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     In 1944, 29 reindeer were imported onto St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea. Specialists had calculated (quite correctly) that the island could support between 1600 and 2300 reindeer, and by 1957 the population had grown to 1350. But by 1963, with no natural controls or predators, the population had soared to 6000, and in the next three years, this population exhausted the island's food resources and crashed, leaving only 42 specimens clinging precariously to life.

 

 

THE INTRODUCTION, INCREASE,
AND CRASH OF REINDEER ON ST. MATTHEW ISLAND
By David R. Klein
Alaska Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska, College

 

 

 

 

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