Overview
A medium-sized caribou. Antlers are frequently spectacular: although not particularly heavy, they usually have very wide spreads and long, forward-curving beams. Brow and bez tines are usually well palmated, and there is a high proportion of double shovels. Overall color is pale brown, with contrasting white neck and mane. A very handsome animal.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Cervidae
- Genus
- Rangifer
- Species
- Rangifer tarandus
Habitat
These caribou inhabit both the tundra and taiga.
Diet
Caribou consume a variety of foods on the tundra, including primarily lichens but also shrubs, sedges, willows, and mushrooms, and they also will browse based on availability in the taiga regions they inhabit.
Behavior
Highly migratory, with regional herds following historical migration routes.
Hunting
The Government of Quebec will close caribou hunting at the end of the 2017 season. During the fall migration (which coincides with the hunting season), Quebec-Labrador caribou are constantly on the move. The usual hunting technique has been to travel the waterways by canoe and, when bulls are seen, to intercept them on foot. Typically intercepted rather than pursued, because they travel so rapidly that once past, they are almost impossible to overtake on foot.
Conservation Status
While caribou as an overall species are listed as Least Concern by IUCN, this subspecies has seen a staggering decline in population, to the point that hunting will no longer be permitted following the 2017 season. Exact reasons for the decline as currently unclear, although there is evidence that climate change, overgrazing of lichens, and recent parasitic infections all have played a role. The George River herd dropped from an estimated 750,000 animals to 10,000, prompting hunting to be discontinued in 2011. The Leaf River herd in western Quebec has dropped from an estimated 600,000 to 200,000, with numbers predicted to further decline.