Chapter II: Part 2

Visher (1914) made no mention of this species in his report of the natural history of Harding County.

~Mustela vison letifera~ Hollister, 1913

Mink

Tracks of a mink were observed by a member of one of our field parties (T. H. Swearingen) in late March of 1963 at a pond 5 mi. S and 14 mi. E Buffalo, and one was reported to have been trapped in the same area the previous winter. Reports by local residents indicate that mink occur along the Little Missouri River as well as streams on the north side of the North Cave Hills. Visher (1914:91) reported the species to be uncommon but he knew of one trapped in February of 1911 on Bull Creek.

~Taxidea taxus taxus~ (Schreber, 1778)

Badger

_Specimens examined_ (4).--Sec. 25, R. 3 E, T. 22 N, 1; NE 1/4 sec. 28, R. 4 E, T. 19 N, 1; 4 mi. E Reva, 1; 10 mi. S, 2 mi. W Buffalo, 1.

Local residents regarded the badger as relatively common in the grasslands of Harding County, although this species was only rarely observed by members of our field parties. Visher (1914:91) reported it to be "quite common."

~Spilogale putorius interrupta~ (Rafinesque, 1820)

Spotted Skunk

We took no spotted skunks in northwestern South Dakota and both local residents and government trappers reported this species to be rare in the area. Visher (1914:91) indicated that it was "much more common than the large skunk" in the early part of this century.

~Mephitis mephitis hudsonica~ Richardson, 1829

Striped Skunk

Visher (1914:91) found this species to be "uncommon" in Harding County, as we did more than a half century later. Some local residents, however, reported this skunk to be fairly abundant. We took one specimen, an adult female having enlarged mammae that was captured on July 6, 1965, at a place 7 mi. S and 4-1/2 mi. E Harding, just south of the Short Pine Hills. Site records of several other striped skunks were obtained as follows: 14 mi. N Buffalo; 6 mi. N and 2-1/2 mi. W Camp Crook; 5-1/2 mi. WNW Buffalo; 1-1/2 mi. S and 1/2 mi. E Buffalo; 4 mi. S Buffalo; 10 mi. SW Ralph; and 1 mi. S Reva.

~Lutra canadensis interior~ Swenk, 1920

Otter

We have no record of this species in Harding County other than Visher's (1914:91) report that an individual was "recently trapped along the Little Missouri River."

~Felis concolor hippolestes~ Merriam, 1897

Mountain Lion

This large cat likely occurred throughout northwestern South Dakota prior to settlement by white man. No specimens are available from Harding County, but Visher (1914:91) reported that an individual "visited the East Short Pines in the winter of 1910-11." It is doubtful that _Felis concolor_ occurs in the area today, except possibly as an occasional transient.

~Lynx rufus pallescens~ Merriam, 1899

Bobcat

_Specimens examined_ (3).--12 mi. N, 9 mi. W Buffalo, 1; 11 mi. N, 7 mi. W Buffalo, 1; 9 mi. N, 9 mi. W Buffalo, 1.

The bobcat, although not abundant, is generally distributed throughout Harding County, particularly in the buttes and badlands. Visher (1914:90) reported the species as common in the early part of this century. Our three specimens were shot in March 1963 by professional hunters sponsored by the Western South Dakota Sheepman Association, two from the air and one on the ground. Two other bobcats were killed in the same three-day period (March 25-27).

We tentatively assign our specimens to the subspecies _pallescens_ owing to their pale color and the general agreement of their external and cranial measurements with those reported for other specimens of that race. Geographic variation in _Lynx rufus_ from throughout the Northern Great Plains is poorly documented, however, and is in need of critical analysis. External measurements of the three specimens, all males (adult and two young adults, respectively), are: total length, 870, 925, 820; length of tail, 142, 176, 155; length of hind foot, 191, 192, 178; length of ear, 82, 84, 71; weight (pounds), 23, 17, 16. Respective lengths of testes were 30, 36, and 15. Selected cranial measurements of the adult and largest young adult are: condylobasal length, 113.7, 111.5; zygomatic breadth, 88.3, 83.7; interorbital constriction, 24.5, 23.5; length of nasals, 30.1, 30.8; length of maxillary toothrow, 37.7, 38.6.

