A listed endangered species, the bowhead whale is still recovering from the brink of extinction. Just 7,800 animals, the majority of the world's stock, now inhabit the Western arctic. The bowhead is particularly vulnerable to the hazards that accompany oil drilling activities. First, it travels in leads where oil concentrates. Further, the whole population migrates together, so a spill in their path would be disastrous.
Oil damages their eyes, clogs their sensory hairs and impairs their breathing.
Musk oxen are shaggy ice age relics that inhabit the range year round. Extirpated at the turn of the century, they were reintroduced into the area 25 years ago and currently number around 600. In the summer and early winter, muskoxen depend on lowland riparian willows, which would most likely be dug up during excavation of gravel to be used during construction. Highly specific in their choice of habitat, they are unable to adapt readily to habitat destruction. Wolf populations are low in the Arctic Refuge and extremely sensitive to prey population fluctuations and shootings.