Urban Wildlife

The cities, towns and villages of Alaska are all encased by grand mountain ranges, countless river deltas, rugged coastlines and vast forests.

Wildlife has learned to cope with (and fear) humanity on many levels, though often their goals are a variety of survival means.

Within the little city of Anchorage wildlife interactions abound, though probably not as much now as a half century ago. All the pictures below were taken within the municipality.

Moose are certainly plentiful, even dropping their calves in town to keep them safe from bears and wolves … however both those apex animals wander through the city as well.

Moose, bears (brown and black), wolves, lynx, coyotes, fox, wolverine and an abundance of other mammals move through the city … most often unnoticed in passing.

Millions of migratory birds come and go, blanketing the waterways, lakes and ponds before spreading out across the land to rear their young or fly thousands of miles southward.

Throughout the seasons we citizens are constantly reminded that we are all really living at the edge of their world … not the other way around!

All images © Dave Parkhurst www.TheAlaskaCollection.com