Are reindeer real?

Caribou (or reindeer) crossing sign in

Kenai, Alaska - Summer 2012

Yes! Reindeer ARE real creatures. They are not mythical, made-up holiday creatures…but real animals. I don’t know about the flying or the blinking noses, those may belong to a secret subspecies!

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are one in the same as caribou. I’ve heard that the term “reindeer” refers to the domesticated version of the species, while caribou refers to the wild ones.

This past summer (2012), I was very fortunate to spend 3 months living on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. I scored a sweet seasonal technician position with the USFWS monitoring movements of spawning Chinook (King) salmon. If you’re interested in any of those pictures and tales, check out my Alaska blog entries here.

While I was driving from here to there on daily errands up in the 49th state, I would occasionally get to see caribou milling around on this flood plain, referred to as “The Flats”. It was at the mouth of the mighty Kenai River, and when a storm surge happened to occur, or an especially high tide, these lowlands could absorb much of the excess water. In the drier parts of the year though, there was a lush grass growing and it was wide open. This allowed for good grazing and the ability to watch for predators, like grizzly bears.

A male caribou on the Kenai Flats, Kenai, Alaska - Summer 2012

 

An interesting fact about caribou: both males AND females carry antlers.

Let me back up. Antlers are shed every year. Horns are permanent. Antlers are a secondary sexual characteristic, that often shows on caribou. An example of a primary sexual characteristic would be internal/external sexual anatomy which dictates the sex of the organism.

White-tailed deer have been known, though less frequently, to show antlers on the does. Wild turkey hens can sometimes have a beard. I don’t know what this means for their reproductive abilities, but if the females are exhibiting these secondary traits, they probably have more testosterone in them than a normal female. They likely can’t viably reproduce, but I’d wager with caribou it’s not quite the same situation.

Caribou are the only antler-ed animal in North America that have antlers on males and females. The picture above is of a male caribou, which sports the more extravagant set of antlers. The picture below is of a pair of females, sporting a much less impressive antlers.

Female caribous in Denali National Park & Preserve, July 2012

A nice big male caribou in

Denali National Park & Preserve,

July 2012

Can I take a moment to share the definitions of antlers vs. horns?

Antlers
-Characteristic of the family Cervidae: deer, moose, elk, caribou
-Often present only in males (with the exception of caribou)
-Grown annually, shed annually, temporary
-Branched

Horns
-Characteristic of the family Bovidae: cows, sheep, goats, antelope, musk oxen
-Present in both males and often the females
-Continuously growing, never shed, permanent
-Unbranched

Anyway, there is a bunch of caribou and reindeer information for you! I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or Happy [whatever] Holidays!

Hopefully I can share some nice IR camera trap pictures with you soon.

That’s a whole story in itself!

The Big 5: Part 3: Caribou

Please also see: The Big 5: Parts 1 & 2

The next critter that Katie and I got to see in Denali National Park & Preserve was the caribou (Rangifer tarandus).

This ungulate artiodactylid (even-toed hoofed mammal), is an Alaskan icon. Many people are familiar with the vast migrations that the caribou make annually in search of breeding grounds and food sources, and because of their "fame" that I'd learned about before, I really wanted to see one.

We saw probably at least 10 caribou, but this was the animal that we didn't get the best views of. They were often solitary or in pairs way off in the distance, or even up on a rocky ridge between mountains. We did see a lone calf running by itself, and a couple of bulls laying together in a glacial wash basin. I'll share all of the best shots I have, but keep in mind these are all different sightings.

7/21/2012

7/21/2012

Can you pick out the caribou in this picture? Don't ask me how someone spotted it...

Look at the top of the mountain, just to the left of center in the broad U. I've zoomed in below.

7/21/2012

What is he doing up there? I don't understand- the "cost" of energy it must have taken to get up there must have been more than the benefit of food! It look like there's nothing edible...but then again, they often sustain for months on reindeer lichen, and nothing else.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Did you know reindeer and caribou are the same animal?

A reindeer is just the domestic version of the species.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

7/23/2012

Two doe caribou hanging out. Even though they have antlers, they are females. Antlers are a secondary sexual characteristic, that often shows on caribou. White-tailed deer have been known, though less frequently, to show antlers on the does. Wild turkey hens can sometimes have a beard. I don't know what this means for their reproductive abilities, I'd wager with caribou it's not quite the same situation. A fish biologist and avid big-game trophy hunter here told me that the caribou use their antlers to push snow out of the way to find lichens. Interesting thought.

Can I take a moment to share the definitions of antlers vs. horns?

Some people here (and some that I think should know better) use the words interchangeably.

This is not a HUGE faux pas, but I like to be as succinct as possible.