Order Artiodactyla

~Cervus elaphus canadensis~ Erxleben, 1777

Wapiti or Elk

Visher (1914:87) reported that the last native elk in Harding County was killed in the Long Pine Hills in 1879, and also mentioned skulls picked up in the Cave Hills. The origin of a wapiti allegedly shot in the Slim Buttes in 1956 (Robert Kriege, personal communication) is unknown, but presumably this individual was a wanderer, possibly from the Black Hills to the south where elk were reintroduced some years ago.

~Odocoileus hemionus hemionus~ (Rafinesque, 1817)

Mule Deer

_Specimens examined_ (6).--2 mi. N, 5 mi. W Ludlow, 1; 9 mi. N, 10 mi. W Buffalo, 2; 10 mi. S, 5 mi. W Reva, 3.

The mule deer is common in the buttes and adjacent badland areas of the county, and many were seen by members of each of our field parties. Local residents reported "black-tails" to be widespread in the area and State Game Protector Merritt Paukarbek reported to Andersen that even though hunting success was high in the autumn of 1967, there was no apparent reduction in numbers in the spring of 1968. In contrast, Visher (1914:88) found this species absent in Harding County in the early 1900's, and stated that it was "exterminated by 1900."

An adult female taken on June 26, 1961, in the North Cave Hills was molting and evidenced no indication of reproductive activity.

~Odocoileus virginianus dacotensis~ Goldman and Kellogg, 1940

White-tailed Deer

_Specimen examined_ (1).--8-1/2 mi. N, 1-1/2 mi. E Camp Crook, 1.

The white-tailed deer is less abundant in northwestern South Dakota than is _O. hemionus_, but a number were seen by members of our parties (in Deer Draw of the Slim Buttes, for example), and local residents reported many sightings to us. Visher (1914:82) earlier recorded this species as once "fairly plentiful in the forest reserves" in Harding County, but stated that it had become rare when he made his biological survey of the area in 1910 and 1912.

~Antilocapra americana americana~ (Ord, 1815)

Pronghorn

_Specimens examined_ (2).--Sec. 28, R. 8 E, T. 23 N, 1; 12 mi. S, 10 mi. W Buffalo, 1.

This species is the most conspicuous (and possibly the most abundant) ungulate in Harding County. It ranges throughout the county on flat and rolling grasslands where small groups, and occasionally herds of up to 50 individuals, were seen in 1960, 1961, 1963, 1968, and 1970. Visher (1914:88) reported that the pronghorn was common in the area until about 1900, but that it was near the point of extinction when he visited the county in 1910 and 1912.

~Bison bison bison~ (Linnaeus, 1758)

Bison

According to historical accounts (Anonymous, 1959), the bison was rare or absent in Harding County at the time of settlement in 1876. By the early 1880's, however, herds were of regular occurrence, and there is one record (_op. cit._: 95-96) of thousands crossing the Little Missouri near Camp Crook in November of 1882.

One report has it that the last bison killed in the county was shot in the summer of 1884 (_op. cit._: 73-74), but Visher (1914:88) reported that an "old settler" had seen "a small bunch in 1886." Visher also reported finding bison remains, probably in 1910 or 1912, to the northeast of the North Cave Hills and west of the South Cave Hills.

~Ovis canadensis auduboni~ Merriam, 1901

Mountain Sheep

According to Visher (1914:88), mountain sheep formerly inhabited all the areas of buttes in Harding County but were extirpated in the 1890's. Sheep Mountain, a large butte just below the south end of the Slim Buttes, was reported to be the last area in which these animals occurred. Over and Churchill (1945:54) mentioned both the Cave Hills and Slim Buttes as localities formerly inhabited by _O. c. auduboni_.

Early in 1961, the South Dakota Game Commission introduced 12 animals, four rams and eight ewes, from Alberta (subspecies _O. c. canadensis_) on the Slim Buttes, but none is known to have survived to 1968.

