Show Dra famah magac story stoff 7 of D awick TOM N ay x a the dramatic wildlife story of dinosaur national bonu ment was recorded millions of years ago age and preserved in ili the famous fossil deposits the detailed study of these animals Is carefully traced for the visitor in the new visitor center at the monument there Is practically no link in the monument between the age of reptiles and me historical period interpretation of fragmentary evidence left by prehistoric indians suggests the wildlife complex differed little from that existing today the present animal inhabit ants of the monument are thus reflections of the imme diate past however like pre historic indians the earliest explorers generally left only fragmentary records of the animals they encountered buffalo disappeared early the buffalo apparently disappeared from the area at an early date but within historic times only bleached skulls and horn shells give any evi dence that the buffalo form erly inhabited or roamed over much of the area there is only one known recorded observation valion of tile the buffalo in the area early in may 1825 william ashley saw a number of buffalo in echo park other explorers documented the presence of the buffalo so we can say with seasonable lea certainty that the animal certainly once innab tile the lands now in dinosaur national monument how many were there is any oner guess grizzly and dlack black bears bear seen farreh ferris was the first person to write about the presence of grizzly bears near vernal in 1035 1835 however it remained for a more recent writer to establish the pre sence of tile the silver tips in dinosaur national monument queen ann willis writes how she roped one of two grizzly cubs she encountered in zenoba basin lit in 1891 1 llie ile mother bear was nearby arid and charged and queen ann escaped injury when cowboys came to tier her rescue but tier her horse was killed as was tile the mother bear the roped cub was released tile cubs apparently parel patently itly ly were not further and were never seen again these niese large predators disappeared shortly after stock raising became blaik bears have been reported in tile the area former custodian daniel heard beard tells of 61 having seen a black bear cub lit in flat harpers pers corner in october 1042 superintendent JOBS jess lombard reported the killing of a large black bear lit in 1948 a few miles west ot of the Monti monument ment boundary on oil pot creek but did not believe there were any lit in tile the monument although there are no verified reports of black bears in ill tile the monument since ahert some may inny wonder wander into it as long ns any number exists in tile die ellita moun taing Ilo however wever sheep herders gerders lit in nearby areas will keep thern them from becoming celab linked in tile monument wolye wolves seen along green niver althon harris lioma bol saw a wolf lit in juvie june 1871 1071 about one half mile north of the antes of lodore along alunni tile he banks banka ot of lie green river ills his record of it Is the only known historical reference documenting tile the Ore presence selice ol of tile the animal within tile the boundaries of dinosaur national monument A 72 pound male was waa killed in 11 1912 on blue Motin mountain about 10 miles iles south soui pt tile the monument monument A second one was seen been at tile same time but escaped wolves may stilt still wander into the monument grounds and will probably continue to do so as long as they remain in this part of the country the monument is not jarge enough to harbor or protect these persistently persecuted predators moose no reported ported in the area although the area Is well wel beyond the range normally assigned to the yellowstone moose hod ruple who lived at island park many years before and after his ranch was included in dinosaur no na dional monument said he saw a moose on his ranch about 1805 1905 A moose was illegally killed in the uinta mountains in the fall of 1054 1954 the presence of moose in dinosaur arid and in the northern portions of colorado and utah suggests moose may be cx extending tending their range and now low occupy more country than they did originally ahe accord of mr ruple is I 1 thought bought to represent a recent t migration rather than a re invasion ot of the animal elk formerly ranged flanged in the monument Ear early lyday day explorers make no mention of tile the north am elk or wapiti having been seen in ill what Is now dinosaur national monument reports of these animals being in adjacent areas have been made their antlers anglers have been found in various parts of tile the monument charels sparks a rancher on oil cold spring mountain obtained some elk from yet yel low stone national park sometime ime after tile the early lie kept them under NO e I 1 J this famous marker macker six ix miles bov above jenson corn ma mm morales orale the th crossing of the lh green river by father escalante tin n early aly explorer of this area fence for several years and then lien released them into tile the forest the small herd on cold spring mountain prospered and spread into adjacent areas in 1047 1947 or 1948 a cow elk was said to have wintered on a cottonwood covered island in the green river 2 miles south I 1 the monument headquarters another wapiti was seen on oil the yampa dench during tile the winter of 1952 53 others also apparently cross ed the monument and remain ed cd on dine blue mountain where several everal 4 persons have seen them ilie present elk in the lie uinta mountains originally come came from yellowstone no na continued on oil page 24 wildlife story 0 continued from page 17 lional park limited elk hunting has been permitted in the eastern part of utah for several years and colorado opened the cold spring mountain and adjacent areas foi per mit hunting in 1954 since dinosaur national monument Is principally a cintel wintel rangi bangt hunting on the fall range out side its boundaries may pro pre vent a buildup of a wapiti herd large