The Elk of North America

Born in 1889, Dr. Murie is recognized as the foremost authority on elk and caribou in North America. A field naturalist of tremendous experience, his first scientific work was undertaken in 1914 when he made an expedition to Hudson's Bay to collect specimens for the Carnegie Museum. He made another expedition to Labrador three years later. After service in the Army Air Force in World War I, he joined the U. S. Biological Survey, now the Fish and Wildlife Service, and conducted an extensive study of the caribou of Alaska and the Yukon Territory. The results of this six-year study were published by the Department of Agriculture as a part of the North American Fauna Series. From 1920 to 1923, he served as the fur warden for Interior Alaska, while continuing his studies of caribou, brown bear, and waterfowl. For the past 15 years, he has made his home in Moose, Wyoming, in the heart of America's most famous elk range. Here he has conducted the painstaking research for this book, The Elk of North America, living and working in intimacy with his subject. His studies of the Jackson Hole elk herd have brought him international fame. In 1948, he was called to New Zealand to advise the government of that Dominion on the Management of its introduced elk herds. An accomplished artist, he has illustrated three full length books and countless articles on wildlife. He is the author of more than 75 popular articles on natural history and innumerable scientific papers. A leading champion of the preservation of our few remaining wilderness areas, he is president and director of the Wilderness Society and is an active member of many scientific and conservation organizations. [add picture of author]