Mammals of the Southwest Mountains and Mesas

Part 1

MAMMALS of the southwest MOUNTAINS and MESAS

by GEORGE OLIN illustrations by EDWARD BIERLY

Southwest Parks and Monuments Association Box 1562, Globe, Arizona 85501

Copyright 1961 by the Southwestern Monuments Association. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-11291 SBN 0-911408-32-0

Southwest Parks and Monuments Association (formerly Southwestern Monuments Association)

First printing, 1961. Second printing, 1971. Third printing, 1975.

Popular series no. 9.

Printed in the United States of America Arizona Lithographers · Tucson, Arizona

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

With this booklet, as with Mammals of the Southwest Deserts, we are indebted to Dr. E. L. Cockrum, Assistant Professor of Zoology at the University of Arizona who has checked the manuscript for accuracy. We are also grateful to him for offering suggestions and criticisms which have added materially to its interest.

The writer would also like to voice his appreciation to Ed Bierly whose magnificent illustrations adorn these pages. His is a talent with which it is a privilege to be associated.

Finally our thanks to the editor and his staff. It is not an easy task to combine text with illustrations, nor to match space with type, yet it has been done with feeling and precision.

Together, we hope that you will approve of our efforts. If through this booklet you gain a better understanding of the mammals that share the great outdoors with us, or if through it you should become aware of the urgent necessity of preserving some of our wild creatures, (and wild places), now before it is too late; we shall indeed be well repaid.

CONTENTS

Hoofed Animals 1 Bighorn (mountain sheep) 2 Pronghorn (antelope) 4 Bison (buffalo) 8 Mule deer 10 White-tailed deer 13 Elk 16 Rodents (Including Lagomorphs) 21 Snowshoe hare 22 White-tailed jackrabbit 24 Mountain cottontail 26 Pika 28 Tassel-eared squirrel (Abert’s squirrel) 31 Kaibab squirrel 34 Arizona gray squirrel 36 Spruce squirrel, Pine squirrel (Douglas squirrel, chickaree) 39 Northern flying squirrel 42 Western chipmunks 44 Golden-mantled ground squirrel 48 White-tailed prairie dog 51 Yellow-bellied marmot (woodchuck) 53 Deermouse (white-footed mouse) 57 Mountain vole 58 Western jumping mouse 59 Bushy-tailed woodrat (pack rat) 60 Muskrat 64 Beaver 67 Porcupine 72 Northern pocket gopher 75 Carnivores (Including the Insectivores and Chiropterans) 79 Mountain lion 80 Bobcat 85 Red fox 87 Gray wolf 89 Coyote 92 Wolverine 95 Marten 97 River otter 101 Mink 103 Short-tailed weasel (ermine) 105 Spotted skunk 108 Striped skunk 110 Black bear 112 Grizzly bear 117 Vagrant shrew 119 Bats 121 References 123 Index 125

ELEVATION PRECIPITATION FEET DRY MOIST WET 14,000 ARCTIC-ALPINE above ZONE timber-line; small, mat-like plants. 13,000 pika 12,000 mountain sheep 11,000 HUDSONIAN ZONE spruce red squirrel 10,000 fir marten 9,000 CANADIAN ZONE quaking aspen beaver Douglas fir, mule deer 8,000 TRANSITION ZONE tassel-eared squirrel 7,000 ponderosa pine, mountain lion 6,000 UPPER SONORAN ZONE pinyon pine deer mouse 5,000 juniper bobcat sagebrush pronghorn 4,000 LOWER SONORAN ZONE 3,000 mesquite, kangaroo rat 2,000 giant cactus 1,000 kit fox HOT WARM COLD TEMPERATURE

Notes

THIS BOOKLET DESCRIBES MAMMALS OF THE SOUTHWEST WHICH LIVE IN THE LIFE ZONES ABOVE THE LOW DESERT. SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS FOR PLANTS OF THESE ZONES. SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MESAS FOR PLANTS OF THIS ZONE. SEE MAMMALS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS FOR MAMMALS OF THESE ZONES. SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS FOR PLANTS OF THIS ZONE.

