99-654: The barren-ground caribou ( Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus ; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision ) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America ) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories , in northern Alaska and in south-western Greenland . It includes the Porcupine caribou of Yukon and Alaska . The barren-ground caribou
198-582: A Dene (Athapascan) group, call the Arctic caribou Ɂekwǫ̀ and the boreal woodland caribou tǫdzı . The Gwichʼin (also a Dene group) have over 24 distinct caribou-related words. Reindeer are also called tuttu by the Greenlandic Inuit and hreindýr , sometimes rein , by the Icelanders . The "glacial-interglacial cycles of the upper Pleistocene had a major influence on
297-464: A boreal forest hosting a species assemblage with no modern analogue. These are among the oldest DNA fragments ever sequenced. Carl Linnaeus in 1758 named the Eurasian tundra species Cervus tarandus , the genus Rangifer being credited to Smith, 1827. Rangifer has had a convoluted history because of the similarity in antler architecture (brow tines asymmetrical and often palmate, bez tines,
396-402: A natural barrier , which fragments the migration habitat and creates obstacles, preventing caribou from accessing annual feeding and breeding grounds. Unpredictable migration patterns also have negative impacts on Indigenous communities who depend on caribou as a source of income and food. An additional stressor on barren-ground caribou is the irritation from insect behavior, which can dictate
495-532: A 2011 survey based on data collected using cutting-edge digital tools and fly-over visual surveillance, there were approximately 124,000 caribou in the Beverly herd and 83,300 in the Ahiak herd. The calving grounds of the Beverly herd are located around Queen Maud Gulf , but the herd shifted its traditional birthing area. Ross Thompson, executive director of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board, explains
594-463: A Captain Craycott had brought a live pair from Greenland to England in 1738. He named it Capra groenlandicus , Greenland reindeer. Linnaeus, in the 12th edition of Systema naturae , gave grœnlandicus as a synonym for Cervus tarandus . Borowski disagreed (and again changed the spelling), saying Cervus grönlandicus was morphologically distinct from Eurasian tundra reindeer. Baird placed it under
693-454: A back tine sometimes branched, and branched at the distal end, often palmate). Because of individual variability, early taxonomists were unable to discern consistent patterns among populations, nor could they, examining collections in Europe, appreciate the difference in habitats and the differing function they imposed on antler architecture. Comparative morphometrics, the measurement of skulls,
792-778: A broad, high muzzle to increase the volume of the nasal cavity to warm and moisten the air before it enters the throat and lungs, bez tines set close to the brow tines, distinctive coat patterns, short legs and other adaptations for running long distances, and multiple behaviors suited to tundra, but not to forest (such as synchronized calving and aggregation during rutting and post-calving). As well, many genes, including those for vitamin D metabolism, fat metabolism , retinal development, circadian rhythm , and tolerance to cold temperatures, are found in tundra caribou that are lacking or rudimentary in forest types. For this reason, forest-adapted reindeer and caribou could not survive in tundra or polar deserts . The oldest undoubted Rangifer fossil
891-848: A broad, high muzzle to increase the volume of the nasal cavity to warm and moisten the air before it enters the throat and lungs, bez tines set close to the brow tines, distinctive coat patterns, short legs and other adaptations for running long distances, and multiple behaviors suited to tundra, but not to forest (such as synchronized calving and aggregation during rutting and post-calving). As well, many genes, including those for vitamin D metabolism, fat metabolism, retinal development, circadian rhythm, and tolerance to cold temperatures, are found in tundra caribou that are lacking or rudimentary in forest types. For this reason, forest-adapted reindeer and caribou could not survive in tundra or polar deserts, nor could barren-ground or Peary caribou survive (or at least successfully reproduce) in boreal forest, and this explains
990-701: A common ancestor with modern barren-ground/tundra reindeer and caribou, but distantly, having diverged > 60,000 years ago — before the modern barren-ground ecotype had evolved its cold- and darkness-adapted physiologies and mass-migration and aggregation behaviors, (see Reindeer : Evolution). Before Banfield (1961), taxonomists using cranial, dental and skeletal measurements had unequivocally allied these western montane ecotypes with barren-ground caribou, naming them (as in Osgood 1909 Murie, 1935 and Anderson 1946, among others) R. a. stonei , R. a. montanus , R. a. fortidens and R. a. osborni , respectively, and this phylogeny
1089-439: A direct common ancestor , they cannot be Biological specificity#conspecific|conspecific. Similarly, woodland caribou diverged from the ancestors of Arctic caribou before modern barren-ground caribou had evolved, and were more likely related to extinct North American forest reindeer (see Evolution above). Lacking a direct shared ancestor, barren-ground and woodland caribou cannot be conspecific. Molecular data also revealed that
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#17328024002721188-611: A forest subspecies, formerly included reindeer west of the Sea of Okhotsk which, however, are indistinguishable genetically from the Jano-Indigirka, East Siberian taiga and Chukotka populations of R. t. sibiricus . Siberian tundra reindeer herds have been in decline but are stable or increasing since 2000. Insular (island) reindeer, classified as the Novaya Zemlya reindeer ( R. t. pearsoni ) occupy several island groups:
