Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado Part 4

_Specimens examined._--Total, 4: MV 7884/507 and 7885/507, trapped in Balcony House and prepared by D. Watson in 1939; MV 7901/507 and 7902/507, without data.

The cliff dwellings are favored by ringtails and in some years they are common near occupied dwellings in the area of headquarters. Ringtails have been seen in each major habitat within the Park.

Mustela frenata nevadensis Hall Long-tailed Weasel

_Specimens examined._--Total, 5: MV 7891/507, [Male], from the "Garden" [= Indian Cornfield]; [Female], MV 7892/507, also from the "Cornfield"; MV 7859/507, "Killed by car on Prater Grade"; [Male], MV 7871/507, in winter pelage, from the North Rim; and [Male], 83464, killed on the road 1/2 mi. NE of the tunnel, Morfield Canyon.

C.W. Quaintance in 1935 reported that on January 11, he and Mr. Nelson saw a weasel attack a cottontail, and on March 9, while on the snow plow, Mr. Nelson witnessed another cottontail being killed by a weasel.

Weasels in white winter pelage have been recorded in December and January. The brown pelage has been seen as late as November.

Mustela vison energumenos (Bangs) Mink

D. Watson (in letter of January 16, 1957) wrote: "When Jack Wade, now Chief Ranger, was doing patrol work in the Mancos Canyon back in the 1930's, he saw mink along the river at the east side of the Park.

Several years ago, the people who lived on the ranch where Weber Canyon joins the Mancos trapped a mink." Tracks have been reported along the Mancos River in several years.

Spilogale putorius gracilis Merriam Spotted Skunk

_Specimen_: Immature [Male], MV 7860/507, Cliff Palace, August 22, 1936, prepared by A.E. Borrell.

In some years these little skunks have become so numerous in the area of headquarters that they were a nuisance, and were captured in garbage cans and released in other parts of the Park.

Mephitis mephitis estor Merriam Striped Skunk

D. Watson advises me that striped skunks are fairly common around the entrance to the Park, along the foot of the Mesa, and along the Mancos River. Striped skunks have been reported in 1951 in Morfield Canyon, in 1952 on the Knife Edge, in 1953 at Windy Point (1/4 mi. N of Point Lookout), and in 1959 at the head of Morfield Canyon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 1

UPPER: View of the North Rim of Mesa Verde, looking west from Park Point, the highest place on the North Rim. The south-facing slope on the left is covered with brushy vegetation, mostly oak. Sheltered parts of the north-facing slope support stands of Douglas fir, and at a few places some ponderosa pines. Photo taken in August, 1956, by S.

Anderson.

LOWER LEFT: View of Rock Canyon from Wetherill Mesa, looking southwest from a point 2 mi. NNW Rock Springs. The area in the foreground on Wetherill Mesa was burned in 1934. Photo taken in August, 1956, by S.

Anderson.

LOWER RIGHT: Prater Canyon, at Upper Well, 7575 feet. In the matted gra.s.ses and sedges on the floor of the canyon _Microtus monta.n.u.s_ and _Sorex vagrans_ were captured. _Tamiasciurus hudsonicus_ was found in a side canyon, Chickaree Draw, one half mile southwest of the place shown.

Chickaree Draw is more sheltered than the slope in the background and has a denser stand of Douglas fir than occurs here. Photo taken in August, 1956, by S. Anderson.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 2

UPPER: Relatively undisturbed stand of pinyon pine and Utah juniper 1/4 mi. N Rock Springs, at 7400 feet elevation on Wetherill Mesa along a service road. The vegetation shown is characteristic of the lower more exposed parts of the top of the Mesa Verde. Photo taken in August, 1956, by S. Anderson.

LOWER: Wetherill Mesa, 1/2 mi. NNW Rock Springs, 7500 feet elevation.

This area burned in 1934. It contained no pine or juniper in 1956 despite attempted reforestation in the thirties and the presence of a stand of pinyon and juniper (shown above) only one quarter of a mile away. Possibly fire in the last three or four hundred years on the higher parts of the Mesa has been a factor in producing chaparral there, rather than pinyon and juniper. Photo taken in August, 1956, by S.

Anderson.]