numbers of mulo mule doer deer ne reported ported the mule deer is one large game an animal imal that has sur and attained a high population level in dinosaur national monument the area is now and probably always has been a wintering range for deer the animal is said to migrate into dinosaur from the uinta mountains on the north and greater distances from higher land to the northeast in recent times several persons have seen large herds of deer in winter orl on the bell benches south of the yampa riv er superintendent lombard estimated more than a and deer had been seen along the west side of the bonu ment many persons have reported large deer lions in and around zenobia peak the movement of large numbers of mule deer into the monument in the winter and the lack of sufficient win ter forage has frequently re suited stilted in heavy deer mortal ties mountain and bighorn sheep not plentiful practically all the early ex in this region saw big hortis horns and recorded them in their journals lour nals however in 1947 superintendent lorn lom bard wrote rotc I 1 am about to write mountain sheep off the records as an existing species at dinosaur national bonu ment I 1 personally doubt if a diligent search of these canyons would reveal a single survivor lie believed dis ease case caused tile the elimination of tile the animal in tile the state slate of colo rado liberated 23 rocky mountain Dig bighorn horn sheep in tile the near of dinosaur since limbs lambs have been observed apparently the libra libira tion tins has stocked re rL the menu anent elimination of domes tl tic sheep grazing around enobia peak may have helped these bighorns big horns to got get dished tile the sickly bighorns big horns recently observed in the monument suggest insufficient forage on the critical winter longes langes pronghorn antelope part time nesi residents dents there are arc no known early day records of pronghorn antelope inhabiting the benches 0 01 i plateaus now included in tile the monument in 1898 trappers rep reported arted imme immense nse herds aggregating thousands of individuals divi duals while in 1905 I 1 biologists lolo gits found the antelope antelope quite 1 alite scarce and predicted they were doomed for early cx extinction however by 1945 they had increased sufficiently for the states of colorado find and utah to open tile the area to limited hunting in 1940 1949 thousands of antelope were driven off the wyoming basin plateaus into northern colorado by a severe winter wid and such movements probable account for the fluctuations of antelope populations in browns park national park service per bonnel now believe the antelope may be part time resi dents of dinosaur national monument some of these animals around lily park to the east are said to spend part of the winter on oil east cactus flat eventually it if they ever cross thanksgiving gorge and find water holes on the ben ches they may become perm anent monument residents A few cougars seen A few mountain lions have been known to live in the yampa and lodore canyons for over halt half a century I 1 heir can be accounted for only on the basis of a combi nation of favorable factors such as the high population of deer tile the mountain ilone dav food during nearly 40 bems of ranching lik in yampa canyon charles montle mintle said tie he had ad no posit positive lal it knowledge now ledge of losing a any I 1 ay cattle ca t ito to C cougars 0 u gars and attributed the loss t to 0 one colt to mountain lions the rough terra iii of the canyons has been an addition al protective faltot for tile the lions yampa canyon contains large areas where dogs can not follow a mountain lion and where men would find climbing so difficult that a lion could easily elude them superintendent lombard reported two ani animals nials shot in december 1947 near vernal and lie believes they may have been monument lions even though they were 20 miles distant distan t from tile the monument boundaries the number of unreported kills may bo be considerable whether mountain lions will continue to live in dinosaur depends upon adequate food and escape terrain the mountain lion cannot depend upon large deer herds for survival since the population of the deer herds fluctuates the past history of the mountain lion at dinosaur indicates however that the monument hns has provided the necessary food and habitat whether it will continue to do so depends on how often their food supply is disrupted and the rough terrain where mountain lions can escape pursuit of their enemies coyote a and nd small M mammals very common the coyote is so common few people take the trouble to record its presence or numbers however they are scarce oa on the monument grounds at the present time due to the control measures taken on adjacent lands and consequently they are rarely seen A considerable number of smaller mammals live in the monument the rodents are well represented and include beavers muskrats porcupines marmots marmott mar prairie dogs squirrels and chipmunks three members of the rabbit family cottontails cotton tails white tailed jackrabbits jack rabbits and snowshoe hares are often seen other mammals that are monument residents include bad gers wildcats foxes martens mink skunks and pack rats feral goats formerly ob served occasionally apparent ly no longer exist several wild horses are seen in the zenobia dasin basin part of the monument Monti ment but no one knows how many or whether they are animals or ranchers horses which are wild A detailed invest invests gation gallon would probably in elude clude many other m in the monument which no one has yet seen or recorded many species of birds A catalog of birds recorded in tile the monument would contain the names of at least 80 itle list would be inn in complete since no winter cen sus lias has ever been made throughout the area cabadi nr an geese have been invest investigate igat ed along tile yampa and green rivers because these canyons appear to be the only nesting of these birds inn in colorado |