Fairbanks is a small big town. It's large for Alaska but easy to get around. Probably the outstanding museum in Alaska is the University of Alaska Museum of the North located there. It packs tons of information into a relatively small space. Exhibits include paleontological, natural, geological and cultural displays. A huge grizzly bear greets you as you enter the main exhibit. I'm glad he is dead!
This blue buffalo was intriguing. The blue color comes from phosphorus in the animal's tissue reacting with iron in the soil producing a mineral coating of Vlvianite, which becomes blue when exposed to air. Mammoth bones have been found up north. Their molars are enormous!
Another fun place to visit was the Large Animal Research Station, also part of the University Alaska. It was a hot day so we were extremely fortunate that all the musk ox were out grazing - even the babies. They look large in the photos, but their backs only come to thigh level. They are not ox at all, but related to sheep or goats. For closer photos of the babies, go to their calving update page and click on individual photos to enlarge. Musk ox in Alaska were wiped out in the 1800s. They have been reintroduced. In the wild, you would have a chance of seeing a small group of them on the Arctic plains.
We weren't so fortunate with the caribou and reindeer that they also do research on here. All but this male caribou were under the shade of trees. Reindeer and caribou and related, with caribou in North America, and reindeer in Europe and Asia. They can and do interbreed. As this caribou walked, we could hear a cracking sound. It wasn't arthritis. Instead, caribou have adapted so they use tendons instead of muscles to move as a protection from the extreme cold. We had stopped at Santa's Village at North Pole southeast of Fairbanks. The reindeer in the pen made that noise too. Even though reindeer no longer migrate, they still have that adaptation. I thought the poor fellow was in pain. It sounded like the clicking of castinettes! The photo on the left is the caribou at the Large Animal Research Station. The one on the right is a reindeer at the North Pole.
Leave your RV at Wal-Mart or the RV park and drive your tow or toad vehicle. You must pay for parking at the museum and parking is limited at the Large Animal Research Station. Both places are worth a visit while in Fairbanks. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak
Photos by George Bruzenak
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