Part I: Terrestrial Zoology: Encyclopedia Arctica 3: Zoology (Excluding Birds)

Author Stefansson, Vilhjalmur, 1879-1962

Part 1: Terrestrial Zoology

Vertebrates

Terrestrial Mammals

(EA-Zoo. A. L. Rand)

TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS

CONTENTS

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Page
Cenozoic Migrations 1
Effects of Glaciation on Present Range 3
Habitats 6
Abundance of Individuals 8
Fluctuations in Numbers 9
Bodily Adaptations 9
Food 16
Storage of Food 18
Migration 21
Hibernation 24
Shelter 27
Mammal Interrelationships 30
Mammals in Relation to Man 31
Synopsis of Northern Mammals 35
Insect Eaters: Insectivora 36
Bats: Chiroptera 37
Flesh Eaters or Carnivores: Carnivora 37
Hares, Rabbits, and Pikas: Lagomorpha 39
Rodents: Rodentia 39
Hoofed Mammals: Artiodactyla 41
Bibliography 42

EA-Zoo. (A. L. Rand)

TERRESTRIAL MAMMALS
Terrestrial mammals have been able to occupy the North as far as there is land on which grows the vegetation they, or the animals on which they prey, feed. The geological history of the land had its part in determining the course of evolution of the mammals there, and the climate and its effects have been a filter, determining what animals may invade the area. The rigorous northern conditions, with widely contrasting seasons, have demanded modifications in bodily structure and in behavior.
These same great seasonal changes, sometimes with yearly deviations, have given a biological situation not yet in balance, so that great changes still may occur from year to year. The relatively small variety of life in the North has resulted in the development of some close interrelationships, including the intimate dependency of man on the other mammals.
Cenozoic Migrations
One of the striking things we see in going from the northern part of the Old World to that of the New is that the mammals are much the same; familiar types of shrews, bears, weasel, mink, marten, otter, squirrels, voles, beaver, caribou, and sheep may be considered different species by the zoologist, but their close similarity indicates they are closely related and have had a common history.
This similarity between the mammals of northern North America and of northern Eurasia certainly indicates a closer land connection in the not-far-distant past,

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a land connection large enough and of long enough duration for the mammalian forms to develop together. As the differences increase as one goes south, the connection must have been in the north. Land connections across the Atlantic have been postulated, but Simpson’s study of the fossil evidence indicates that a land bridge across the Bering Sea from Alaska to Siberia accords much better with the evidence and is sufficient to explain both present-day distributions and those of the past as indicated by fossils. The effects of this land bridge on various faunas have been traced through geological time from the early Eocene to the Pleistocene epoch, and is still to be seen today, in the Recent. But it was not continually in existence. It evidently was interrupted a number of times, some of the interruptions lasting perhaps for several millions of years. The latest land bridge was in the Pleistocene. There may even have been some land connection and some small local migrations between Alaska and Siberia across the Bering Sea area during the Recent glaciation, whose distance in the past is probably measurable in tens of thousands of years rather than in millions, as with some of the former connections.
Where mammals first originated is still shrouded in mystery. In the early Eocene the fossil evidence indicates that representatives of all the large groups were involved in the movements across the Bering Sea between North America and Eurasia. But later exchanges were of smaller scope and concerned only northern groups already common to the two continents.
In the early Eocene the direction of the migration is unknown. In the late Eocene there are indications that the migration was more from North America to Eurasia rather than the reverse. After this, though the faunal exchanges involved migrations in both directions, the evidence indicates that more groups probably migrated from Eurasia to North America. This later preponderance of an eastward

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migration is correlated with the larger area of the temperate zone Eurasian land mass compared with that in North America, and the impact on its fauna of aggressive immigrants from both Africa and Asia, as well as from North America. Thus the Eurasian fauna was probably better adapted to migrate and survive changing condi– tions, while the North America fauna, developing in a smaller area and with aggressive new immigrants affecting it only from Eurasia, had a more tranquil history.
The Bering Sea land bridge apparently always had a cold, rigorous climate, operating with active selectivity and allowing only cold-tolerating animals to use it.
In the latest epoch, the Pleistocene, the mammal migrants were mostly types so similar to present-day living forms that they are classified in the same genera. Some of them that perhaps came from Eurasia to North America are: the hare, pika, tree squirrel, bear, wolverine, moose, caribou, bison, and sheep. Some that perhaps migrated from North America to Europe are: the marmot, banded lemming, brown lemming, red-backed mouse, vole, jumping mouse, and fox.
Effects of Glaciation on Present Range
The ranges now occupied by northern mammals have been occupied only recently, just since the last ice epoch, their age counted in tens of thousands of years. Since the last land bridge across the Bering disappeared, glaciers have covered practically all the arctic and subarctic areas with ice. Mammal life was impossible on it then as it is today on the ice fields of Greenland and Novaya Zemlya. The mammals moved southward ahead of the glaciers on both continents, or perhaps in a few cases remained ^ in isolated ^ ice-free refugia ^ refugia ^ , made into islands by the surrounding ice. The one in the Yukon-Bering Sea area was probably the largest and best authenticated.
With the melting and retreat of the ice, the cold-tolerating mammals, which had survived along the southern fringe, spread northward following the retreating ice.