1287-428: A large scale in the world. Both wild and domestic reindeer have been an important source of food, clothing, and shelter for Arctic people from prehistorical times. They are still herded and hunted today. In some traditional Christmas legends, Santa Claus's reindeer pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to good children on Christmas Eve. Names follow international convention before
1386-670: A mtDNA haplotype with Labrador caribou, in the North American lineage (i.e., woodland caribou). Røed et al. (1991) had noted: Among Baffin Island caribou the TFL2 allele was the most common allele (p=0.521), while this allele was absent, or present in very low frequencies, in other caribou populations (Table 1), including the Canadian barren-ground caribou from the Beverly herd. A large genetic difference between Baffin Island caribou and
1485-816: A new revision of the genus. Abbreviations: The table above includes, as per the recent revision, R. t. caboti (the Labrador caribou (the Eastern Migratory population DU4)), and R. t. terranovae (the Newfoundland caribou (the Newfoundland population DU5)), which molecular analyses have shown to be of North American (i.e., woodland caribou) lineage; and four mountain ecotypes now known to be of distant Beringia - Eurasia lineage (see Taxonomy above). The scientific name Tarandus rangifer buskensis Millais, 1915 (the Busk Mountains reindeer)
1584-439: A predator-avoidance strategy, which requires large rutting aggregations. Males cannot defend a harem because, while he was busy fighting, they would disappear into the mass of the herd. Males therefore tend individual females; their fights are infrequent and brief. Their antlers are thin, beams round in cross-section, sweep back and then forward with a cluster of branches at the top; these are designed more for visual stimulation of
1683-549: A scathing review by Ian McTaggart-Cowan in 1962. Most authorities continued to consider all or most subspecies valid; some were quite distinct. In his chapter in the authoritative 2005 reference work Mammal Species of the World , referenced by the American Society of Mammalogists , English zoologist Peter Grubb agreed with Valerius Geist , a specialist on large mammals, that these subspecies were valid (i.e., before
1782-772: A very interesting history. Allen (1902) named it as a distinct species, R. granti , from the "western end of Alaska Peninsula , opposite Popoff Island " and noting that: Rangifer granti is a representative of the Barren Ground group of Caribou, which includes R. arcticus of the Arctic Coast and R. granlandicus of Greenland. It is not closely related to R. stonei of the Kenai Peninsula, from which it differs not only in its very much smaller size, but in important cranial characters and in coloration. ...The external and cranial differences between R. granti and
1881-808: A wildlife rehabilitation center in Canada, caribou were considered extirpated from the contiguous United States . The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) classified both the Southern Mountain population DU9 ( R. t. montanus ) and the Central Mountain population DU8 ( R. t. fortidens ) as Endangered and the Northern Mountain population DU7 ( R. t. osborni ) as Threatened. Some species and subspecies are rare and three subspecies have already become extinct:
1980-645: Is a major food source for the Inuit , especially the Caribou Inuit bands living in the Kivalliq Region ( Barren Lands ) of present-day Nunavut. The major predator of barren-ground caribou is the Arctic wolf ( Canis lupus arctos ). Wolves may follow the herd for many miles. The caribou has poor eyesight and hearing, but is capable of outrunning the wolf. The Dolphin-Union caribou herd, locally known as
2079-452: Is a medium-sized caribou, smaller and lighter-colored than the boreal woodland caribou , with the females weighing around 90 kg (200 lb) and the males around 150 kg (330 lb). However, on some of the smaller islands, the average weight may be less. The large migratory herds of barren-ground caribou take their names from the traditional calving grounds, such as the Ahiak herd ,
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#17328024002722178-619: Is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution , native to Arctic , subarctic , tundra , boreal , and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer . More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou into six distinct species over their range. Reindeer occur in both migratory and sedentary populations, and their herd sizes vary greatly in different regions. The tundra subspecies are adapted for extreme cold, and some are adapted for long-distance migration. Reindeer vary greatly in size and color from
2277-444: Is closely linked to seasonal changes and as unpredictable climate conditions increase, barren-ground caribou must migrate over larger distances. Migration is dictated by the access to easily available lichen. An increased distance of migration places further stress and energy expense on the caribou. Warming weather conditions reduce ice thickness over rivers and lakes, making it difficult for caribou to cross. The reduced ice cover creates
2376-580: Is from Omsk , Russia, dated to 2.1-1.8 Ma. The oldest North American Rangifer fossil is from the Yukon , 1.6 million years before present (BP). A fossil skull fragment from Süßenborn, Germany, R. arcticus stadelmanni , (which is probably misnamed) with "rather thin and cylinder-shaped" antlers, dates to the Middle Pleistocene (Günz) Period, 680,000-620,000 BP. Rangifer fossils become increasingly frequent in circumpolar deposits beginning with
2475-475: Is necessary with R. montanus or with any of the woodland forms." Osgood and Murie (1935), agreeing with granti ' s close relationship with the barren-ground caribou, brought it under R. arcticus as a subspecies, R. t. granti . Anderson (1946) and Banfield (1961), based on statistical analysis of cranial, dental and other characters, agreed. But Banfield (1961) also synonymized Alaska's large R. stonei with other mountain caribou of British Columbia and
