Burton Island (AGB 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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- 1, ARCTIC WILDLIFE The fauna of the Arctic are shown in part on these pages. Only 14 polar bears were sighted in the past 18 months-not plentiful. The walrus were numerous in the lower latitudes of the Arctic in that the male and female herds after separate existence for the majority of the year meet and mate in the Chuckchi Sea area, which we traverse going to our operational alrea. The ship's doctor, Lt. Gobar, better known as Mogambo , successfully bagged three polar bear, two Arctic car.ibou, and a Kokiak brown bear. His hunting forays from time to time were the basis of many stories, 'rumors and a pleasant diversions for him as well as sidewalk superintendents before and after the hunts. The tro hies wer ll f always tasty, as side dishes for our menu. Other animals encountered in the Arctic are wolf, fox, seal, Arctic hare, and musk ox, which unfortunately cannot be shown. The bird life included sea gull, albatross, Eider duck, among other less numerous species. Fish above the Arctic circle are scarce. There are a few ice cod 13 -6 J and a few salmon, but usually not found beyond the Mackenzie River area. Incidentally, the doctor was the sole catcher of the salmon, bringing aboard the limit of the medium size. The variety of Arctic wildlife is amazing to most of us. The Arctic seems so desolate that life of an kind would ear un- aPP likely, the plant life is restricted to licbens and willow shoots for the most part. And yet on Melville lrsland shore parties saw an Arctic hare, wolf tracks, musk ox skulls, and a fox skull. Caribou were seen from the helicopter, seals were seen from time to time around the ship. The shore party was alert for a ossibl l b ' ' ' ' wildlife can survive nature's Arctic adversities. p e exce ent sources or camera fans, the meat was interesting, if not p e po ar ear VlS1t. Actually it 1S amazing that so much