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Show REINDEER MAY REPLACE DOGS Former Ogden Man Says Alaskan Animal Easily-Domesticated Easily-Domesticated The reindeer may eventually replace the 1 jyr as 'haft animal In flasks In the opinion ol II W Johnson ot the I nlteii stat'-s biological survey and former Ogden man. who has been visiting vis-iting ut the Ogden forest headquarters. Sir Johnson expects to return to Nome shortly to resume activities wit 1 1 the biological survey in asslcoatlon with L J. Ealmer, who ha charge or the work Tne remarkable Increase In the number of reindeer in Alaska from 1'8U h ad in ti 126.000 at the present tunc ls ottered ;ls the basis upon which Mr. Johnson predicted his I I mark 'ihe experiment station was established estab-lished at Alasuu to study the life of. the reindeer, diseases, foods, migratory migra-tory habits anil the possibility of domesticating do-mesticating the iMiimal for draft purposes pur-poses for pack and for hauling to supplant the use of dogs. Mr. Jonnson explained Ot the total number or deer In Alaska, i 'i pi i cent ure owned by nnlive nlnnit 9.1 i,-r ci-nl I . i.riv:itr concerns and the remaining three per 'cent by the government. i ibii d lt i i t At EA6TL1 The domestication of the reindeer Is accomplished In a remarkably short I timi and vvith little effort and can ! used to greater advantage than can the Eskimo aogs. With the use or the deer, fewer animals are required than vvhen dogs are used, and the sup-pi sup-pi . and kind of food for the deer IS ' more easily carried. Native hiy, oat-I meal, cornmeal, flour; cottonseed cake i and native moss, wnion grows profuse-lj profuse-lj n snow-blown areas form the food of the deer, while meat and better Coods oi usl I"- carried ( or t he doge. At the prcsenl lime, the use of reindeer rein-deer Ls limited on account of the facl that the dogs i. m scent the deer fdi five oi six li, lies nnd will drive tbc fit.M- Into Ihu forcQta T'ii. rlr an. .driven in lahdemi and are harnessed to sleds by means of a wooden col-jlar-llke yoke. Thev are so e.tsilv trained train-ed that an animal may be taken from la herd, domesticated within four or I five days, used to perform the work In hand, and then allowed to return j to the herd. In an effort to Improve the usefulness useful-ness of the reindeer the SUrvej Ifl experimenting ex-perimenting to develop a larger animal, ani-mal, by crossing the reindeer with the native ciuioou, which Inhabits Alaska .and northern Canada in cbuhtless numbers The average refndeer OJ ! Alaska averages about 150 pounds, j while caribou will weigh about 400 pounds. The migratory caribou which travel from central Canada to all parts of Alaska, according to the senson, are of a smaller variety than the native or I woodland caribou, which remain quite permanently In the far north. l ike the reindeer, the caribou can be domesticated do-mesticated with case. These animais are kept In corrals and herdd in a similar manner as rattle. rat-tle. Although onl used In Norwegian localities of the I nlted States at tin present time. It will not be many years before these herds of reindeer aqd caribou will be one of the chief meat ' supplies, Mr, Johnson said The predatory animals of Alaska kill great numbers of deer and caribou cari-bou every year. '"hlef among thet enemies are the wolverine wolf, bear i and eagle Among the cinnamon and kodlak bears found In parts of Alaska, i are some of the largest living mam- j rnals of the North American continent, Mr Johnson said. Skulls of these bears have been found that measure I from li to 24 inches in length. It Is j not unusual to g a cinnamon bear I weighing from 1400 to 1500 abulias', while the kodlak bears, which are considerably con-siderably larger, average 2000 pounds Mr Johnson will depart rrom Seattle Se-attle in October on the last boat going go-ing to Nome. j |