Recombinant Records

St Matthew Island

9th February 2011, Filed under Cartoons

St Matthew Island cartoon

What happens when you introduce 29 reindeer to an isolated island of untouched natural resources?

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St Matthew Island. A remote outcrop of the Bering Sea 300km from mainland Alaska.September 1943: The U.S. Coast Guard establishes a LORAN (long-range radio navigation) system on St Matthew Island, staffed by 19 men stationed on the island.August 1944: the Coast Guard releases 29 reindeer onto the island as a backup food source in case of supply disruptions.With the end of World War II the station was decommissioned and the men left the island.The reindeer were left behind.The reindeer found themselves on an island rich in their favourite food, lichen.With abundant resources and no natural predators on the island, the reindeer bred prolifically.Summer 1957: Humans return to St Matthew Island, In just 13 years, the reindeer population had jumped from 29 to 1,350 individuals.The reindeer appear in excellent health, fat from their nutritious diet of lichen.Summer 1963: Researchers return to St Matthew Island to observe the reindeer population (shot of 2x helicopter over island)In six years, the reindeer population has soared from 1,350 individuals to 6,000.The population's huge appetite has eliminated the island's lichen, with the population now subsisting on sedge grass.With increased competition for food from the dense herd, the animals' body weight has dropped since the last visit.Summer 1966: Researchers return to St Matthew Island.They find the island littered with reindeer skeletons.From a population peak of 6,000, only 42 reindeer remain: 41 females and one infertile male.Within mere months of the last visit to the island, the population had crashed by more than 99% during a winter of extreme weather conditions. (large graph of population rise and fall)Without a way to reproduce, the population of reindeer died off completely by the 1980s.The island's untapped natural resources became the reindeer's source of prosperity, and also the seeds of their demise.The island was only so big, the resources only so many.Unable to escape the island, the reindeer had pushed the resources of their home to the limit.How big is our island? 8 x A4 page PDF file (5 MB)

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