Natchiq Grows Up: The Story of an Alaska Ringed Seal Pup and Her Changing Home

This is the story of Natchiq, the ringed seal pup, growing up in her snow cave on the sea ice in northern Alaska with her mom Siku. Interwoven with Indigenous Knowledge from Qikiktagruk Elders from northwest Alaska, Iñupiaq terms, and scientific findings, readers follow Natchiq’s daring escapes from predators and seal dogs specially trained to help biologists find ringed seals.

Beginning in the 1980s, scientists started traveling to northwest Alaska to research the lives of ringed seals, b...