SPECIES OF UNVERIFIED OCCURRENCE

The ten species of mammals listed below are not known certainly to occur in Harding County, but there is a strong likelihood that some will be found in the area or once occurred there. Three were mentioned by Visher (1914) as having been seen or taken in the county at the time of, or prior to, his biological survey of 1910 and 1912, but his accounts were not supported by adequate documentation. In addition to the kinds listed, several other mammals, such as Keen's bat (_Myotis keenii septentrionalis_), the red bat (_Lasiurus borealis borealis_), or the least weasel (_Mustela nivalis campestris_) are known to occur near enough to the area that the possibility of their presence cannot be discounted.

~Sorex cinereus haydeni~ Baird, 1858.--No shrews presently are known from Harding County. This species almost certainly will be found in relatively mesic habitats there, however, as our field parties have taken specimens in adjacent Bowman County, North Dakota, and only a few miles to the west of the county in the Long Pines Hills of Montana.

~Sorex merriami merriami~ Dobson, 1890.--This shrew inhabits somewhat more xeric areas than most other members of the genus and surely occurs in northwestern South Dakota. Specimens are on record from western North Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, and in the summer of 1970 a field party from The University of Kansas took one but a half mile west of the Harding County (state) line in Carter County, Montana.

~Spermophilus richardsonii richardsonii~ (Sabine, 1822).--Visher (1914:88) reported that he saw individuals of this species "in the extreme northwestern corner" of Harding County. However, the limits of the presently known range of the species are approximately 150 miles distant from that area.

~Sciurus niger rufiventer~ E. Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 1803.--The fox squirrel presently is unrecorded from much of the West River part of South Dakota. Hoffmann _et al._ (1969:589), however, recently have reported specimens from along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana and this squirrel now may occur also along the Little Missouri River. It was not surprising, therefore, when residents of Camp Crook reported to us that in recent years they have seen what were believed to be fox squirrels along the Little Missouri near that town. Specimens now are needed to verify these reports.

~Lagurus curtatus pallidus~ (Merriam, 1888).--The sagebrush vole undoubtedly occurs, albeit probably uncommonly, in areas of sage in northwestern Harding County, because specimens have been taken recently a few miles north and west of the county in North Dakota and Montana, respectively. We trapped unsuccessfully (900 trap nights) for this vole on sage flats to the north of Camp Crook and west of the Little Missouri River in the summer of 1970. "Sign," which appeared to be that of _Lagurus_, was found in this area, but only _Peromyscus maniculatus_ and _Spermophilus tridecemlineatus_ were trapped there.

~Rattus norvegicus~ (Berkenhout, 1769).--No records of this introduced murid are available from northwestern South Dakota, but it seems likely that the species has reached the area.

~Vulpes velox~ (Say, 1823).--Visher (1914:90) reported seeing a swift fox "along the Little Missouri Valley in North Dakota" and further noted that an early settler [Sol Catron] had "trapped a few" in Harding County. Whatever the former status of this fox in northwestern South Dakota may have been, the species evidently does not occur in the area today, or is rare, and the subspecific status of _V. velox_ throughout much of the Northern Great Plains is in question. A specimen obtained in February of 1970 at a place 9 mi. N and 2 mi. E Scranton, Slope Co., North Dakota, is the only swift fox taken north of Nebraska in recent years (Pfeifer and Hibbard, 1970:835).

~Urocyon cinereoargenteus ocythous~ Bangs, 1899.--Jones and Henderson (1963:288) reported a gray fox from Deer Ear Buttes, Butte Co., South Dakota, approximately 15 miles south of the Harding County line. This species appears to have dispersed westward in recent years, and its future occurrence in the county is likely.

~Gulo gulo luscus~ (Linnaeus, 1758).--The wolverine probably occurred sparingly in northwestern South Dakota until the time of early settlement, but we know of no verified records from Harding County or surrounding areas. A recent report of a specimen taken south of Timber Lake, Dewey Co., South Dakota (Jones, 1964:283), indicates that it may again be found in the area.

