St. Matthew Island Reindeer Numbers Plummet — 1966 Klein returned to St. Matthew Island in the summer of 1966 and found that the herd of 6,000 had shrunk to only 42 reindeer. Of this group, only ...

A view of St. Matthew Island in the Bering Sea. Isotope analysis of a peat sample from the island allowed researchers to determine sea ice extent in the region for the past 5,500 years.