2574-664: Is often seen as more objective than description of differences of color or antler patterns, but actually confounds genetic variance with epistatic and statistical variance as well as compounded environment-based variance. For example, woodland caribou males, rutting in boreal forest where only a few females can be found, collect harems and defend them against other males, for which they have short, straight, strong, much-branched antlers, beams flattened in cross-section, designed for combat — and not too large, so as not to impede them in forested winter ranges. By contrast, modern tundra caribou (see Evolution above) have synchronized calving as
2673-433: Is some evidence to suggest that, on occasion, they also feed on small rodents such as lemmings , fish such as Arctic char and bird eggs. On the mainland of Canada, the animals may travel in herds of several thousand, but they move in smaller groups (no more than 50) on the islands. They are migratory animals and may travel 1,200 km (750 mi) in a season. Some groups, such as those living on Victoria Island during
2772-768: The Baffin Island herds , the Bathurst herd , the Beverly herd (Beverly Lake in western Nunavut), the Bluenose East herd (southwest of Kugluktuk ), the Bluenose West herd, the Porcupine herd and the Qamanirjuaq herd . In Canada about fifty percent of all caribou are barren-ground caribou. They spend much or all of the year on the tundra from Alaska to Baffin Island. Most, or about 1.2 million, of
2871-594: The Early Pleistocene (2 million years ago) Kap Kobenhavn Formation of northern Greenland identified preserved DNA fragments of Rangifer , identified as basal but potentially ancestral to modern reindeer. This suggests that reindeer have inhabited Greenland since at least the Early Pleistocene. Around this time, northern Greenland was 11–19 °C (20–34 °F) warmer than the Holocene , with
2970-738: The Last Glacial Period until the present day. In the non-forested mountains of central Norway, such as Jotunheimen , it is still possible to find remains of stone-built trapping pits , guiding fences and bow rests, built especially for hunting reindeer. These can, with some certainty, be dated to the Migration Period , although it is not unlikely that they have been in use since the Stone Age . Cave paintings by ancient Europeans include both tundra and forest types of reindeer. A 2022 study of ancient environmental DNA from
3069-801: The Late Miocene , 8.7–9.6 million years ago. Rangifer "evolved as a mountain deer, ...exploiting the subalpine and alpine meadows...". Rangifer originated in the Late Pliocene and diversified in the Early Pleistocene , a 2+ million-year period of multiple glacier advances and retreats. Several named Rangifer fossils in Eurasia and North America predate the evolution of modern tundra reindeer. Archaeologists distinguish "modern" tundra reindeer and barren-ground caribou from primitive forms – living and extinct – that did not have adaptations to extreme cold and to long-distance migration. They include
Barren-ground caribou - Misplaced Pages Continue
3168-517: The Mi'kmaq qalipu , meaning "snow shoveler", and refers to its habit of pawing through the snow for food. Because of its importance to many cultures, Rangifer and some of its species and subspecies have names in many languages. Inuvialuit of the western Canadian Arctic and Inuit of the eastern Canadian Arctic, who speak different dialects of the Inuit languages , both call the barren-ground caribou tuktu . The Wekʼèezhìi ( Tłı̨chǫ ) people,
3267-663: The Novaya Zemlya Archipelago (about 5,000 animals at last count, but most of these are either domestic reindeer or domestic-wild hybrids), the New Siberia Archipelago (about 10,000 to 15,000), and Wrangel Island (200 to 300 feral domestic reindeer). What was once the second largest herd is the migratory Labrador caribou ( R. t. caboti ) George River herd in Canada, with former variations between 28,000 and 385,000. As of January 2018, there are fewer than 9,000 animals estimated to be left in
3366-681: The Queen Charlotte Islands caribou ( R. t. dawsoni ) from western Canada, the Sakhalin reindeer ( R. t. setoni ) from Sakhalin and the East Greenland caribou from eastern Greenland, although some authorities believe that the latter, R. t. eogroenlandicus Degerbøl, 1957, is a junior synonym of the Peary caribou. Historically, the range of the sedentary boreal woodland caribou covered more than half of Canada and into
3465-600: The Riss glaciations , the second youngest of the Pleistocene Epoch, roughly 300,000–130,000 BP. By the 4-Würm period (110,000–70,000 to 12,000–10,000 BP), its European range was extensive, supplying a major food source for prehistoric Europeans. North American fossils outside of Beringia that predate the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) are of Rancholabrean age (240,000–11,000 years BP) and occur along
3564-944: The Scandinavian mountains and R. t. sibiricus across Siberia) and east ( R. t. arcticus in the North American Barrenlands) when rising seas isolated them. Likewise in North America, DNA analysis shows that woodland caribou ( R. caribou ) diverged from primitive ancestors of tundra / barren-ground caribou not during the LGM, 26,000–19,000 years ago, as previously assumed, but in the Middle Pleistocene around 357,000 years ago. At that time, modern tundra caribou had not even evolved. Woodland caribou are likely more related to extinct North American forest caribou than to barren-ground caribou. For example,
3663-474: The Sámi word raingo . Carl Linnaeus chose the word tarandus as the specific epithet, making reference to Ulisse Aldrovandi 's Quadrupedum omnium bisulcorum historia fol. 859–863, Cap. 30: De Tarando (1621). However, Aldrovandi and Conrad Gessner thought that rangifer and tarandus were two separate animals. In any case, the tarandos name goes back to Aristotle and Theophrastus . The use of
