University of Kansas Publications
Museum of Natural History

Vol. 19, No. 5, pp. 361-393, 8 figs.
January 18, 1971

Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota

KENNETH W. ANDERSEN and J. KNOX JONES, JR.

University of Kansas
Lawrence
1971


University of Kansas Publications, Museum of Natural History

Editors of this number:
Frank B. Cross, Philip S. Humphrey, William E. Duellman


Volume 19, No. 5, pp. 361-393, 8 figs.
Published January 18, 1971


University of Kansas
Lawrence, Kansas


PRINTED BY
THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS PRINTING SERVICE
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1971

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[Pg 363]

Mammals of Northwestern South Dakota

BY

KENNETH W. ANDERSEN and J. KNOX JONES, JR.

The mammalian fauna of the western Dakotas and adjacent Montana isrelatively poorly known. Few published reports have dealt with mammalsfrom this part of the Northern Great Plains, and none of these involveddetailed study of a restricted area. The present report summarizesinformation gathered in Harding County, northwestern South Dakota, andincludes material on the more than 50 species of mammals that are knownto occur there.

Harding County has an area of approximately 2700 square miles (Fig. 1).The county first was organized in 1881, but the present boundaries werenot fixed until 1908. Physiographically, it lies in that part of theMissouri Plateau frequently termed the "Cretaceous Table Lands." Thegeneral topography is one of rolling hills and flats—mostly range landvegetated by short grasses and sage—broken by spectacular buttes andhills that rise 400 to 600 or more feet above the surrounding plains.These monadnocks are "... part of a system of Tertiary erosionalremnants standing above the Late Cretaceous rocks of northwestern SouthDakota...," according to Lillegraven (1970:832), who went on to pointout: "The butte tops are flat and grass-covered. The western sides arebeing actively cut away by slumping, and the topography below thewestern cliff walls is hummocky with sparse vegetation. The easternflanks of the tables are, by contrast, less cliff-forming and lessslumped and are generally well forested with coniferous and deciduoustrees." Slim Buttes, the North and South Cave Hills, the East and WestShort Pine Hills, and the Long Pine Hills, which barely enter the countynorth of Camp Crook, comprise the pine-clad buttes; other prominences,such as Table Mountain and Sheep Buttes, are all but nude of coniferouscover. The highest point in the county, "Harding Peak," is 4019 feetabove sea level.

Sediments underlying northwestern South Dakota include rocks assignableto the Pierre (shale), Fox Hills (sand), and Hell Creek formations ofCretaceous age and the Ludlow and Tongue River formations of thePaleocene. These rocks may be exposed at the surface, but usually areoverlain by relatively thin soils that are mostly derived from them; thebest soil in the county for agricultural purposes is the loessal sandyor silty loam in the northeastern[Pg 364] quarter, which is derived from TongueRiver sediments (Baker, 1952).