Alaska Excursions

Alaska Excursions

Wide range of glorious day trips throughout Southcentral Alaska.

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Wolves in Alaska

A wolf shows a formidable set of teeth as he yawns at Denali National Park after several hours of successful hunting for arctic ground squirrels.

Anchorage Daily News

A wolf shows a formidable set of teeth as he yawns at Denali National Park after several hours of successful hunting for arctic ground squirrels.

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Wildlife

Wildlife can often be spotted along Alaska's roads. This young brown bear was foraging just off the Richardson Highway near Valdez.

Alaska is the place to see moose, sheep, bears, eagles, caribou, whales and more.

Wolves in Alaska

A wolf shows a formidable set of teeth as he yawns at Denali National Park after several hours of successful hunting for arctic ground squirrels.

Where to find: Wolves inhabit as much as 85 percent of Alaska, but they're rarely seen.

Loons in Alaska

A common loon moves across Long Lake near Palmer.

Where to find: Look -- and listen -- for loons on lakes. The entire state has loons of one species or another -- common, yellow -billed, red-throated, Pacific and arctic.

Musk oxen in Alaska

A newborn musk ox stays close to its mother at the Musk Ox Farm near Palmer. The herd's calves are born around Mother's Day each May.

Where to find: After being reintroduced in the 1930s, musk oxen took hold on Nunivak Island in the Bering Sea.

Ptarmigan in Alaska

Blending perfectly into the Denali fall foilage and early snows, the willow ptarmigan's plumage changes colors with the seasons.

Where to find: Willow ptarmigan are found nearly everywhere in Alaska's high, treeless country -- and sometimes they're also found in the willows and alders near the tree line.

Denali National Park is the best place to see them

Where to find: Wolves inhabit as much as 85 percent of Alaska, but they're rarely seen.

Wolves live across mainland Alaska, on Unimak Island in the Aleutians and on all the big islands of the Inside Passage except for Admiralty, Baranof and Chichagof islands.

Wolves sometimes are seen in Denali National Park by passengers on wildlife-tour and shuttle buses.

Tips: Wolves breed in February and March, and litters averaging five pups are born in May or early June.

Wolf fur is valued by people in extremely cold climates because it doesn't collect frost when used as a ruff around a parka hood.

In urban Alaska, wolves sometimes slip into cities such as Ketchikan and even Anchorage, fighting with and killing pet dogs.

They live in such different habitats as rain forests and arctic tundra. When the habitat is best, wolves average 1 per 25 square miles. That density decreases toward the north and west.