3762-569: The island caribou , are a migratory population of barren-ground caribou ( Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus ) that occupy Victoria Island in Canada's High Arctic and the nearby mainland. They are endemic to Canada. They migrate across the Dolphin and Union Strait from their summer grazing on Victoria Island to their winter grazing area on the Nunavut-NWT mainland in Canada. It is unusual for North American caribou to cross sea ice seasonally and
3861-808: The polar desert of the high Arctic Archipelago and Grant's caribou ( R. t. granti also called the Porcupine caribou ) lives in the western end of the Alaska Peninsula and the adjacent islands; the other four subspecies, Osborn's caribou ( R. t. osborni ), Stone's caribou ( R. t. stonei ), the Rocky Mountain caribou ( R. t. fortidens ) and the Selkirk Mountains caribou ( R. t. montanus ) are all montane . The extinct insular Queen Charlotte Islands caribou ( R. t. dawsoni ), lived on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as
3960-520: The tundra , taiga (boreal forest) and south through the Canadian Rocky Mountains . Of the eight subspecies classified by Harding (2022) into the Arctic caribou ( R. arcticus ), the migratory mainland barren-ground caribou of Arctic Alaska and Northern Canada ( R. t. arcticus ), summer in tundra and winter in taiga, a transitional forest zone between boreal forest and tundra; the nomadic Peary caribou ( R. t. pearyi ) lives in
4059-492: The Arctic caribou. Siberian tundra reindeer herds are also in decline, and Rangifer as a whole is considered to be Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Charles Hamilton Smith is credited with the name Rangifer for the reindeer genus, which Albertus Magnus used in his De animalibus , fol. Liber 22, Cap. 268: "Dicitur Rangyfer quasi ramifer". This word may go back to
Barren-ground caribou - Misplaced Pages Continue
4158-469: The Arctic further effect the phenology of the pregnancy time periods of barren-ground caribou. Insect avoidance forces caribou to expend large amounts of energy through migrational avoidance of insects. Changes in the climate can increase parasitic occurrences, thereby providing an additional threat to the subspecies. Rangifer “evolved as a mountain deer, ...exploiting the subalpine and alpine meadows...”. Rangifer originated Late Pliocene and diversified in
4257-744: The Beverly herd was also indicated by eight alleles found in the Beverly herd which were absent from the Baffin Island samples. Jenkins et al. (2018) also reported genetic distinctiveness of Baffin Island caribou from all other barren-ground caribou; its genetic signature was not found on the mainland or on other islands; nor were Beverly herd (the nearest mainly barren-ground caribou) alleles present in Baffin Island caribou, evidence of reproductive isolation. These advances in Rangifer genetics were brought together with previous morphological-based descriptions, ecology, behavior and archaeology to propose
4356-804: The Beverly herd was robust, not declining. He claimed the herd had moved their calving grounds "near the western Queen Maud Gulf coast to the north of the herd's "traditional" calving ground in the Gary Lakes area north of Baker Lake." He based his findings on data collected from 510 barren-ground caribou tracked with satellite collars in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut from 1993 to 2009. The barren-ground caribou, one of several subspecies called tuktu in Inuinnaqtun / Inuktitut , and written as ᓇᐹᕐᑐᕐᑲᓐᖏᑦᑐᒥ ᑐᒃᑐ in Inuktitut syllabics ,
4455-660: The Early Pleistocene, a 2+ million-year period of multiple glacier advances and retreats. The oldest undoubted Rangifer fossil is from Omsk, Russia) dated to 2.1-1.8 Ma. The oldest North American Rangifer fossil is from the Yukon, 1.6 million years before present (BP). Several named Rangifer fossils in Eurasia and North America predate the evolution of modern tundra reindeer. Archaeologists distinguish “modern” tundra reindeer and barren-ground caribou from primitive forms — living and extinct — that did not have adaptations to extreme cold and to long-distance migration. They include
4554-652: The Eurasian reindeer radiation dates to the large Riss glaciation (347,000 to 128,000 years ago), based on the Norwegian-Svalbard split 225,000 years ago. Finnish forest reindeer ( R. t. fennicus ) likely evolved from Cervus [Rangifer] geuttardi Desmarest, 1822, a reindeer that adapted to forest habitats in Eastern Europe as forests expanded during an interglacial period before the LGM (the Würmian or Weichsel glaciation );. The fossil species geuttardi
4653-600: The George River herd, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . The New York Times reported in April 2018 of the disappearance of the only herd of southern mountain woodland caribou in the contiguous United States , with an expert calling it "functionally extinct" after the herd's size dwindled to a mere three animals. After the last individual, a female, was translocated to
4752-524: The Greenland caribou ( R. t. groenlandicus ) and the Svalbard reindeer ( R. t. platyrhynchus ), although not closely related to each other, were the most genetically divergent among Rangifer clades; that modern (see Evolution above) Eurasian tundra reindeer ( R. t. tarandus and R. t. sibiricus ) and North American barren-ground caribou ( R. t. arcticus ), although sharing ancestry, were separable at
4851-537: The Mammals of the World Vol. 2: Hoofed Mammals . Most Russian authors also recognized R. t. angustirostris , a forest reindeer from east of Lake Baikal . However, since 1991, many genetic studies have revealed deep divergence between modern tundra reindeer and woodland caribou. Geist (2007) and others continued arguing that the woodland caribou was incorrectly classified, noting that "true woodland caribou,
4950-716: The Porcupine herd (and by implication, to other Alaskan barren-ground herds) to R. t. groenlandicus . Current taxonomy recognizes just one species of reindeer/caribou: Rangifer tarandus . Subspecies in North America are, R. t. caboti , R. t. caribou , R. t. dawsoni , R. t. groenlandicus , R. t. osborni , R. t. pearyi , and R. t. terranovae ; and in Eurasia, R. t. tarandus , R. t. buskensis (called R. t. valentinae in Europe), R. t. phylarchus , R. t. pearsoni , R. t. sibiricus and R. t. platyrhynchus . In consideration of
