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Horned and tufted puffins are two of the 30 species of seabirds on the refuge. Heather Renner/USFWS. Click to Enlarge

Swirling clouds of seabirds, rare Asiatic migrant birds, beaches of bellowing sea lions and fur seals, and salmon streams in abundance are a few of the wildlife highlights on the Alaska Maritime Refuge. The refuge is perhaps most unique for:

  • the sheer abundance of life (40,000,000 seabirds),
  • species and subspecies found nowhere else (6 subspecies of Rock Ptarmigan are found only in the Aleutians),
  • endangered and threatened marine mammals (Steller sea lion and otters),
  • threats from invasive species (rats, fox, cattle, and marine invertebrates), and
  • the possibility that new species are yet to be found among the remote and rugged 2,500 rocks, reefs and islands of the refuge.

LEARN MORE:

Birds
Mammals
Fish & Invertebrates
Alien/Invasive Species