Antlers	Horns
-Characteristic of the family Cervidae (deer, moose, elk, caribou)	-Characteristic of the family Bovidae (cows, sheep, goats, antelope, musk oxen)
-Often present only in males (with the exception of caribou)	-Present in both males and often the females
-Grown annually, shed annually, temporary	-Continuously growing, never shed, permanent
-Branched	-Unbranched

Animal Diversity Web

7/23/2012

A nice big bull- these two pictures are of the same animal. This was actually the closest we got to a caribou, probably around 150 yards or half the length of a football field. It's amazing how fast their antlers grow in such a short amount of time...just to be shed off and grown again the next season.

The final picture I'll leave you with is of the young caribou, born this year, seemingly on it's own.

We didn't see an adult anywhere, nor could we see a predator.

Apparently baby caribou are a favorite of brown bears and wolves...no big surprise there!

7/21/2012

I hope he or she made it back to mom...

The Big 5: Part 1

Over the weekend of July 21-23, my friend Katie and I visited Denali National Park & Preserve. It was a soul-soothing, spiritual, amazing experience. I've been to several National Parks (Acadia in Maine, Glacier in Montana, Rocky Mountain in Colorado among others), but none have really struck me quite like Denali.

As I mentioned in my previous posting, the National Parks Service Rangers and Staff are amazing. Informative, friendly, and truly have the Park's well-being and visitor safety first in mind.

Many visitors go to Denali with The Big 5 in mind: gray wolf (Canis lupus), moose (Alces alces), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), Dall sheep (Ovis dalli), and the almighty brown bear (Ursus arctos). I'm going to use the term "brown bear" even though they are technically the same as grizzly and Kodiak bears, but in DNPP they refer to them as brown bears.

People come to the park with hopes of getting a glimpse of these animals, from a bus, and getting that awesome "Nat Geo" shot.

I entered the park with hopes of seeing all 5, but also with hopes of seeing a wolverine (Gulo gulo), any of the ground squirrels: hoary marmot (Marmota caligata) or arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), and especially a collared pika (Ochotona collaris). So I had a "Big 10"!

Of the true Big 5, I saw all of them. It was almost too easy, I was so surprised, and maybe we were extremely lucky. Actually, I KNOW we were lucky to see at least one of them

Of the second set of my wish list, I saw the arctic ground squirrels and a red fox. Squirrels fall right after black bear and tie with porcupine for me. I think they're A) adorable, and B) incredibly resourceful and SASSY!

I'm going to keep this entry brief, and follow up in subsequent entries with the story behind each sighting.


First sighting:

A gray wolf.

I'll be honest though, I'm really skeptical about this. When I first saw it, I didn't form an opinion. Everyone was saying wolf, even our bus driver. Then Katie turned to me and asked me for confirmation...and I said:

"Um...I don't know, it looks like a coyote to me. BUT, I have never seen a gray wolf before."

Really profound, right? I went along with wolf, because I didn't want to be the jerk on the bus, ruining everyone's hopes and dreams in this amazing National Park that's known for wolves with saying it's a (common pest to some) coyote.

I later described it to a ranger, and she accurately described back to me a gray wolf, and our recollections matched. Long legged, bushy tail, coloration...etc. I don't know though, I STILL feel like some would call this a 'yote. For my touristy sake, I'll call it a wolf. But I'm interested to hear opinions.

I borrowed this from JVN's blog (Backyard Beasts), and I realize different time of year and state, BUT...that's what a proper gray wolf should look like :)

Photo credit: John Van Niel

Thick, barrel-chested, gorgeous coat, gray/black/white coloring...


BTW, for what it's worth, this animal looked like a coyote to me too:

Red wolf (Canis lupus) at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina

And this is DEFINITELY a red wolf.

Second sighting:

A caribou!

Third sighting:

Brown bear!

Fourth sighting:

Dall sheep!

A moose! (This is an AWESOME story...stay tuned :) )

And that's The Big 5!

Are you impressed? I was, by how close we got to the animals. Keep in mind I took all of these pictures from the shuttle bus. Yes, I have a 36X zoom...but they also came in close.

And I'll share a few pics of my other favorite mammals that I got to see:

Arctic ground squirrel :) How can you not smile at this little guy?

And finally....

A red fox....dressed in a really interesting outfit. I'm doing a bit of poking around and gently harrassing some Alaskan trappers and officials about color phases of the red fox here. More on this later!

After my last depressing entry, I wanted to share fun, happy stories of animals I got to see in the park. A final picture I'll leave you with is probably the most sought after "thing" at DNPP, and the most rarely seen.

Mount McKinley, or Denali.

20,328 feet: tallest peak in North America

I feel honored to have seen it and actually several times. This mountain will get it's own entry eventually as well. Talk about awe-inspiring.