5049-430: The Qamanirjuaq herd (located primarily in Manitoba and Nunavut, with portions in the southeastern NWT and northeastern Saskatchewan) fall under the auspices of the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board. The range of the Beverly herd spans the tundra from northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan and well into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. In 1994 survey there were 276,000 caribou, an all-time record. According to
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#17328024002725148-431: The Queen Charlotte Islands). The boreal woodland caribou ( R. t. caribou ), lives in the boreal forest of northeastern Canada: the Labrador or Ungava caribou of northern Quebec and northern Labrador ( R. t. caboti ), and the Newfoundland caribou of Newfoundland ( R. t. terranovae ) have been found to be genetically in the woodland caribou lineage. In Eurasia, both wild and domestic reindeer are distributed across
5247-418: The Reindeer and Caribou, Genus Rangifer (1961), eliminated R. t. caboti (the Labrador caribou), R. t. osborni (Osborn's caribou — from British Columbia ) and R. t. terranovae (the Newfoundland caribou) as invalid and included only barren-ground caribou , renamed as R. t. groenlandicus (formerly R. arcticus ) and woodland caribou as R. t. caribou . However, Banfield made multiple errors, eliciting
5346-657: The Siberian forest reindeer ( R. t. valentinae , formerly called the Busk Mountains reindeer ( R. t. buskensis ) by American taxonomists) occupies the Altai and Ural Mountains . Male ("bull") and female ("cow") reindeer can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between populations. Antlers are typically larger on males. Antler architecture varies by species and subspecies and, together with pelage differences, can often be used to distinguish between species and subspecies (see illustrations in Geist, 1991 and Geist, 1998). About 25,000 mountain reindeer ( R. t. tarandus ) still live in
5445-509: The Yukon as invalid subspecies of woodland caribou, then R. t. caribou . This left the small, migratory barren-ground caribou of Alaska and the Yukon, including the Porcupine caribou herd, without a name, which Banfield rectified in his 1974 Mammals of Canada by extending to them the name " granti ". The late Valerius Geist (1998), in the only error in his whole illustrious career, re-analyzed Banfield's data with additional specimens found in an unpublished report he cites as "Skal, 1982", but
5544-447: The barren-ground caribou in Canada live in eight large migratory herds, which migrate seasonally from the tundra to the taiga, sparsely treed coniferous forests south of the tundra. In order, from Alaska to Hudson Bay, these are the Porcupine herd, Cape Bathurst herd, Bluenose West herd, Bluenose East herd, Bathurst herd, Ahiak herd, Beverly herd, and Qamanirjuaq herd. About 120 000 other barren-ground caribou live in smaller herds that spend
5643-427: The caribou's main food source. Frozen feeding grounds during winter months results in greater energy expenditure as the caribou attempt to access the lichen locked beneath the ice. This can result in malnutrition, starvation and death. Research has shown that changes in climate can alter the quality of lichen in the Arctic, making it less nutritious. A changing climate also introduces the threat of foreign plant species to
5742-415: The early taxonomists. Similarly, working on museum collections where skins were often faded and in poor states of preservation, early taxonomists could not readily perceive differences in coat patterns that are consistent within a subspecies, but variable among them. Geist calls these "nuptial" characteristics: sexually selected characters that are highly conserved and diagnostic among subspecies. Towards
5841-652: The end of the 19th century, national museums began sending out biological exploration expeditions and collections accumulated. Taxonomists, usually working for the museums, began naming subspecies more rigorously, based on statistical differences in detailed cranial, dental and skeletal measurements than antlers and pelage, supplemented by better knowledge of differences in ecology and behavior. From 1898 to 1937, mammalogists named 12 new species (other than barren-ground and woodland, which had been named earlier) of caribou in Canada and Alaska, and three new species and nine new subspecies in Eurasia, each properly described according to
5940-410: The entire year on the tundra. Half of these are confined to Baffin Island. Like the Peary caribou , both the males and females have antlers . In general, during the summer, the coat of the caribou is brown, and much lighter in the winter. The neck and rump tend towards a creamy-white colour. However, the general coloration may differ depending on the region. The barren-ground caribou usually breeds in
6039-437: The evolution" of Rangifer species and other Arctic and sub-Arctic species. Isolation of tundra-adapted species Rangifer in Last Glacial Maximum refugia during the last glacial – the Wisconsin glaciation in North America and the Weichselian glaciation in Eurasia – shaped "intraspecific genetic variability " particularly between the North American and Eurasian parts of the Arctic . Reindeer / caribou ( Rangifer ) are in
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#17328024002726138-441: The evolving rules of zoological nomenclature, with type localities designated and type specimens deposited in museums (see table in Species and subspecies below). In the mid-20th century, as definitions of "species" evolved, mammalogists in Europe and North America made all Rangifer species conspecific with R. tarandus , and synonymized most of the subspecies. Alexander William Francis Banfield 's often-cited A Revision of
6237-407: The extinct caribou Torontoceros [Rangifer] hypogaeus , had features (robust and short pedicles, smooth antler surface, and high position of second tine) that relate it to forest caribou. Humans started hunting reindeer in both the Mesolithic and Neolithic Periods, and humans are today the main predator in many areas. Norway and Greenland have unbroken traditions of hunting wild reindeer from
