Part 3

Here are found the raccoon, little spotted skunk, Oregon and Olympic meadow mice, and the mink. In this zone are seen in late spring the new-born fawns of the black-tailed deer.

Canadian Zone: This zone does not become well defined until above the 3,000-foot level. There is a considerable mixture of both Transition and Canadian elements at the approximate area of separation. While still heavily forested, the trees of the Canadian Zone are noticeably smaller than those at lower elevations and the forest is more open in character. Although common tree species include the Douglas fir and western hemlock of the Transition Zone, the most typical trees are the silver fir, Alaska yellow cedar, noble fir, and western white pine. Other typical plants are the Canadian dogwood, pipsissewa, and Cascades azalea.

There are no mammals which may be considered as characteristic exclusively of the Canadian Zone, since those occupying this zone also range into the Hudsonian.

Hudsonian Zone: At an elevation of from 4,500 to 5,000 feet the character of the forest cover begins to change. The trees are smaller, and the alpine fir and mountain hemlock become dominant tree species. Ascending to higher levels the forest becomes broken, with the number and extent of grassy parks and subalpine meadows increasing until finally all tree growth vanishes at an elevation of about 6,500 feet. This is the zone of beautiful summer wildflower gardens, a region of extensive panoramas and rugged mountain scenes. The avalanche lily, glacier lily, the heathers, paintbrushes, and the mountain phlox are common, as well as the white-barked pine.

Snow blankets these highlands throughout most of the year, and the larger mammals are usually at the lower elevations during the winter months. Many of the permanent wildlife inhabitants are those which hibernate or are active beneath the snow, as the Hollister chipmunk, marmot, pika, Rainier meadow mouse, and Rainier pocket gopher.

Arctic-alpine Zone: Above the forest line all plant life diminishes rapidly in extent. This is a region of barren, rocky soils; perpetual snow fields; and glacial ice; a bleak and forbidding expanse of awe-inspiring grandeur where the storm king yields supremacy for only a few brief weeks in mid-summer.

Characteristic plants, found in the lower portions of this zone, include the Lyall’s lupine, Tolmie’s saxifrage, mountain buckwheat, and golden aster.

Only one mammal, the mountain goat, may be considered as characteristic of this zone.

THE MAMMALS

COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER, BLACK-TAILED DEER Odocoileus hemionus columbianus (Richardson)

The Columbian black-tailed deer is a typical member of the deer family, about the size of its eastern relative, the white-tailed deer. The antlers of the males are forked, rather than having the tines rise from a single main beam as do those of the white-tail. The upper surface of the tail is conspicuously dark brown or black over its entire length. The color of the pelage varies with the season, but is the same in both sexes. In summer the back and flanks are reddish to reddish yellow; in winter gray, intermixed with black, with a dark line along the back, black on the top of the head, and conspicuous white on the chin and upper throat. The underparts are sooty, with white on the inner sides of the legs. The young, at birth, are a dark, rich brown, profusely spotted with creamy yellow. The dark coloration very shortly fades to a lighter brown, or reddish, similar to the summer coat of the adult, and the spots disappear in the early fall when the change to winter pelage begins.

Specimens in park collection: RNP-14 and RNP-113; Longmire Museum, Park Headquarters.

The range of the Columbian black-tailed deer is the Pacific Northwest from northern California to British Columbia and from the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Coast.

It is the most common large animal in the park, distributed in summer throughout the forested areas and occasionally wandering above tree line, the males generally ranging higher than the females and young, preferring the sub-alpine parks and meadows. Deer in general exhibit a preference for burned-over brush lands and other less densely forested areas.

In winter they are found at lower elevations, usually below snow line, generally outside park boundaries, although common along the Nisqually River from Longmire Meadows downstream, along lower Tahoma Creek, and in the vicinity of the Ohanapecosh Hot Springs and lower Carbon River.

Nearly all visitors to Mount Rainier National Park soon become familiar with this graceful animal so commonly seen along the trails and roadsides. Indeed, it is a rare occasion when one or more deer are not seen in a short drive or hike in any section of the park. It is only with the arrival of the snows that they are less frequently observed, and even during the winter months they are quite abundant at the lower elevations.

