Title | The carnivores of the San Andres Mountains, New Mexico |
Publication Type | Journal Article |
Year of Publication | 1946 |
Authors | Halloran A.F. |
Journal | Journal of Mammalogy |
Volume | 27 |
Issue | 2 |
Pagination | 154-161 |
Keywords | carnivores, predators, San Andreas Mountains, San Andres Mountains |
Abstract | During the period April 14, 1941, to October 26, 1944, opportunities were presented to the writer as refuge manager of the San Andres National Wildlife Refuge to procure data on the Recent carnivores known to occur in the San Andres Mountains of south-central New Mexico. This federal refuge was created in 1941 to protect the Mexican bighorns indigenous to the range (Halloran, 1944). Part of the management work involved a study of the larger carnivores, which included the trapping of predatory mammals on parts of the area. Although Benson (1933) and others have reported in detail regarding the mammals of the adjacent White Sands area, their emphasis was on rodents. The presence of the Jornada Experimental Range, established in 1913 in the southern part of the mountains, has lightened the utilization of the forage by domestic stock, with the result that, in part of the range at least, a high percentage of the original flora and fauna remains. This is in sharp contrast to many other semi-desert ranges of New Mexico where close utilization of the available forage by domestic stock has, in many cases, radically changed the composition of the fauna and flora. |