University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History
Volume 14, No. 3, pp. 29–67, pls. 1 and 2, 3 figs. in text
July 24, 1961
BY
SYDNEY ANDERSON
University of Kansas
Lawrence
1961
University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History
Editors: E. Raymond Hall, Chairman, Henry S. Fitch,
Robert W. Wilson
Volume 14, No. 3, pp. 29–67, pls. 1 and 2, 3 figs. in text
Published July 24, 1961
University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas
PRINTED IN
THE STATE PRINTING PLANT
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1961
28–7577
BY
SYDNEY ANDERSON
INTRODUCTION
A person standing on the North Rim of the Mesa Verde in southwesternColorado sees a vast green plain sloping away to the south. The plaindrops 2000 feet in ten miles. On a clear evening, before the sun reachesthe horizon, the rays of the sun are reflected from great sandstonecliffs forming the walls of deep canyons that appear as crooked yellowlines in the distance. Canyon after canyon has cut into the slopinggreen plain. These canyons are roughly parallel and all open into thecanyon of the Mancos River, which forms the southern boundary of theMesa Verde. If the observer turns to the north he sees the aridMontezuma Valley 2000 feet below. A few green streaks and patches in thebrown and barren low country denote streams and irrigated areas. To thenortheast beyond the low country the towering peaks of the San Migueland La Plata mountains rise more than 4000 feet above the vantage pointon the North Rim at 8000 feet. To the northwest, in the hazy distance 90miles away in Utah, lie the isolated heights of the La Sal Mountains,and 70 miles away, the Abajo Mountains (see Fig. 1).
In the thirteenth century, harassed by nomadic tribes and beset by yearsof drouth, village dwelling Indians left their great cliff dwellings inthe myriad canyons of the Mesa Verde, and thus ended a period of 1300years of occupancy. The story of those 1300 years, unfolded throughexcavation and study of the dwellings along the cliffs and earlierdwellings on the top of the Mesa, is one of the most fascinating inancient America. To stop destructive commercial exploitation of theruins, to preserve them for future generations to study and enjoy, andto make them accessible to the public, more than 51,000 acres, includingapproximately half of the Mesa, have been set aside as Mesa VerdeNational Park, established in 1906. The policies of the National ParkService provide protection, not only for the features of major interestin each park, but for other features as well. Thus the policy in MesaVerde National Park is not only to preserve the many ruins, but also thewildlife and plants.
Five considerations prompted me to undertake a study of the[Pg 32] mammals ofMesa Verde National Park: First, the relative lack of disturbance;second, the interesting position, zoogeographically, of the Mesa thatextends as a spur of higher land