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At the northern edge of the mainland however, the extent of water in summer and of ice in winter acted as a barrier in preventing some mammals from reaching the arctic islands. In North America where there is a whole arctic archipelago this is particularly apparent. Notable among the mammals that have not spread north of the mainland are the grizzly bear, the ground squirrel, and the cinerous shrew. The brown lemming, on the other hand, is famous for its mass migrations which may move over sea ice. One would expect this lemming to be widespread in the arctic islands, but it seems not yet to have reached Greenland or Ellesmere Island.
The caribou, musk ox, banded lemming, and arctic hare as well as the wolf, arctic fox, weasel, and polar bear have all spread across the ice from island to island to reach northern Ellesmere Island and Greenland.
But on Greenland the icecap covering the interior cane to the coast in the northwest and in the east, and some of the mammals that reached North Greenland have not been able to get across the icecap and colonize the coastal, ice-free areas of southern Greenland, notably the banded lemming, the weasel, and the musk ox.
The polar bear wanders far over the ice; it is carried by moving ice and swims long distances, and has been seen swimming at sea 30 kilometers from the nearest resting place. For such an animal there are few barriers in the Arctic, so long as food is present, and the polar bear gets much of its food from the sea. The arctic fox has similar habits; in winter it wanders widely on the sea ice; it shares in the polar bear’s harvest of food from the sea, as well as snatching some for itself (small fish or invertebrates); and it also is carried by the moving ice. Both polar bears and arctic foxes are brought as far south as the Gulf of St. Lawrence some years by this means, and one arctic fox even reached Nova Scotia.

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The arctic here ranges freely over the sea ice, reaching islets 40 kilometers or more offshore, so it is not surprising to find it, too, in South Greenland. One would think that the musk ox would also have been able to make the journey, but for some reason it did not do so. The banded lemming has been found some kilometers out on the ice, sometimes frozen to death, but it has never reached South Greenland. Perhaps the journey across the glaciers is too much for it, although it has been recorded as traveling 57 kilometers over the ice in North Greenland. The absence of the weasel in South Greenland can be correlated with the absence of its main prey, this same lemming.
The colonizing of the north from the south is still going on. In the last 60 years or so ^ , ^ the coyote has spread from south of our area (which is still not ^^ clearly defined) and has now reached the arctic coast, both in the forested country of the Mackenzie and in the tundra of Alaska. The red for as now ranged out onto the barrens since our first knowledge of the area, but in recent years has increased and spread there, to the consternation of some of the trappers who fear that in some areas it may usurp the place of the more valuable arctic fox. Recent records indicate that the red fox may become established in Baffin Island; the wolverine is there, and there are even surprising records of the ordinarily forest-dwelling lynx reaching southern Baffin Island, evidently traveling on drifting ice from northern Quebec.
In the Old World there is no similar archipelago and the islands lying in the polar sea there are few and scattered. Spitsbergen has been reached by the polar bear, the arctic fox, and the reindeer, which must have traveled over the sea ice. Nov ^ a ^ ya Zemlya, much closer to the mainland, has the brown and the banded ^^ lemming, the arctic fox, the polar bear, and the reindeer, according to Gorbundoff.