6336-469: The extinct caribou Torontoceros [Rangifer] hypogaeus , had features (robust and short pedicles, smooth antler surface, and high position of second tine) that relate it to forest caribou. Because woodland and barren-ground caribou likely do not share a direct common ancestor, they cannot be conspecific. Conversely, Molecular data also revealed that the four western Canadian montane ecotypes are not woodland caribou as currently classified (in Canada): they share
6435-592: The fall and calves in June but may not drop their single calf until July. Usually the female gives birth away from the herd and if possible on a patch of snow. After birth, the female licks the calf clean and eats the tissues and the placenta . This may serve two purposes, to replace nutrients lost from birthing and to help remove the scent that would attract predators. The main food source is lichen , but they also feed on Cyperaceae (sedges) and grasses along with twigs and mushrooms . Caribou have also been observed eating antlers and seaweed and licking salt deposits. There
6534-540: The females. Their bez tines are set low, just above the brow tine, which is vertically flattened to protect the eyes while the buck "threshes" low brush, a courtship display. The low bez tines help the wide flat brow tines dig craters in the hard-packed tundra snow for forage, for which reason brow tines are often called "shovels" in North America and "ice tines" in Europe. The differences in antler architecture reflect fundamental differences in ecology and behavior, and in turn deep divisions in ancestry that were not apparent to
6633-508: The former R. t. groenlandicus (now R. t. arcticus ). R. t. granti was lost in the oblivion of invalid taxonomy until Alaskan researchers sampled some small, pale caribou from the western end of the Alaska Peninsula, their range enclosing the type locality designated by Allen (1902) and found them to be genetically distinct from all other caribou in Alaska. Thus, granti was rediscovered, its range restricted to that originally described. Queen Maud Gulf Queen Maud Gulf lies between
6732-717: The four western Canadian montane ecotypes are not woodland caribou: they share a common ancestor with modern barren-ground caribou / tundra reindeer, but distantly, having diverged > 60,000 years ago — before the modern ecotypes had evolved their cold- and darkness-adapted physiologies and mass-migration and aggregation behaviors (see Evolution above). Before Banfield (1961), taxonomists using cranial, dental and skeletal measurements had unequivocally allied these western montane ecotypes with barren-ground caribou, naming them (as in Osgood 1909 Murie, 1935 and Anderson 1946, among others) R. t. stonei , R. t. montanus , R. t. fortidens and R. t. osborni , respectively, and this phylogeny
6831-560: The fringes of the Rocky Mountain and Laurentide ice sheets as far south as northern Alabama ; and in Sangamonian deposits (~100,000 years BP) from western Canada. A R. t. pearyi -sized caribou occupied Greenland before and after the LGM and persisted in a relict enclave in northeastern Greenland until it went extinct about 1900 (see discussion of R. t. eogroenlandicus below). Archaeological excavations showed that larger barren-ground-sized caribou appeared in western Greenland about 4,000 years ago. The late Valerius Geist (1998) dates
6930-479: The genus Rangifer as R. grœnlandicus . It went back and forth as a full species or subspecies of the barren-ground caribou ( R. arcticus ) or a subspecies of the tundra reindeer ( R. tarandus ), but always as the Greenland reindeer / caribou. Taxonomists consistently documented morphological differences between Greenland and other caribou / reindeer in cranial measurements, dentition, antler architecture, etc. Then Banfield (1961) in his famously flawed revision, gave
7029-486: The immediate future. The risks associated with climate change can impact feeding habits, access to food and quality of food, birthing rates and calf rearing, greater distance of migration, thinning ice during migration and insect disturbances. Climate change negatively impacts barren-ground caribou's access to food. Extreme weather conditions can cause increased amounts of rain and freezing rain during winter months. This results in an ice layer which blocks access to lichen ,
7128-485: The larger caribou that appeared in Greenland 4,000 years ago originated from Baffin Island (itself unique; see Taxonomy above), a reconstruction of LGM glacial retreat and caribou advance (Yannic et al. 2013) shows colonization by NAL lineage caribou more likely. Their PCA and tree diagrams show Greenland caribou clustering outside of the Beringian-Eurasian lineage. The scientific name R. t. granti has
7227-503: The low calving rate mainly on habitat deterioration and disturbance with other factors contributing to the low growth rate – parasites, predation and poor weather. Most of the caribou populations in the north are cycling down. It's causing a lot of anxiety for a lot of hunters. We want to...give everybody time to work together to come up with solutions for the short term and until the caribou populations recover. John Nagy, University of Alberta's wildlife biologist and researcher, argued that
7326-649: The mountains of Norway, notably in Hardangervidda . In Sweden there are approximately 250,000 reindeer in herds managed by Sámi villages. Russia manages 19 herds of Siberian tundra reindeer ( R. t. sibiricus ) that total about 940,000. The Taimyr herd of Siberian tundra reindeer is the largest wild reindeer herd in the world, varying between 400,000 and 1,000,000; it is a metapopulation consisting of several subpopulations — some of which are phenotypically different — with different migration routes and calving areas. The Kamchatkan reindeer ( R. t. phylarchus ),
