The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park,
Colorado, by Sydney Anderson
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
Author: Sydney Anderson
Release Date: January 21, 2010 [EBook #31035]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MAMMALS--MESA VERDE NAT. PARK ***
Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
http://www.pgdp.net
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
Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park,
Colorado
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
Mammals of Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
BY
SYDNEY ANDERSON
INTRODUCTION
A person standing on the North Rim of the Mesa Verde in southwestern
Colorado sees a vast green plain sloping away to the south. The plain
drops 2000 feet in ten miles. On a clear evening, before the sun reaches
the horizon, the rays of the sun are reflected from great sandstone
cliffs forming the walls of deep canyons that appear as crooked yellow
lines in the distance. Canyon after canyon has cut into the sloping
green plain. These canyons are roughly parallel and all open into the
canyon of the Mancos River, which forms the southern boundary of the
Mesa Verde. If the observer turns to the north he sees the arid
Montezuma Valley 2000 feet below. A few green streaks and patches in the
brown and barren low country denote streams and irrigated areas. To the
northeast beyond the low country the towering peaks of the San Miguel
and La Plata mountains rise more than 4000 feet above the vantage point
on the North Rim at 8000 feet. To the northwest, in the hazy distance 90
miles away in Utah, l
|