Taxidea taxus berlandieri Baird Badger

Several reports, but no specimens, of the badger have been obtained. In 1935, C.W. Quaintance wrote that in School Section Canyon tracks of cougar, bobcat, coyote, and deer were found, and that pocket gophers, badgers, and cottontail rabbits were present. Later in 1935, H.P. Pratt wrote that he had found evidence of badgers "at the lower well in Prater Canyon, where on September 23, there were extensive badger diggings and fresh tracks in the vicinity of the prairie dog colony there." Badgers are common in the lowlands around the Mesa and they are common enough on the Mesa to be regarded as nuisances by archeologists on account of badgers digging in ruins. Badgers have been seen from three to six times each year from 1950 to this date, most of them in the vicinity of the North Rim.

Felis concolor hippolestes Merriam Mountain Lion

Mountain lions range throughout the Park. There are reliable sight records of lions and lion tracks, but no specimen has been preserved.

Early records of observations include the report of tracks seen in Navajo Canyon by Cary (1911:165), and a lion seen in 1917. Since 1930 the more adequate records include reports of from one to eight observations each year for 26 of the 30 years. Young animals (recorded as "half-grown") or cubs have been reported in four of these years. The tabulation of dated reports by month beginning with January is: 2, 0, 3, 2, 8, 4, 6, 7, 4, 9, 5, 7. Mountain lions range more widely than bears in their daily and seasonal activities, but like bears probably breed, bear young, and feed in the Park. Although at any one time lions may or may not be within the Park, it is part of their normal range and the species should be regarded as resident and is not uncommon.

Lynx rufus baileyi Merriam Bobcat

_Specimens examined._--Total, 2: A specimen (now mounted in Park Museum) from the Knife Edge Road; and ad. [Female], 76302, Prater Canyon, 7500 ft., November 12, 1957, obtained by J.R.

Alcorn.

Bobcats are present throughout the Park. Approximately 80 observations of bobcats are on file, from all parts of the Park and in all months.

Probably the bobcat and the gray fox are the most abundant carnivores in the Park. In addition to known predation by mountain lions and coyotes on porcupines, the bobcat kills porcupines. A dead porcupine and a dead bobcat with its face, mouth, and one foot full of quills were found together on January 31, 1952, under a boulder in front of Cliff Palace.

On August 20, 1956, I saw a bobcat hunting in sage in a draw near a large clump of oak-brush, into which it fled, at the head of the east fork of Navajo Canyon, Sect. 21, near the North Rim, 8100 feet.

Odocoileus hemionus hemionus (Rafinesque) Mule Deer

_Specimens examined._--Total, 2: Young [Male], 76303, November 8, 1957, Far View Ruins; [Female], 76304, November 12, 1957, Spruce Tree House Ruin, both obtained by J.R. Alcorn.

In all parts of the Park, mule deer are common. Five projects concerning deer are in progress or have been concluded recently on the Mesa. One is a study of the responses of different species of plants to browsing and was begun in 1949 by Harold R. Shepherd for the Colorado Department of Game and Fish. A number of individual plants and in some instances groups of plants were fenced to exclude deer. Systematic clips of 20, 40, 60, 80, or 100 per cent of the annual growth are made each year. The results of the first ten years of this study are being prepared for publication by Shepherd.

A study of browsing pressure was initiated in 1952 by Regional Biologist C.M. Aldous, on eight transects in the Park. Each transect consists of 15 plots at intervals of 200 feet. The amount of use of each plant species was recorded from time to time. The study was terminated in 1955. I have seen no summary of results of this study.

A trapping program was begun in 1953 with the co-operation of the Colorado Department of Game and Fish. Deer are trapped, marked, and released. Some are released in areas other than where trapped. In this way the excessive size of the herd near headquarters has been reduced.

Recoveries of marked deer outside the Park by hunters and retrapping results in the Park should provide information about movements of deer and about life expectancy.

The "Deer Trend Study" was initiated in 1954. From November to May, twice a day, at the same time, a count is made along the entrance road from the Park Entrance to Headquarters. Ten drainage areas traversed are tabulated separately. The results of four years of this study indicate that the greatest number of deer are present in November, December, and January, and that only about one-fourth as many are present in February and March. Depending on severity of weather, the yearly pattern varies, the deer arriving earlier, or leaving earlier. This change in numbers, the recovery outside of the Park of animals marked in the Park, and direct observations of movement indicate that the Mesa Verde is an intermediate range rather than a summer-range or winter-range. In summer deer tend to move northward and eastward out of the Park, and in winter they move back through the Park toward lower and more protected areas in canyons both in the Park and south of the Park on the Ute Reservation.