7425-436: The movement and health of caribou during the summer months. Increased warming temperatures and early springs result in greater insect numbers. Insect harassment force caribou to migrate to areas which may still be covered in snow or ice, thereby reducing access to food. Caribou give birth in early spring when insect populations are low, to enable sufficient rearing of healthy and strong calves. Early onset of spring temperatures in
7524-550: The name groenlandicus to all the barren-ground caribou in North America, Greenland included, because groenlandicus pre-dates Richardson's R. arctus . However, because genetic data shows the Greenland caribou to be the most distantly related of any caribou to all the others (genetic distance, FST = 44%, whereas most cervid (deer family) species have a genetic distance of 2% to 5% )--as well as behavioral and morphological differences—a recent revision returned it to species status as R. groenlandicus . Although it has been assumed that
7623-657: The northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut , Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay , leading to Dease Strait ; to the east lies Simpson Strait ; and to the north, Victoria Strait . It is home to the Queen Maud Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary . In 1839, it was crossed by Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson . It was named by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1905 for
7722-626: The northern states of the contiguous United States from Maine to Washington . Boreal woodland caribou have disappeared from most of their original southern range and were designated as Threatened in 2002 by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Environment and Climate Change Canada reported in 2011 that there were approximately 34,000 boreal woodland caribou in 51 ranges remaining in Canada (Environment Canada, 2011b), although those numbers included montane populations classified by Harding (2022) into subspecies of
7821-568: The only other caribou subspecies to do so is the Peary caribou ( R. t. pearyi ), which are smaller in size and population. In 2004 the Canadian Government's Species at Risk (SARA) registry placed barren-ground caribou under the status of "special concern". Their status was a result of climate change having a negative impact on the population. Changing climate conditions in the Arctic are predicted to threaten barren-ground caribou in
7920-415: The previously named subspecies distributions, without naming them as such, plus some ecotypes. Ecotypes are not phylogenetically based and cannot substitute for taxonomy. Meanwhile, genetic data continued to accumulate, revealing sufficiently deep divisions to easily separate Rangifer back into six previously named species and to resurrect several previously named subspecies. Molecular data showed that
8019-579: The rarity of introgression of barren-ground caribou into woodland caribou, and almost none the other way. DNA analysis shows that woodland caribou ( R. caribou ) diverged from primitive ancestors of tundra/barren-ground caribou not during the last glacial maximum, 26,000–19,000 years ago, as previously assumed, but in the Middle Pleistocene around 357,000 years ago. At that time, modern tundra caribou had not even evolved (see Reindeer : Evolution). Woodland caribou are likely more related to extinct forest caribou subspecies than to barren-ground caribou. For example,
8118-410: The recent revision (see Reindeer#Taxonomy below). Reindeer / caribou ( Rangifer ) vary in size from the smallest, the Svalbard reindeer ( R. ( t. ) platyrhynchus ), to the largest, Osborn's caribou ( R. t. osborni ). They also vary in coat color and antler architecture. The North American range of caribou extends from Alaska through the Yukon , the Northwest Territories and Nunavut throughout
8217-428: The recent revision): In North America, R. t. caboti , R. t. caribou , R. t. dawsoni , R. t. groenlandicus , R. t. osborni , R. t. pearyi , and R. t. terranovae ; and in Eurasia, R. t. tarandus , R. t. buskensis (called R. t. valentinae in Europe; see below), R. t. phylarchus , R. t. pearsoni , R. t. sibiricus and R. t. platyrhynchus . These subspecies were retained in the 2011 replacement work Handbook of
8316-534: The region, creating competition. Barren-ground caribou have evolved to match their calving period with the period in which lichen has traditionally bloomed. The phenological process and timing between birthing and easily accessible lichen is critical to the survival rate of the subspecies. The trophic mismatch, due to abnormal temperature variations linked to climate change, have resulted in malnutrition in their young, as well as reduced reproductive rates contributing to population decline. The timing of migration periods
8415-433: The smallest, the Svalbard reindeer ( R. ( t. ) platyrhynchus ), to the largest, Osborn's caribou ( R. t. osborni ). Although reindeer are quite numerous, some species and subspecies are in decline and considered vulnerable . They are unique among deer (Cervidae) in that females may have antlers , although the prevalence of antlered females varies by subspecies. Reindeer are the only successfully semi-domesticated deer on
8514-498: The subfamily Odocoileinae , along with roe deer ( Capreolus ), Eurasian elk / moose ( Alces ), and water deer ( Hydropotes ). These antlered cervids split from the horned ruminants Bos (cattle and yaks), Ovis (sheep) and Capra (goats) about 36 million years ago. The Eurasian clade of Odocoileinae (Capreolini, Hydropotini and Alcini) split from the New World tribes of Capreolinae ( Odocoileini and Rangiferini) in
8613-430: The subspecies level; that Finnish forest reindeer ( R. t. fennicus ) clustered well apart from both wild and domestic tundra reindeer and that boreal woodland caribou ( R. t. caribou ) were separable from all others. Meanwhile, archaeological evidence was accumulating that Eurasian forest reindeer descended from an extinct forest-adapted reindeer and not from tundra reindeer (see Evolution above); since they do not share
