Abstract
THE recent arrival at Kittigasuit, near the mouth of the Mackenzie River, from Sewark, Alaska, of the herd of nearly 3,000 reindeer purchased by the Canadian Government for a food supply for the Eskimos, bears witness to the success of the experiment of importing the reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) into Alaska from Siberia after the caribou (R. granlandicus) decreased and the natives were without sufficient food. In 1890, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, of the United States Bureau of Education, made a tour of the Behring Sea in the revenue cutter Bear, and noticing the plight of the Alaskan natives and the absence of the reindeer, which so much lightened conditions in Siberia, returned to Washington with the idea of importing reindeer into Alaska. Sixteen reindeer were purchased from Siberia in 1891 and 171 in 1892, and importations continued up to 1902,
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Reindeer in Alaska. Nature 132, 343 (1933). https://doi.org/10.1038/132343b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/132343b0