~Lynx canadensis canadensis~ Kerr, 1792.--We have no reports of this species in Harding County save that Visher (1914:90) noted that local residents claimed specimens had "been taken recently in the Cave Hills." Hoffmann and Pattie (1968:53) reported that the lynx occurs presently in eastern Montana and we suspect that individuals may occasionally range into Harding County.

ZOOGEOGRAPHIC COMMENTS

Of the 53 mammals listed in the foregoing accounts, all but one (_Mus musculus_) are native North American species. These fall into five rather well-defined faunal groupings as outlined by Hoffmann and Jones (1970:364-365). A majority (27) can be characterized as "widespread species." Most of these have broad distributions over much of North America; a few do not, but are widely enough distributed that it is impossible to assign them with certainty to a more circumscribed assemblage. Mammals from northwestern South Dakota that can be characterized as widespread are: _Myotis leibii_, _Myotis lucifugus_, _Eptesicus fuscus_, _Lasionycteris noctivagans_, _Lasiurus cinereus_, _Castor canadensis_, _Peromyscus maniculatus_, _Ondatra zibethicus_, _Erethizon dorsatum_, _Canis latrans_, _Canis lupus_, _Vulpes vulpes_, _Ursus americanus_, _Ursus arctos_, _Procyon lotor_, _Mustela frenata_, _Mustela vison_, _Taxidea taxus_, _Mephitis mephitis_, _Lutra canadensis_, _Felis concolor_, _Lynx rufus_, _Cervus elaphus_, _Odocoileus hemionus_, _Odocoileus virginianus_, _Antilocapra americana_, and _Bison bison_. The above list is composed mainly of volant or relatively large and mobile mammals, several of which occur also in Eurasia or range well into the Neotropics.

A few widespread species deserve special comment. Two, the pronghorn and bison, are typical inhabitants of the interior grasslands of North America and might be considered steppe species save for the fact that each has an extensive distribution beyond that region. Four other species, _Erethizon dorsatum_, thought of primarily as a mammal of coniferous forests, and _Ursus arctos_, _Taxidea taxus_, and _Odocoileus hemionus_, all more or less western taxa, are not so broadly distributed as are other members of this grouping. Of the five bats, three are year-round residents, but _Lasiurus cinereus_ and evidently _Lasionycteris noctivagans_ are migrants.

The remaining 25 kinds of mammals are representative of four regional faunal groupings as follows: boreomontane species (10), steppe species (nine), species with Sonoran affinities (four), and species of the eastern deciduous forest (two).

_Boreomontane species._--Of the 10 mammals in this faunal group, three (_Eutamias minimus_, _Tamiasciurus hudsonicus_, and _Microtus pennsylvanicus_) are distributed both in the boreal forests to the north of the plains and in montane areas to the west. Six species (_Myotis evotis_, _Myotis volans_, _Plecotus townsendii_, _Thomomys talpoides_, _Neotoma cinerea_, and _Ovis canadensis_) are primarily montane in distribution and evidently reached northwestern South Dakota from the west in late Wisconsin or post-glacial times; all but the pocket gopher occur there now only in the vicinity of coniferous timber or rocky buttes. The remaining species, _Zapus hudsonius_, is a glacial "relic." The nearest populations now are far to the north, and this jumping mouse occupies only restricted habitats in northwestern South Dakota and adjacent regions. In Harding County, _Z. hudsonius_ presently is known only from Deer Draw in the Slim Buttes.

_Steppe species._--Taxa intimately associated with the Great Plains are: _Lepus townsendii_, _Cynomys ludovicianus_, _Spermophilus tridecemlineatus_, _Perognathus fasciatus_, _Perognathus hispidus_, _Reithrodontomys montanus_, _Microtus ochrogaster_, _Mustela nigripes_, and _Spilogale putorius_ (subspecies _interrupta_). A few of these are endemic to the plains, but most occur in grassland habitats beyond the borders of the region. All clearly are well adapted to, and therefore presumably evolved in response to, the environment of the interior grasslands; this zoogeographic unit, then, is characterized by truly steppe species that have relatively narrow habitat requirements and largely concordant patterns of distribution.

