36 Interrelationships of Denali’s Large Mammal Community By Layne Adams, Thomas Meier, Patricia Owen, and Gretchen Roffler Along with its sweeping mountain landscapes, Denali National Park and Preserve (Denali) is probably best known for opportunities to observe the large mammals common to Interior Alaska. Locally known as the “Big Five,” gray wolves (Canis lupus), grizzly bears (Ursus arctos), moose ( Alces alces), caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and Dall sheep (Ovis dalli) have coexisted in the region for millennia. While many other animals occur in Denali, none are as readily associated with the park environment as these species. In addition to the opportunities for viewing or photographing Interior Alaska’s large mammals, Denali is a great natural laboratory to study the species and their interrelationships. Unlike the rest of Inte- rior Alaska, the Denali carnivore/ungulate community has been little affected by human harvests for several decades, and interactions of these species are driven largely by natural phenomena. It is a common perception that large mammals are “abundant” within the pro- tected confines of the park boundaries, but that is not the case. Throughout much of Interior Alaska, large mammals occur at low densities naturally, and Denali is no A wolf carries off a caribou calf it has killed. National Park Service photograph by Bruce Dale