Fur Seal — Aatak, Isuwiq Aatat quiliutaartut. – Fur seals are (always) fat. Each November, northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus) leave their summer home in the Pribilof Islands, swimming south to winter in the warmer waters off California. Until they return the following summer, these animals rarely touch land. Most fur seals live between ten […]
Weasel — Amitatuk Amitatut naryartaakenka. – I used to trap weasels. The short-tailed weasel (Mustela erminea), also known as an ermine, is one of only six land mammals indigenous to the Kodiak Archipelago. Biologists believe that weasels, along with bears, otters, foxes, voles, and bats, colonized Kodiak following the last major glaciation. Weasels probably migrated […]
Swim — Kuimarluni Piugta imarmi kuimartuq. – The dog is swimming in the ocean. Surrounded by sparkling ocean waters and fantastic scenery, Kodiak may seem like an ideal place for a summer swim but consider the water temperature. Although the archipelago lies in the path of the Alaska current, a flow of warm water that […]
Quiver — Ruuwauteq Ruuwautet ruuwat tuumiaq’rsuutiit. – Quivers are holders for arrows. Alutiiq hunters used different kinds of arrows for hunting on land and sea, and they stored this weaponry in a variety of quivers—portable sheaths. Arrows for caribou and game birds had fixed heads and people carried them in skin quivers. At sea, hunters […]