The case of the spotted skunk deserves brief commentary. This species was not taken or observed by members of our field parties and local residents made no claim to its presence except for a few vague recollections of spotted skunks having been seen "years ago." Visher (1914:91), however, reported that _Spilogale_ was much commoner than _Mephitis_ in the early part of the century. However that may have been, _Spilogale putorius_, as currently understood, would be judged to be a widespread species except that recent evidence strongly suggests that the plains race (_interrupta_) is not of the same species as spotted skunks to the west (subspecies _gracilis_). Furthermore, the ranges of the two are not in contact. Whatever its ultimate specific affinities may be, _S. p. interrupta_ clearly is a plains mammal, and thus is here considered in that zoogeographic unit.

_Sonoran species._--_Sylvilagus audubonii_, _Dipodomys ordii_, _Reithrodontomys megalotis_, and _Onychomys leucogaster_ are invaders to the Northern Great Plains from the Sonoran region to the southwest. The latter two, however, are rather broadly distributed on the Great Plains and their assignment as Sonoran species is somewhat arbitrary. It is of interest that as many as nine mammals with southwestern affinities occur as far north as southwestern South Dakota and adjacent Wyoming.

_Eastern species._--Only _Sylvilagus floridanus_ and _Peromyscus leucopus_ can be identified as species primarily associated with the eastern deciduous forest. The former is limited in northwestern South Dakota to brushy habitats in riparian communities, whereas _P. leucopus_ is restricted to relatively good stands of deciduous timber and presently is known to occur only in Deer Draw of the Slim Buttes.

Throughout its known range in the western part of the Northern Great Plains, _P. leucopus_ is represented by small and disjunct populations associated with riparian deciduous timber. The known population nearest to Harding County is on the Black Hills to the south; next nearest are several isolated or semi-isolated populations along the Yellowstone River in eastern Montana. Presumably, this white-footed mouse spread northwestward into the western part of the plains region along river systems, in company with deciduous trees, in some post-glacial period when the climate was warmer and wetter than now. Subsequent drying altered substantially the distribution and perhaps composition of riparian forests, and isolated populations of _P. leucopus_ evidently survived only in restricted areas, such as Deer Draw, many of them probably marginal habitat for the species.

_Unverified species._--If the 10 species listed as of "unverified occurrence," it seems highly likely that as many as eight will be found to occur, or occurred within historic time, in Harding County. Among these eight are one steppe species (_Vulpes velox_), three with boreomontane affinities (_Sorex cinereus_, _Gulo gulo_, and _Lynx canadensis_), two (_Sciurus niger_ and _Urocyon cinereoargenteus_) that are associated with the eastern deciduous forests, and two (_Sorex merriami_ and _Lagurus curtatus_) that are Great Basin elements.

It is noteworthy that the last-mentioned faunal unit is not known to be represented in northwestern South Dakota.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For assistance in the field, we are especially grateful to the students who were enrolled in the Field Course in Vertebrate Zoology at The University of Kansas in the summers of 1961, 1965, and 1970, and to M. A. Levy, R. R. Patterson, and T. H. Swearingen. In 1965 and 1970, the summer field course was supported in part by grants (GE-7739 and GZ-1512, respectively) from the National Science Foundation; Andersen was supported in the field in 1968 by a grant from the Kansas City Council for Higher Education. Personnel of the U.S. Forest Service (Sioux Division, Custer National Forest), particularly District Ranger Timothy S. Burns, were most helpful to us in the field, as were Wardens Wesley Broer and Merritt Paukarbek of the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. Robert Kriege, Federal predator control agent stationed in Buffalo, was most generous in sharing with us his knowledge of rodents and carnivores in the area, and many present or former residents, particularly Carl Cornell and Spike Jorgensen, also provided useful information and were helpful in other ways.

Ectoparasites reported here were identified by Cluff E. Hopla (fleas), Richard B. Loomis (chiggers), and Glen M. Kohls (ticks). Other than mammals housed in the Museum of Natural History, we examined only three, two in the U.S. National Museum (USNM) and one in the collection at South Dakota State University, Brookings (SDSU).

LITERATURE CITED

ANONYMOUS

1959. Building an empire: a historical booklet on Harding County, South Dakota. Buffalo Times-Herald, 108 pp.

BAILEY, V.

