I-Quad

Early on I went to the Visitor Center for the Yukon Delta Wildlife Refuge. It is one of the biggest protected areas in the refuge system.

You can see the funny stilts the building is on. And, yes, that is snow falling in the picture, well after the first day of spring. There aren’t any wooly mammoths in the region now but there used to be. Their bones and teeth are found in river beds and ponds.

The wooly skin next to the mammoth molar and tusk in the picture belongs to a musk ox. They have very fine hair, underwear (softer than superwool) which keeps them warm. The shed hair can be knitted or crocheted to keep people warm.

The seasons of the year are spelled in English and in Yup’ik. Yup’ik is the Eskimo language of many people in this region. Spring is really nice because the birds return to breed from the rest of the world (including the south Pacific). Not only that, but in the old days, the birds were the first fresh food of the long winter. Sometimes people would run out of their dried fish and berries and caribou stored for the year. There are tiny stores in each village, but the food is very expensive and only staples are available. People still catch their own meat and fish and berries.

All kinds of fish are eaten, some trapped in the fish traps but the salmon are netted when they return to the Kuskokwim or Yukon Rivers.

Use wikipedia to find out information about mammoths. Why are they extinct now?

Write a story ” Wilbur The Wooly Mammoth”