St.George Island Mammals

Historically, there was not much in the way of native land mammals on St. George Island. About 1786, Aleut/Unangan slaves were brought to the island for the purpose of harvesting and processing fur seals. At that time, there were probably also Steller's Sea Lions, Sea Otters, and occasional walrus found there. But there were no native land mammals except for some small rodents, a species of lemmings. At some point after the Aleut/Unangan slaves were brought there, the Russians introduced Arctic Foxes to St. George, and many of the Aleutians and other islands in the region.

In the early 1970's, about 15 reindeer were brought to St. George and into the early 1990's, they increased to about 500 animals. This was too many for the island vegetation to support and they were subsequently reduced to about 200 animals at present. Island residents do not harvest too many of these animals, but there are some visiting hunters and other seasonal residents who take them for their fine meat. I ate some while I was there and it was some of the finest wild meat I have eaten. Large antler sets are commonly found scattered around the village and shed antlers are relatively commonly noted on hikes through some areas of the island. These reindeer stay mostly in one large herd and I did not see than while I was there.

The commercial harvest of Northern Fur Seals on St. George was discontinued in the mid-1970's, but there is presently a small limited subsistence harvest which is conducted in a very efficient and humane manner. On my first day walk along the shoreline near the village, this bull fur seal surprised me and was very vocal in his dislike of my presence. Others, mostly males, were occasionally seen loafing individually on rocky shorelines, but were mostly quite spooky.There are four "rookery" areas on St. George where raising of young and breeding take place. Presently, there are an estimated 200,000 fur seals using these rookery areas. This image shows a "harem" group with a "dominant male - called a "beach master" and a numbers of females with young pups.This female is sunning herself while her young lays peacefully at her side - on right.This male crawled on on Zapadni Beach one morning and didn't see me until I approached fairly close to it.Arctic foxes are quite common on St. George. I was surprised to learn that they do not turn white in winter as they apparently do in other areas. They are no longer trapped for their hides. This mother and young kit fox were curious about me and not very wary. During my stay on the island, I located perhaps 6 or more different fox litters, with 5 or 6 young in each. The males that I saw usually had more light hair on them and were solitary. This male barked at me and posed for a number of pictures. Many of the other were on the wary side. Given the size of the fox litters, their food sources must be plentiful this year. Small rodents and birds likely make up the bulk of their diet, but I didn't see any rodents in the dense vegetation and rock fields.