Caribou

By: Athena Bakris and
Lee Anderson

There are five different kinds of caribou: the barren-ground, the woodland, the prairies, the grant caribou and the European, which when domesticated are known as the reindeer.

Alaska has thirteen herds of barren-ground caribou. Ten of these are found entirely within Alaska and three wander from Alaska to Canada and back. Altogether there are about 260,000 caribou in Alaska. The two largest herds have up to 100,000 caribou each.

Caribou are 50 inches (4 feet 2 inches) tall, and weigh 400 pounds. Scientists have learned that caribou become larger where there is a very large amount of food in one area and a longer plant growing season. Caribou that live in the Arctic where the growing season is short, are generally smaller than animals that live in sub-Arctic regions.

Both the woodland and the barren-ground caribou are mostly brown, with white markings on their legs, belly, neck, and tail. The woodland caribou are generally a dark chocolate brown, while the barren-ground are a lighter clove color.

The most valuable and amazing part of the caribou are its antlers. The huge, graceful, and many pointed antlers of a mature bull caribou are among the most spectacular of all the deer. Many of the greatest hunters hunt the caribou to collect their antlers.

Caribou's hooves change depending on the season. In the winter the horny edge around the outside of the hoof grows, this helps the caribou walk on snow & ice. In the summer the sole of the foot softens so that the caribou can walk on rocks & pebbles.

The caribou has many ways to keep warm. It has a special double-thick fur coat to keep the body heat in and the cold air out. In the water the coat keeps the water out like a bathing suit. Like a shield the fur works to keep the snow and rain out, to keep the caribou dry inside. The velvet on the caribou's antlers keeps the antlers warm inside.

The caribou does not wear its thick winter coat all year long. It sheds it in great clumps in the early summer. Although the caribou looks tattered and patchy during this molt, it is never bald. A new light weight coat grows in as the winter falls out.

There are two kinds of caribou in North America one kind lives in forests and mountains, these are called the woodland caribou, the others are called barren-ground caribou, they live on the frozen tundra of the far north. The woodland mainly live in Canada, Alaska, Wisconsin, northern Idaho, Michigan, and Maine, not as far north as its cousins the barren-ground caribou.

Some animals have homes in which they spend much of their lives. But not the caribou. They are wanderers, on the move for most of the year. In the summer they move from pasture to pasture looking for food. In the fall, they go for well-forested areas where they can find protection from the cold air & snow. In the spring they go to special birthing grounds where the young are born.

Long-legged reddish-brown caribou calves are born approximately 235 days after the late September, early October breeding season. Although other members of the deer family commonly bare twins, caribou have a single calf. Calves generally remain with their mothers through the fall and winter. Often mother caribou with fawns the same age gather in small bands, that way they can set a speed that the fawns can keep up with. By the fall the fawn is 5 months old and starting to grow its first set of antlers. Soon its mother will be getting ready to mate. When the herd starts to migrate toward calving grounds in early April ,many of the short yearlings [calves that are less than one year old] are left or driven off by their mothers. After that they are on their own.

Caribou live from the permanent snow fields of high in the mountains to the river valleys. Caribou live from a large variety of plants. A caribou's body demands less food in the winter months, and its growth stops regardless of the amount of food available.

The caribou's main predator is the wolf, the caribou also has many other predators like the coyote, lynx, red fox, bald eagle, and bear. All of these animals can catch and kill an hours-old or even a days-old calf. Both golden and bald eagles may attack calves, kill them, and eat them. Caribou mothers protect their calves from eagles attacking their calves, by rearing-up their antlers and striking at the eagle as it swoops down toward the calf, or they may stand with the calf under their belly until the eagle leaves this is the same with the raven and its cousin the crow. Most caribou are killed by wolves. Wolves also catch old, hurt, and cripple caribou. Few caribou in the wild live to be 4 or 5 years old.