8712-554: The summer, migrate to the mainland in the fall after the sea ice has formed. At this time, the smaller groups may form into a larger herd and several hundred animals may be seen. Mainland barren-ground caribou herds move to coastal areas for part of each year, with the exception of the Beverly herd. The Beverly herd (located primarily in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, with portions in Nunavut, Manitoba and Alberta) and
8811-626: The terms reindeer and caribou for essentially the same animal can cause confusion, but the ICUN clearly delineates the issue: "Reindeer is the European name for the species of Rangifer, while in North America, Rangifer species are known as Caribou." The word reindeer is an anglicized version of the Old Norse words hreinn ("reindeer") and dýr ("animal") and has nothing to do with reins. The word caribou comes through French, from
8910-542: The tiny, pale granti (originally Rangifer granti Allen 1902) of the west end of the Alaska Peninsula and nearby islands to all of Alaska and part of Yukon, including the Porcupine herd, which was originally described as R. ogilviensis (Millais 1915), after the Ogilvie Mountains that form part of its winter range. Youngman (1975) realized Banfield's mistake and referred the barren-ground caribou of
9009-499: The tundra and into the taiga. Eurasian mountain reindeer ( R. t. tarandus ) are close to North American caribou genetically and visually, but with sufficient differences to warrant division into two species. The unique, insular Svalbard reindeer inhabits the Svalbard Archipelago . The Finnish forest reindeer ( R. t. fennicus ) is spottily distributed in the coniferous forest zones from Finland to east of Lake Baikal :
9108-947: The uniformly dark, small-maned type with the frontally emphasized, flat-beamed antlers", is "scattered thinly along the southern rim of North American caribou distribution". He affirms that the "true woodland caribou is very rare, in very great difficulties and requires the most urgent of attention." In 2011, noting that the former classifications of Rangifer tarandus , either with prevailing taxonomy on subspecies, designations based on ecotypes , or natural population groupings, failed to capture "the variability of caribou across their range in Canada" needed for effective subspecies conservation and management, COSEWIC developed Designatable Unit (DU) attribution, an adaptation of "evolutionary significant units". The 12 designatable units for caribou in Canada (that is, excluding Alaska and Greenland) based on ecology, behavior and, importantly, genetics (but excluding morphology and archaeology) essentially followed
9207-494: The various forms of the Woodland Caribou are so great in almost every respect that no detailed comparison is necessary. ...According to Mr. Stone, Rangifer granti inhabits the " barren land of Alaska Peninsula, ranging well up into the mountains in summer, but descending to the lower levels in winter, generally feeding on the low flat lands near the coast and in the foothills...As regards cranial characters no comparison
9306-533: The voluminous genetic and other data revealing diversity at the species and subspecies levels that is not reflected in the current taxonomy, a recent revision resurrects several species (Greenland caribou, R. groenlandicus ; woodland caribou, R. caribou ; and Arctic caribou, R. arcticus ) in North America) and several subspecies. Reindeer#Taxonomy See text , traditionally 1, but possibly up to 6 The reindeer or caribou ( Rangifer tarandus )
9405-463: Was "not able to find diagnostic features that could segregate this form from the western barren ground type." But Skal 1982 had included specimens from the eastern end of the Alaska Peninsula and the Kenai Peninsula , the range of the larger Stone's caribou. Later, geneticists comparing barren-ground caribou of Alaska with those of mainland Canada found little difference and they all became
9504-858: Was confirmed by genetic analysis. DNA also revealed three unnamed clades that, based on genetic distance, genetic divergence and shared vs. private haplotypes and alleles , together with ecological and behavioral differences, may justify separation at the subspecies level: the Atlantic- Gaspésie caribou (COSEWIC DU11), an eastern montane ecotype of the boreal woodland caribou, and the Baffin Island caribou. Neither one of these clades has yet been formally described or named. Jenkins et al. (2012) said that "[Baffin Island] caribou are unique compared to other Barrenground herds, as they do not overwinter in forested habitat, nor do all caribou undertake long seasonal migrations to calving areas." It also shares
9603-687: Was confirmed by genetic analysis. From 1898 to 1937, mammalogists named 11 new species (other than Greenland caribou, barren-ground caribou and woodland caribou, which had been named earlier) in Canada and Alaska (see synonymies in Rudolph Martin Anderson , 1946). Banfield (1961) synonymized them down to one species with four living subspecies ( caribou, pearyi, groenlandicus and granti ), but most specialists did not accept this and continued to recognize R. t. caboti (Labrador caribou), Newfoundland caribou ( R. t. terranovae) and Osborn's caribou ( R. t. osborni ). Banfield (1961) had extended
9702-462: Was later replaced by R. constantini , which was adapted for grasslands, in a second immigration 19,000–20,000 years ago when the LGM turned its forest habitats into tundra, while fennicus survived in isolation in southwestern Europe. R. constantini was then replaced by modern tundra / barren-ground caribou adapted to extreme cold, probably in Beringia, before dispersing west ( R. t. tarandus in
9801-521: Was selected as the senior synonym to R. t. valentinae Flerov, 1933, in Mammal Species of the World but Russian authors do not recognize Millais and Millais' articles in a hunting travelogue, The Gun at Home and Abroad , seem short of a taxonomic authority. The scientific name groenlandicus is fraught with problems. Edwards (1743) illustrated and claimed to have seen a male specimen ("head of perfect horns...") from Greenland and said that
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