Appearance
Caribou basically have one distinct feature, antlers. Both the male and female caribou have antlers, they are the only kind of deer like this. Both the male and the female caribou grow new antlers each year. Male caribou's antlers can grow up to 3 feet. Female caribou's antlers are shorter than male's antlers and they grow at a different time of year, (I am not sure what time they grow at).
Other than their antlers, caribou have a thick coat that is water proof. Caribou also have very good hearing. Caribou have tails that are only 3-8 inches long and Caribou's hooves that are brood with sharp edges. A male caribou can weigh up to 660 pounds and can be 5 feet tall at the shoulder.
Food and Eating Habits
The caribou have basically two predators: people and wolves, the caribou's main enemy though is the wolf. The caribou is in fact the wolves' main food source.
Caribou have to learn to defend themselves against wolves. They do this by their keen sense of smell. They can smell up to a quarter of a mile away. They also have an excellent sense of hearing so that they can hear wolves. On open tundra, a healthy caribou can outrun wolves. Caribou are really fast so wolves usually can only catch the old and sick caribou to eat.
Caribou are vegetarians. The caribou's diet is made up of: sedges, bark from small trees, leaves, berries, twigs, shoots, fungi, grass, and lichens. In the winter caribou eat lichens, in fact they would not survive the winter without lichens. Lichens look like lots of little roots in a big clump. Lichens do not have very deep roots. Sedges are stalks that have little flowers at the top. Fungi are things like mushrooms. Caribou use their hooves to dig in the snow to get food.
Habitat, Environment & Shelter
Caribou live in two places, the Tundra and the forests. The Tundra is open ground, in the Arctic, with few trees and lots of small hills, lots of plants and flowers grow on the Tundra. In the forests the trees are not to tall because there is ice under the soil.
In the Arctic winter the temperature goes to 30 °ree; below 0, so the caribou go south and find shelter in the forests. Caribou do not live in closed shelters unless you count the forests.
Caribou have to adapt to the cold Arctic weather. They migrate south in winter to find food and shelter in the forests. Their thick, waterproof coats keep them warm. Their hooves help them dig in the snow to find lichen to eat when it is winter.
Caribou have a summer grazing ground on the Tundra, but late October the caribou go back to the forests.
Life Cycle-Mating and Reproduction
Each caribou herd has its own place to mate on Tundra or in the forests. Late October caribou start to mate. Male caribou use their antlers to fight with each other to choose who gets which female. Female caribou mate at 2 years old and males at 4.
In the first week of June there are lots of baby caribou born. Usually 1 calf is born at a time. Very rarely 2 calves are born at a time. Calves are born in June and weigh 8 pounds when they are born, but at the end of the summer the calves weigh 75 pounds.
Calves are independent at 1 year old. During its first year a calf is taken care of by its mother. The calf stays with its mother at all times unless they get separated, like in big herds.
Behavior and Lifestyle
Caribou live mostly in small groups called herds, but during the winter all of the herds join together into a herd of 100,000 caribou. I think the reason why caribou join together in a huge herd is so they can keep warm. Some herds stay in the same place all year round, though. Female caribou may form small herds of their own. Caribou travel north in March to the Tundra.
Although caribou spend their whole lives with other caribou, they never defend each other. However, they warn each other of danger. They thrust their hind leg out to one side to signal alarm. They run when they hear threatening sounds such as wolves howling near them.
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