The seasonal migration is a noteworthy characteristic. With the coming of spring, deer move upward from the lowlands, closely following the retreating snow. The young are born in late May or June, usually after the does have reached their summer range, although they may move higher to find relief from flies. There is practically no banding together of the deer at this time. Each mother and her offspring, usually twins, sometimes one and rarely three, comprise a family group, and tend to keep to themselves. The fawns are hidden at birth, and remain in some secluded spot until they are several days old. The mother visits them at intervals during the day so that they may be fed, and stays near their place of concealment. Almost every season “abandoned” fawns are discovered and brought in to one or another of the park’s ranger stations by well-meaning but ill-informed park visitors. In exceptionally rare instances the mother may have been killed by some predator or a passing automobile, but under no known circumstances has a fawn ever been deliberately abandoned. Fawns, if found, should be left unmolested.

At the time of the spring migration to the uplands, the older bucks habitually move to higher levels than do the young bucks and does. They prefer the subalpine parks and meadows, and often range in pairs or in groups of from three to five or six individuals.

The first heavy snow starts the deer on their annual trek to the lowlands, and the journey is ordinarily a consistent one, once begun it is completed over a period of from several hours to a day or two, depending upon the distance to be covered. Study has revealed that deer follow regularly established routes during migration, returning year after year to the same general winter and summer ranges. Well-worn game trails along prominent ridges and watercourses are testimony to this concentrated movement, the intersecting minor paths are but tributaries to the major current of travel.

It is prior to the fall migration that the deer herds assemble, the does, fawns, and yearling bucks banding together, the older bucks breaking away from their summer associations and joining the does for the mating season, which occurs in November and December.

Vicious battles are frequent at this season. Determined to assert supremacy, the bucks are merciless antagonists, and at times the struggle is fatal to the loser. In rare instances both may perish, with antlers so tightly locked that escape for either is impossible, exhaustion and starvation the inevitable result. At the conclusion of the mating season the two sexes go their separate ways again, the bucks often assuming again the easy companionship of the summer months.

The abundance or lack of forage is an important factor, perhaps the most important, in determining local abundance of deer. Densely forested sections are not capable of supporting large deer populations because of the lack of sufficient brush, shrubbery, and succulent plants which make up the bulk of the deer’s diet. Primarily a browser, only in spring does this animal show a preference for grass, and then only for a short period.

Deer have many natural enemies. It is fortunate that nature has provided for an abundant reproduction in this species. Snow is perhaps most serious of all, since a heavy snowfall may cover the food supply, and certainly hampers the movement of the animals when they must escape predatory coyotes or cougars. Late spring snows, in particular, come at a critical time. At best forage diminishes steadily during the winter months, and when this period is followed by even a short space when food is unavailable, starvation and death strikes the weaker and aged animals.

Of the predatory animals, the coyote and cougar are most effective. The fox, wildcat, and bear undoubtedly take an occasional fawn, but cannot be considered dangerous to an adult deer. In view of the powers of rapid reproduction shown by deer, it is well that they have numerous natural enemies; otherwise wholesale destruction of brush lands and forest reproduction would occur as the animals reached a peak of overpopulation, followed by mass starvation. This frequently happens in many parts of the West where the natural enemies of the deer have been exterminated. Predators follow, in most instances, the line of least resistance. As a consequence, it is the weaker, the diseased, or the otherwise unfit animals that tend to be struck down first, and so the fittest survive.

A reasonable balance seems to have been attained in the numbers of deer in the park. For the past several years there has been no apparent change, an estimated 600 range within park boundaries during the summer months.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN MULE DEER, MULE DEER Odocoileus hemionus hemionus (Rafinesque)

The mule deer is similar to the preceding subspecies in general character. Perhaps the most noticeable field difference is the tail, which in the mule deer is narrow and black-tipped, above and below, rather than wider and dark brown or black over the entire upper surface and entirely white below as in the black-tailed. The large ears, from which this species derives its common name, are distinctive, the black-tailed deer is the smaller and darker of the two subspecies.

Specimens in park collection: None.