, sea kayaks are offered. With them, craftsmen can easily overcome even large waves.

You can often see seals. Periodically, their huge muzzles appear here and there on the surface of the water. Sometimes humpback whales or killer whales allow themselves to be spotted. Undoubtedly, excellent shots for photo hunters.

Those who will not be intimidated by Alaska in winter will get to the largest festival in Alaska with dog sleds. And what Russian doesn't like driving fast? Riding on this type of transport is very popular among tourists.

You should definitely look into The largest city in Alaska - Anchorage. Half of the entire population of the state lives here. It is a transport, tourist and trade center.

Alaska's pride national park Denali. Wolves, bears, moose, coyotes, lynxes and many other animals live in the reserve in the wild. Reindeer farms are allowed to feed from the hands of these traditional inhabitants of the peninsula.

Expositions of numerous museums in Alaska cities tell about the history, culture, flora and fauna of the largest US state.

The port city of Whittier is often the starting point for cruises around the Alaska Peninsula. Then the ascent to one of the mountain peaks on a high-speed funicular is a must. From a bird's eye view, amazingly beautiful landscapes open up.

For the hardiest travelers who dare to cruise in winter, the reward will be a real light show - the colorful Northern Lights. Blue-green tints will be replaced by scarlet and pink. The dance of light and color is a stunning sight, for the sake of which it is worth taking a route full of adventure dangers to distant lands.

A visit to the Ice Museum in China Hot Spring will be a pleasant aesthetic addition to the spectacular lighting effect. Unusual when served in an ice glass alcoholic cocktail and the glass remains as a souvenir for the guest of the ice bar. The most fragile and short-lived souvenir that can be. After so many pleasures, it is good to relax by immersing yourself in the healing waters of one of the hot springs in Fairbanks.

Most tourists, going on a cruise to Alaska and discovering this unexplored land for the first time, return more than once ...

The rugged coastline of Alaska, the largest state in the United States, is home to some of the most incredible wildlife North America... In that short period when winter recedes, all living things need to have time to prepare supplies, raise offspring and enjoy sunbeams until the cold came again.

This remarkable series of images was captured by British naturalist photographer Tim Plowden, who came to this harsh edges to capture this mysterious world wildlife of Alaska.

Tim Plowden, who grew up enjoying the beauty of the Chiltern Hills, has already visited many parts of our planet. For example, in National park Norfolk Island National Park, Australia, traveled all over South America and the United States, but Alaska has always been his big dream.

And now his dream has come true. He discovered a new world full of mysteries, trials and endless beauty. He traveled to remote coasts, climbed high into the mountains, made his way through the tundra in search of the most impressive moments.

- The fauna of the forests and tundra of Alaska is incredibly diverse, - says the Englishman. - There are about 20 species of fur-bearing animals alone, most of which are predators. Here you can find the famous wolverine, American mink and other weasels.

- In the forest and mountain regions of Alaska, as well as in the forest tundra, you can find various species of ungulates, such as, for example, the caribou - the American reindeer. It was not difficult for me to capture the caribou, since I have a wealth of experience in photographing the deer that live here in Britain, - says the photographer.

- I just had to find a beautiful place and choose the right time to get a beautiful picture. So I can say that my experience and knowledge gained earlier were definitely useful to me in my work in Alaska.

- I would like to note that wild nature Alaska is incredibly beautiful! And I am happy that I was able to touch her beauty and secrets, - shared his impressions Tim Plowden.