INTRODUCTION

Geographic Limitations

The only point in the United States at which four states adjoin is where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico come together. With adjacent portions of California, Nevada, and Texas, they contain all of our Southwestern Desert. Arizona and New Mexico especially, are known as desert States and for the most part deserve that appellation. Scattered over this desert country as though carelessly strewn by some giant hand are some of the highest and most beautiful mountains in our Nation. They may occur as isolated peaks magnificent in their loneliness, or as short ranges that continue but a little way before sinking to the level of the desert. On the other hand it is in Colorado that the Rocky Mountains reach their greatest height before merging with the high country in New Mexico, and all of the States mentioned have at least one range of major size.

Two great highways cross this area from East to West. U.S. 66, “Mainstreet of America,” goes by way of Albuquerque and Flagstaff to Los Angeles; farther north U.S. 50 winds through the mountains from Pueblo to Salt Lake City and terminates at San Francisco. Significantly, they meet at St. Louis on their eastward course, and here for the moment we digress from geography to history.

Westward Ho

St. Louis in 1800 was a brawling frontier town. Strategically located at the point where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi, it was the jumping off place for those hardy souls adventurous enough to forsake the comforts of civilization for the unknown perils of the West. Already St. Louis was one of the fur centers of the world. Fashions of the day decreed that top hats be worn by men. The finest hats were made of beaver fur and no self-respecting dandy could be content with less. Trapping parties ascended the Missouri River as far as the mountains of Montana in search of pelts with which to supply the demand. When the animals became scarce in more accessible areas, trappers turned their attention to the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado. Hardships of the overland route, coupled with danger of attack by hostile Indians, discouraged all but the most hardy of a rugged breed. These “Mountain Men” as they became known, traveled in small parties with all the stealth and cunning of the Indians themselves. Gaunt from weeks of travel across the plains, they could rest in the Spanish settlement of Santa Fe for a few days before vanishing into the mountains. On the return trip they might again visit the Spanish pueblo or, eager for the night life of St. Louis, strike directly eastward across the prairies. Today’s highways, while not following their trails directly, certainly parallel them to a great degree.

Little is known today of these early adventurers. A few written accounts have been printed, meager records of their catches have been noted, and here and there crude initials and dates carved on isolated canyon walls attest their passing. Their conquest of the West has faded into oblivion but it must be regarded as the opening wedge of American progress into the Southwest.

Mountains as Wildlife Reservoirs

Today’s traveler spans in hours distances across these same routes that took weary weeks of heartbreaking toil a century ago. As he rides in cushioned ease he seldom pauses to reflect on the changes that have taken place since those early days. The great herds of bison with their attendant packs of wolves have vanished and in their place white-faced cattle graze on the level prairies. In the foothills the pronghorns have taken their last stand. Cities have sprung up on the camping sites of nomadic tribes that roamed the whole area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Only the mountains seem the same.

Part 2

In winter these massive ranges form a barrier against the storms that sweep in from the northwest. More important—these great storehouses of our natural resources that in early days meant only gold and furs, and perhaps sudden death to the pioneers, have now been unlocked by their descendants. The glitter of gold and the glamour of furs pales when contrasted with the untold values that have since been taken out in the baser metals and lumber. This phase too is now coming to an end. It is becoming evident that in the face of our ever increasing population these natural playgrounds are destined to become a buffer against the tensions that we, as one of the most highly civilized peoples of the world, undergo in our daily life. Within another century they will represent one of the few remaining opportunities for many millions of Americans to get close to nature. As such the proper development and preservation of mountainous areas and their values is of vital importance to our Nation.

Mountains of the Southwestern States have been formed by three major agencies. These are, in order of importance, shrinkage of the earth’s interior to form wrinkles on the surface; faulting, with subsequent erosion of exposed surfaces; and volcanic action. The first method is responsible for most of the large ranges, such as the coastal mountains of California and the Rocky Mountains. Faulting is responsible for many of the high plateau areas where one side may be a high rim or cliff and the other a gently sloping incline. The Mogollon Rim, extending across a part of Arizona and into New Mexico, is a classic example in this category. Volcanic action may result in great masses of igneous rock being extruded through cracks in the earth’s surface or it may take the form of violent outbursts in one comparatively small area. Several mountain regions in Arizona and New Mexico are covered with huge fields of extruded lava. Capulin Mountain in New Mexico is an example of a recent volcano which built up an almost perfect cone of cinders and lava. Less noticeable than the mountains, but important nevertheless, are the tablelands of the Southwest. These mesas, too high to be typical of the desert, and in most cases too low to be considered as mountains, partake of the characteristics of both.

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