Anaqiitaq—Sea Cucumber Allrani guangkuta nertaartukut anaqiitanek.—Sometimes we eat sea cucumbers. The sea cucumber is an echinoderm, a creature related to sea urchins and sea stars. There are many varieties of sea cucumbers found in Alaska waters, from intertidal areas to the edge of the continental shelf. Sea cucumbers are known for their ability to expel […]
Sungcarwik—Hospital TuugtaRaq sungarwigmen ag’uq.—The doctor is going to the hospital. Medical care in Alutiiq communities was once provided by two types of specialists: healers who treated the sick with heat, herbal medicine, and bloodletting, and shamans who realigning the ill with the spirit world. When new diseases arrived in Alaska with Russian traders, medical care […]
Taquka’angcuk—Bear Cub Taquka’angcum maamani malirqatuu’uraa.—The little bear is following its mama. The Kodiak Archipelago is home to an unusually dense population of brown bears (Ursus arctos middendorffi). Biologists believe that there are as many as 3,500 bears in the region, with the highest densities in southwest Kodiak Island. This large number of bears reflects both the […]
Puyulek—Volcano Puyulek yakguani et’aartut, ingrini.—The volcanoes are far away, in the mountains. Although there are no volcanoes in the Kodiak Archipelago, the mountainous Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutian Island chain are formed largely by volcanic activity. Along this expanse of Alaska’s coast there are at least eighty volcanoes that have been active in the past […]