1915. Revision of the pocket gophers of the genus Thomomys. N. Amer. Fauna, 39:1-136.

1927. A biological survey of North Dakota. N. Amer. Fauna, 49: vi + 1-226 [this publication is dated 1926, but actually was published on January 8, 1927].

BAKER, C. L.

1952. Geology of Harding County. Rept. South Dakota State Geol. Surv., 68:1-36 (mimeographed).

BROWN, L. N.

1963. Maturational molts and seasonal molts in Peromyscus boylii. Amer. Midland Nat., 70:466-469.

COLLINS, H. H.

1918. Studies of normal moult and of artificially induced regeneration of pelage in Peromyscus. Jour. Exp. Zool., 27:73-99.

GOLDMAN, E. A.

1944. Classification of wolves. Pp. 387-507, _in_ The wolves of North America (S. P. Young and E. A. Goldman), Amer. Wildlife Inst., Washington, D.C., xx + 636 pp.

HALL, E. R., and K. R. KELSON

1959. The mammals of North America. Ronald Press, New York, 2: xxx + 1-546 + 79 and 2: viii + 547-1083 + 79.

HENDERSON, F. R., P. F. SPRINGER, and R. ADRIAN

1969. The black-footed ferret in South Dakota. South Dakota Dept. Game, Fish and Parks, Pierre, 37 pp.

HOFFMANN, R. S., and J. K. JONES, JR.

1970. Influence of late-glacial and post-glacial events on the distribution of Recent mammals on the Northern Great Plains. Pp. 355-394, _in_ Pleistocene and Recent environments of the Central Great Plains (W. Dort, Jr., and J. K. Jones, Jr., eds.), Univ. Press of Kansas, Lawrence, xii + 433 pp.

HOFFMANN, R. S., and D. L. PATTIE

1968. A guide to Montana mammals.... Univ. Montana, Missoula, x + 133 pp.

HOFFMANN, R. S., P. L. WRIGHT, and F. E. NEWBY

1969. Distribution of some mammals in Montana. I. Mammals other than bats. Jour. Mamm., 50:579-604.

HOFFMEISTER, D. F.

1951. A taxonomic and evolutionary study of the pinon mouse, Peromyscus truei. Illinois Biol. Monogr., 21: ix + 1-104.

JONES, J. K., JR.

1964. Distribution and taxonomy of mammals of Nebraska. Univ. Kansas Publ., Mus. Nat. Hist., 16:1-356.

JONES, J. K., JR., and H. H. GENOWAYS

1967. Annotated checklist of bats from South Dakota. Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., 70:184-196.

JONES, J. K., JR., and F. R. HENDERSON

1963. Noteworthy records of foxes from South Dakota. Jour. Mamm., 44:283.

LILLEGRAVEN, J. A.

1970. Stratigraphy, structure, and vertebrate fossils of the Oligocene Brule Formation, Slim Buttes, northwestern South Dakota. Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer., 81:831-850.

MILLER, G. S., JR., and R. KELLOGG

1955. List of North American Recent mammals. Bull. U.S. Nat. Mus., 205: xii + 1-954.

OVER, W. H., and E. P. CHURCHILL

1945. Mammals of South Dakota. Univ. South Dakota Mus., 56 pp. (mimeographed).

PFEIFER, W. K., and E. A. HIBBARD

1970. A recent record of the swift fox (_Vulpes velox_) in North Dakota. Jour. Mamm., 51:835.

SWENK, M. H.

1941. A study of subspecific variation in the Richardson pocket gopher (Thomomys talpoides) in Nebraska, with description of two new subspecies. Missouri Valley Fauna, 4:1-8.

VISHER, S. S.

1914. Report on the biology of Harding County, northwestern South Dakota. Bull. South Dakota Geol. Surv., 6:1-103.

YOUNG, S. P.

1944. Their history, life habits, economic status, and control. Pp. 1-385, _in_ The wolves of North America (S. P. Young and E. A. Goldman), Amer. Wildlife Inst., Washington, D.C., xx + 636 pp.