1/86Rank of Alaska, among all states, in the percentage of people who walk to work: 1

U.S. Census Bureau

5/86Rank of Alaska and Utah, among all states, in birth rate: 1,2

U.S. Census Bureau

5/86Weight of the average male bear in Alaska (in pounds): 250

International Association for Bear Research and Management (Calgary, Alberta)

    In Pennsylvania: 487

International Association for Bear Research and Management (Calgary, Alberta)

3/88Number of moose that have used the Anchorage moose underpass since it opened last fall: 6

State Game Division (Anchorage)

7/88Price of a $1,000 rain insurance policy for a trip to Anchorage, Alaska, in July: $32.50

Raincheque (Tarrytown, N.Y.)

2/89Barrels of oil that flowed through the Alaska pipeline in 1988: 740,000,000

A.H. Rosenfeld, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Berkeley, Calif.)

6/89Daily wage Exxon paid workers in Alaska this spring to scrub oil off coastal rocks: $234

Exxon (Valdez, Alaska)/State of Alaska Employment Center (Valdez)

7/89Acres of Alaska’s temperate rain forest cut down each day: 90

South East Alaska Conservation Council (Washington)

12/91Pairs of moose-dung earrings sold each year at Grizzly’s Gifts in Anchorage, Alaska: 6,000

Grizzly’s Gifts (Anchorage)

3/94Number of canine fatalities during last winter’s Iditarod dogsled race in Alaska: 6

Iditarod Trail Committee (Wasilla, Alaska)

6/98Number of jars of Exxon Valdez oil sludge sold by the state of Alaska since last November to help pay cleanup costs: 850

Department of Environmental Conservation (Juneau)

9/98Percentage of U.S. National Park Service land that is in Alaska: 65

National Park Service (Washington)

1/99Percentage of the funds spent fighting Alaska’s gay-marriage initiative last year that came from the Mormon Church: 79

Alaska Public Offices Commission (Anchorage)

5/99Number of the 25 species seriously affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez Alaskan oil spill that have fully recovered: 2

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Counsel (Anchorage)

8/00Percentage of national forestland unprotected under the President’s proposed ban on forest-road construction: 78

U.S. Department of Agriculture

    Miles of new roads that the ban would allow in Alaska ‘s Tongass National Forest: 500

U.S. Department of Agriculture

4/01Gallons per day that the proposed drilling of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is projected to yield: 42,000,000

The White House

8/01Number of 21 cruise ships tested by Alaska last summer whose wastewater met federal sewage-treatment standards: 1

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (Juneau)

1/04Days in 1970 that northern Alaska was cold enough to operate oil-drilling machinery without damaging the tundra: 213

Alaska Department of Natural Resources (Anchorage)

    Days in 2002 that it was cold enough: 106

Alaska Department of Natural Resources (Anchorage)

1/05Estimated number of different languages spoken at home by Alaskan schoolchildren: 110

Alaska Department of Education & Early Development (Juneau)

10/06Amount the Alaska Zoo paid last year to build a treadmill for its 8,000-pound elephant: $150,000

Alaska Zoo (Anchorage)

    Number of times the elephant has used the treadmill so far: 0

Alaska Zoo (Anchorage)

11/08Minimum number of reporters who traveled to Wasilla, Alaska, in the two weeks following Sarah Palin’s selection as VP: 90

Office of the Mayor (Wasilla, Alaska)