Denali's live sled dog cam is back with 5 adorable new puppies
The Brief
Denali National Park is celebrating the birth of five new sled dogs, and you're invited to watch them live in their kennels.
The Alaska national park has been breeding sled dogs since 1922 to help patrol the park's 2 million acres of designated wilderness.
Denali National Park has resurrected its live puppy cam to celebrate the birth of five sled dogs born at the park on May 3.
The national park in Alaska is the only one in the National Park Service that breeds sled dogs. They work with the mushing rangers to patrol and haul materials over the park's 2 million acres of designated wilderness.
Local perspective
This year marks 100 years of partnership between the mushing rangers and the National Weather Service to collect weather data at Denali. To celebrate the anniversary, the new weather litter puppies are named after the "diverse and sometimes dramatic ways water influences our weather: Storm, Squall, Graupel, Fog and Dew."
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Their mother (dam) is Merlyn, who was born in the park in 2021, and their father (sire) is Drumlin, who hails from a partner kennel in Alaska.
Dig deeper: According to the National Park Service, arranged breeding and splitting litters with partners "strengthens the health of the Kennel's lineage, as well as the health of all freight-style Alaskan huskies."
Check out the live cam here.
The backstory
Sled dogs were introduced to the park in 1922 to help patrol the park's boundaries and look out for poachers. The park has had working dog teams ever since, though the sled dogs' roles have evolved.
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Mushing is a cultural tradition in Alaska that dates back thousands of years, the park service says. NPS says sled dogs are the most effective way to patrol the vast designated wilderness during the long winter season.
The Alaskan huskies are bred to inherit specific physical and character traits, including:
Long legs to trek through deep snow
Compact paws to resist ice build-up
Sturdy coats and puffy tails to keep warm
Tenacity
A desire to pull and run with their team
Social skills to handle the thousands of tourists who admire them at the kennels each summer
The Source
This report includes information from the National Park Service.
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