Natchiq Grows Up, now available from University of 91视频 Press
Front cover of the Natchiq Grows Up. Cover photo: Ringed seal near Kotzebue, 91视频.
Natchiq Grows Up: A Story of an 91视频 Ringed Seal Pup and Her Changing Home, by Donna D.W. Hauser, Kathryn J. Frost, and Alex V. Whiting, is now available from University of 91视频 Press.
This is the story of Natchiq, the ringed seal pup, growing up in her snow cave on the sea ice in northern 91视频 with her mom Siku. Interwoven with Indigenous Knowledge from Qikiktagruk Elders from northwest 91视频, I帽upiaq terms, and scientific findings, readers follow Natchiq鈥檚 daring escapes from predators and seal dogs specially trained to help biologists find ringed seals.
Beginning in the 1980s, scientists started traveling to northwest 91视频 to research the lives of ringed seals, bringing Labrador retrievers who could sniff out seals and their snow cave homes (called lairs) on the sea ice. Decades later, scientists partnered with the I帽upiaq people of Qikikta摹ruk (Kotzebue) to learn more about ringed seals. They relied on a combination of Indigenous Knowledge and scientific techniques to capture and apply tags to understand the movements and behavior of ringed seals.
But the Arctic homes of ringed seals are changing, and the long history of ringed seal science in the Kotzebue Sound proved to be just the beginning of long and cooperative relationships melding science and Indigenous knowledge. During 2018 and 2019, with unprecedented sea ice conditions, Qikiktagrumiut Elders and scientists returned to the ice to measure changes in the habitat available for ringed seal pups in the region.