Wildlife
Kodiak Island Wildlife Guide
Kodiak's wildlife is the reason many visitors come. Here's what lives on and around the island — and where you're most likely to see it.
Kodiak Island, Alaska Updated July 2026
Quick answer
Kodiak Island hosts roughly 3,500 Kodiak brown bears, healthy Sitka blacktail deer populations, sea otters, gray and humpback whales, orcas, Steller sea lions, hundreds of thousands of seabirds (including puffins), and one of Alaska's densest bald eagle populations.
Land animals
- Kodiak brown bear — the largest brown bears on Earth (~3,500 on the archipelago).
- Sitka blacktail deer — introduced in the early 1900s, now the primary big-game species.
- Mountain goat — introduced in 1952, thriving in the alpine.
- Roosevelt elk — on nearby Afognak Island.
- Red fox, ermine, land otter, tundra vole — smaller native mammals.
Marine life
- Gray, humpback, and fin whales; orcas year-round in local waters.
- Sea otters (recovering strongly), harbor seals, Steller sea lions.
- Five species of Pacific salmon, halibut, Pacific cod, herring.
Birds
- One of Alaska's highest bald eagle densities.
- Tufted and horned puffins, common murres, black-legged kittiwakes.
- Long-tailed ducks, harlequins, emperor geese in winter.