Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve in Alaska is home to around 192 animal species. In addition to charismatic species like bears, Dall sheep, caribou, and beaver, some other unique species not found in too many other units of the National Park System call this landscape home.

Muskox, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve / NPS file

Called Oomingmak in the Inupiaq Eskimo language, meaning “hairy one” or “bearded one,” because of the long, elegant shaggy fur that trails like a skirt along their flanks, Muskoxen are living remnants from the Ice Age World. It’s believed their ancestors probably crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Asia to North America 100,000 to 150,000 years ago.

Wood frogs freeze solid for up to eight months of the year. When cold temperatures descend, ice quickly fills the wood frog’s abdominal cavity and encases the internal organs. Ice crystals form between layers of skin and muscle. The eyes turn white because the lens freezes. Thanks to their livers, though, large amounts of glucose are produced that flushes into every cell in its body. This syrupy sugar solution prevents the cells from freezing and binds the water molecules inside the cells to prevent dehydration.

Wood frogs literally freeze themselves to survive the winter months at Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve / NPS file

Closely related to their Lower 48 relative the bobcat, the lynx is the only member of the cat family native to Alaska. Their favorite food is the snowshoe hare, and the lynx population density is directly tied to the snowshoe hare population. Most Lynx tend to stay in one place, but sometimes, the “travel bug” bites them and these cats will travel hundreds of miles to new territory (probably not for tourism reasons).

How many of you think of Santa’s reindeer when you see a caribou? You might see one or more during a visit to Gates of the Arctic. These members of the deer family have thick fur, the hairs of which are hollow and hold heat well. Their feet spread apart, helping them not only to walk on snow and spongy tundra, but to easily swim. Fun fact: Tendons in their feet click when they walk. Believe it or not, memory influences where caribou will spend the winter. It all depends on how they fared in the spot to which they migrated during the winter. Several caribou herds migrate through the Central Brooks Range in Gates of the Arctic as they move from north to south in the winter, then back north during the summer. Of these herds, the largest is the Western Arctic Herd, numbering a little over 150,000.

Caribou herd crossing the river, Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve / NPS-Kyle Joly

It’s possible you might see a brown bear in the distance during your visit to this national park and preserve. These bears are physically and behaviorally distinct from brown bears found in the vastly different environment of Alaska’s southern coast. Unlike the Alaskan brown bears enjoying all that salmon at Katmai National Park and Preserve and Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, the food situation in the tundra areas of Gates of the Arctic is scarce, and bear density numbers one bear to every 15 square miles (38.85 square kilometers) of land. That is not to say these bruins don’t enjoy the salmon swimming the Noatak and Kobuk rivers. The feasting season is a little shorter, however. This lack of abundant high-calorie food means the brown bears at Gates of the Arctic are smaller than their brethren along the Katmai and Lake Clark coasts.

Dall sheep, Arctic National Park and Preserve / NPS-Jared Hughey

How many of you have ever seen a bighorn sheep in one of the national parks of the Lower 48? Dall sheep look like pure white bighorn sheep. This subspecies of sheep is found only in Alaska and western Canada. They have curved horns like bighorn sheep but those horns are longer and skinnier. Sexually dimorphic, males look different from females (ewes), which have smaller horns. Dall sheep thrive on the wind-swept exposed cliffs and peaks of mountains in central and northern Alaska. Their winter coats can be up to two inches thick with coarse hollow outer hairs called guard hairs covering a coat of fine wool. Dall sheep move with the season like caribou, but their limited migration is based on snow depth, temperature, and plant availability.

For the wildlife living in or migrating through Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, surviving is feast or famine, depending upon the time of year. Summers provide a rich buffet of vegetation for the grazers and browsers like caribou, beaver, Dall’s sheep, and snowshoe hares, as well as and animal and insect proteins for birds and predators such as brown bears and lynx. Winter begins early at Gates of the Arctic, starting around mid-August and lasting through March. The park and preserve’s wildlife weather through winter in several ways, either leaving for warmer climes, or remaining behind and adapting to the season. Ptarmigan have feathered feet that act like snowshoes so they can travel atop deep snow. Squirrels enter a state of full hibernation while bears become dormant, riding out the severest portion of winter. Voles and lemmings live in tunnels beneath the snow, and beavers hole up in within their lodges. These animals are active all winter long, protected from the elements and eating food cached during the summer. Larger animals like moose, caribou, and Dall sheep grow thick fur coats to insulate them from the bitter cold. They also migrate south – some a few miles, others hundreds of miles - to warmer climes.

Dall sheep, Arctic National Park and Preserve / NPS-Jared Hughey