Some deer remain in the Park the entire year. Close co-operation between personnel of the Park Service and of the Colorado Department of Game and Fish has regulated hunting outside the Park in such a way as to provide satisfactory control of the deer within the Park.

A study of the effect of rodents on plants used by deer was initiated in 1956 by Harold R. Shepherd. Three acres were fenced in a fas.h.i.+on designed to exclude rodents but not deer. An adjacent three acres were fenced as a control, but not so as to exclude rodents or deer. Eight trap lines nearby provide an index of rodent fluctuations from year to year. These studies will need to be continued for a period of ten years or more, and should provide much information concerning not only deer but also rodents and their effect on vegetation.

Cervus canadensis nelsoni V. Bailey Wapiti

Wapiti are seen periodically; probably they wander in from the higher mountains to the northeast and do not remain for long. The following note was included in the 1921 report of Mr. Jesse L. Nusbaum, then Superintendent of the Park: "The first elk ever seen in the Park made his appearance near the head of Navajo Canyon, August 15 of this year, and travelled for two miles in front of a Ford car down the main road before another car, travelling in the opposite direction, scared him into the timber." Additional observations have been recorded as follows: School Section Canyon ("fall" 1935), Knife Edge Road (July, 1940), West Soda Canyon and Windy Point (December, 1949), Long Canyon (July, 1959), and Park Entrance (December, 1959). Three of the six observations are in July and August; therefore movement by wapiti into the Park can not be attributed entirely to disturbance during the hunting season.

Ovis canadensis canadensis Shaw Bighorn

Some early records of the bighorn were mentioned by C.W. Quaintance (1935): In a letter of January 20, 1935, John Wetherill said that a "Mountain Sheep Canyon" (now Rock Canyon) was named for a bunch of sheep that wintered near their camp; and Sam Ahkeah, a Navajo, says the Indians occasionally find remnants of sheep on the Mesa, which they take back to their hogans. Cahalane (1948:257) reported that hunting presumably had eliminated bighorns from the Mesa by 1896; however Jean Pinkley reports that a large ram was killed on Point Lookout in 1906.

On January 30, 1946, 14 sheep (3 rams, 7 ewes, and 4 lambs) from the herd at Tarryall, Colorado, were obtained through the Colorado Department of Game and Fish and were released at 8:30 a.m. at the edge of the canyon south of Spruce Tree Lodge. The sheep, instead of entering the canyon as expected, turned north, pa.s.sed behind the museum, and eventually disappeared northward on Chapin Mesa. The sheep evidently divided into at least two bands. On April 24, 1946, three sheep were seen 2-1/2 mi. N of Rock Springs, and on June 19, 1947, tracks were seen in Mancos Canyon. In 1947, 1948, and 1949 farmers in Weber Canyon reported seeing sheep many times on Weber Mountain, and watering at the Mancos River. In May, 1949, an estimate of 27 sheep on Weber Mountain was made after several days study by men from the state game department.

The herds continued to increase. In 1956 I saw two bighorns. On August 18, at 6:20 a.m., my wife and I briefly observed a bighorn on the rocks below Square Tower Ruins. On August 24, I was digging with a small shovel in rocky soil behind the cabin at Rock Springs, when hoof beats were heard approaching in the rocky head of the canyon to the east. An adult ewe came up to the fence around the cabin area and looked at me, seemingly curious about the noise my shovel had been producing. I remained motionless and called to my wife, Justine, to come from the cabin and see the sheep. The ewe seemed not to be disturbed by my voice, but took flight, returning in the direction from which she had come, the moment Justine appeared from behind the cabin. Sheep can now be seen on occasion in any of the deep canyons across the southern half of the Park. The sheep have caused slight damage in some of the ruins by bedding down there, and by climbing on walls. As the sheep increase in numbers this activity may be regarded as a problem. In 1959 an estimated 75 to 100 sheep were in the Park and adjacent areas.