Anchorage Daily News

Rodent revival in Alaska

Voles were marching on the mudflats. Dodging merlins and weasels in town. They were, that is, until a protective blanket of snow finally concealed their burgeoning numbers last week, local biologists say.

Photos: Ermine hunt

Revolutionizing marine science?

Scientists using the Pacific Ocean Shelf Tracking network have made some startling discoveries that challenge long-held beliefs about salmon survival and raise new cautions about how global warming may affect salmon and other marine species.

Hazing decreases swan deaths linked to lead

Years of collecting dead carcasses and examining lead-poisoned livers have convinced Mike Smith of this: to save Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, he has to haze them.

Alaska lion skull could fetch $45,000

That was no ordinary pussycat stalking the frozen bogs and meadows of Interior Alaska. Stretching 10 feet long, weighing 600 pounds, with 5-inch fangs and claws to match, the American lion possessed more muscle, brains and speed than its African cousins.

Aleutian sea lions fade as eastern group grows

Endangered Steller sea lions in far western Alaska continue to do a disappearing act, with already distressed numbers slipping further in some areas.

Photos: Marine life

Recaptured exotic cat must be shipped Outside

Not two weeks after Simon the Savannah cat was scooped up in a dipnet and reunited with his owner, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, which organized the reunion, is demanding that Sharon Gratrix get rid of her exotic pet.

Dipnet ends exploits of exotic cat on prowl

Snow cat gets call to prevent Peninsula moose collisions

Moose Force One will be patrolling this winter. The big snow cat will be used to steer moose away from busy highways on the Kenai Peninsula by making snow trails to off-road browse sites.

Bear 'haven' on wrong side of law

Long unhappy with Charlie Vandergaw's intimate relationship with wild Alaska bears, state authorities are moving to put his Bear Haven out of business. Vandergaw has already been cited for feeding bears, but the charges levied against him next could go much farther.

The Timothy Treadwell saga

Bear-ly believable, Brits say

Bear Man

Helicopter wolf-kills help caribou calves

Slaughtering wolves on the Alaska Peninsula appears to have had the desired effect -- more young caribou got a chance to live, according to state biologists.

Photos: Alaska wildlife gallery

Options to be exercised before wolf pups killed

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says the killing of wolf pups in dens will still be allowed, but only if there are no other options.

CRAIG MEDRED

Our primal bear fears started long ago

No matter how long in country, no matter how solid the understanding of the general docility of bears, there comes a certain primal apprehension at the discovery of a grizzly back-tracking your trail in the early season snow.

African cat apparently prowling Anchorage

A mysterious spotted cat has been seen prowling Anchorage in recent days. Described as having spots resembling a leopard's, the cat, however, appears to be a long way from home and is likely here illegally.

Reader-submitted: Cat photographs

A year later, Maggie's in 'elephant heaven'

A year into her new life roaming a California sanctuary with other elephants, Alaska's favorite expatriate shows every sign of enjoying it. She trumpets, knocks down trees and calls for her companions when they wander too far, say her new keepers.

Maggie's story from the beginning

Video: PAWS Web cam

Montana deer hunter rescued after attack by Kodiak bears

A Montana man badly mauled in a bear attack and unable to get help holed up in a cabin with his hunting partner for two days before being rescued Tuesday afternoon.

Photos: Reader-submitted bear sightings

Photos: Urban bears

More bear attack stories

Donations treat zoo animals to natural foods

The Alaska Zoo has been inundated this autumn with hunting leftovers. Pickup trucks came and left behind plastic garbage bags full of trimmings, sinew and Flintstone-size meaty bones.

Video: Natural foods day at the zoo

More wolf stories

DNA test IDs grizzly in mauling of jogger

A DNA test has confirmed that Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials in August killed the bear that mauled a 51-year-old jogger in an Anchorage park.

Mauling victim recounts attack on city trail

Photos: Urban bears

Photos: Reader-submitted bear sightings

Unusual hunting ground even for Alaska

Not often does a man open the back door of his home, poke out the barrel of his rifle and shoot a monster-size grizzly in Alaska. Yet twenty-two feet from his home, Chugiak resident Kurt Sorensen shot a grizzly that measured about 8 feet from nose to tail.

Photos: Reader-submitted bear sightings

Photos: Urban bears

When sea otter numbers fell, eagles switched diet

Crashing sea otter populations in the Aleutian Islands in the 1990s forced bald eagles to adapt by changing their diets, but the predators changed so successfully they ended up producing more eggs and more young.

Feds list Cook Inlet belugas as endangered species

After years of studies by federal scientists and lawsuits by conservation groups, Cook Inlet's fragile population of beluga whales was officially listed as an endangered species Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Photos: Beluga gallery

Alaska officials slam beluga decision

The federal government today placed Cook Inlet beluga whales under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, prompting immediate criticism from prominent Alaska politicians.

Photos: Beluga gallery

Endangered species in Alaska (ADF&G)

3 bears visit Salcha garage, raid freezer

FAIRBANKS -- Three grizzly bears pushed through a door to a garage in Salcha and tore into a freezer full of game meat.