Denali Journal

by Tom Walker

Describes the incredible variety of wildlife that live in Alaska's Denali National Park, and details their daily struggles for survival

2 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1992

Reviews

[Leila]

This excerpt will tell you what you need to know about this book and whether it would appeal to you. (I read it in preparation for a trip to Alaska, and it appealed to me.) On a moose eating from an alder tree:

"The lips work with flexible, almost fingerlike mobility. The upper lip seems to ripple as it feels for the leaves, much the way fingers inside a mitten would feel for coins on a table. Lips and tongue move the branch back into the mouth. Then, when the branch is crosswise at the back of the mouth, a sideways movement of the head strips the leaves from the branch, accompanied by an audible, mushy zip! Each day it takes forty to sixty pounds of browse to feed a moose, so I have plenty of opportunity to study their amazing, almost prehensile, lips." (p. 123)

[Patrice La Vigne]

I loved, loved, loved how Tom takes you through the historical and seasonal flow of Denali National Park & Preserve. I will read this over and over again! I mean, I'm probably biased since this is where I live, but still, Alaska's seasons are just so diverse that they have their own plots.

[Ryan Marsh]

Best natural history book I can imagine for this stark landscape. A lifetime of quiet observation distilled into bite size pieces that carry one through a year in the lives of many of the living beings of the tundra and taiga of Denali.