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Habitats
In the North there are distinctive types of landscape, each occupied by mammals peculiar to them. The treeless country north of timber line (the tundra of E a urasia, the so-called barren grounds of America) that forms a circumpolar ^^ ring around the tops of both continental masses and sends arms w ^ s ^ outhward down ^^ the crests of the mountain masses has its characteristic mammals. The northern edge of the coniferous belt, the taiga of Eurasia, and the Hudsonian zone forest of America, composed chiefly of open stands of spruce with thickets of willow and dwarf birch that forms the second circumpolar belt, also has its character– istic mammals. The taiga sends northward extensions along the river valleys.
The treeless country has: ( 1 ) polar deserts, which are the permanent ice and snow fields (as in Greenland, northern Baffin Island s , and the islands to ^^ the north of it, Nov ^ a ^ ya Zemlya and Spitsbergen), destitute of mammal life except ^^ for wanderers; ( 2 ) desert tundra, where the rocks are nearly devoid of vegetation, as in large areas of Baffin Island, and mammal life is scanty; and ( 3 ) the grass and lichen tundra, the main home of the polar mammals such as caribou, musk ox (North America only), arctic hares, banded and brown lemmings, wolf, arctic fox, and weasel (called ermine in the Old World). On the tundra near timber line, locally, are other species that also occur in timbered areas: shrews (genus Sorex ), brown and grizzly bears, wolverine, red fox, ground squirrels, red-backed mice, and voles of the genus Microtus ; above timber line in the mountains are sheep, pika, and marmots.
The coniferous forest belt does not begin suddenly but changes gradually through shrubs, such as willows and scattered trees, to forest. Taiga and tundra also interdigitate, especially where the Mackenzie River valley carries forest far north in America, and along the north-flowing rivers in Siberia. No more

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do the mammals suddenly change from those of barren ground to those of the forest. The caribou and the arctic fox, e x ^ s ^ pecially in winter, enter the forest and even ^^ the musk ox, in summer, favors the willow thickets where they are present.
The T ^ t ^ aiga is richer than the tundra in species of mammals, corresponding ^^ to its richer and more varied plant life. Feeding among the trees, in the air, are a few bats, especially in the Old World; in the trees live tree squirrels and flying squirrels and on the ground are moose, varying hare, some voles, chipmunks, lynx, red fox, mink, marten, sable, and black bears. Several insectivorous shrews occur; and in the freshwater streams are muskrats (America only), beaver, otter, and mink, all of which find their headquarters in this forest belt.
Only a few species range widely in both forest and tundra, among them notably the wolf and the weasel.
The increase in the number of species of mammals as one goes from ^ the ^ polar regions to the tropics is a general phenomenon, and its actuality is well illustrated by giving in Table I the numbers of land mammals reported from a series of stations in our area, arranged in a north to south series as far as possible. Note par– ticularly the great difference between the number of species inhabiting the taiga and the tundra.

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Table I.
Area Type of country Land mammals recorded, number of species
Northeast Greenland Tundra 8
Southern Baffin Island Tundra 11
Perry River, Queen Maud Gulf Tundra 14
Mackenzie Delta Taiga, tundra, and mountain 36
Wood Buffalo Park, Canada Taiga 44

EA-Zoo. Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

Abundance of Individuals
Although the number of species in the North is limited, the number of indi– viduals in a certain species may be great. When voles or lemmings are plentiful, the tundra may be so riddle s ^ d ^ with their burrows and marked by their digging that ^^ it has a tattered appearance. For long stretches the ground may be undermined with their tunnels and sown with their holes. In walking over the tundra the tiny rodents may scurry over the ground ahead of one. The vast numbers to which the brown lemmings attain are best seen when they make one of their irr ^ e ^ gular mass movements. In the Queen Maud Gulf area, Gavin saw “The sea ice was covered with a moving mass of lemmings.” He estimated an average density of one lemming to ^ the ^ ^^ square yard, and indicated the movement extended over a 60-mile front and lasted for 10 days.
The caribou numbers, when these animals move en masse, are even more striking. From a rise in the country west of Hudson Bay, sometimes many herds of from 100 to 2,000 animals may be seen at once, and an estimated 20,000 caribou have been reported in view at one time. Such herds, when forced into a small compass, as at a river crossing or a pass, may leave the ground as bare mud and dust with hardly a spot untrampled by their hoofs or with a bit of vegetation showing. Such aggregations of animals have been the basis of estimates in the past of herds of “millions” of caribou. David Thompson, Joseph B. Tyrrell, and Vilhjalmur Stefansson are ^ a ^ mong those who have published large estimates — Thompson up to three million, Tyrrell and Stefansson “several hundred thousand.”
In the forest too, sometimes, such species as the varying hare become so common that many of them may be in sight at one time in every willow and bush thicket they frequent. Their ravages on the vegetation, the bare stems from which the bark has been gnawed, and the stems ^ t ^ rimmed in their feeding may be conspicuous features of the landscape.

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But not all northern species are numerous. The least weasel, Mustela rixosa , though a widespread circumpolar species, seems always rare. Certain voles, such as those of the genus Phenacomys , and shrews of the genus Microsorex are usually scarce or rare.
Fluctuations in Numbers
Numbers are an unstable thing in the North. Some years a mammal may be in swarming abundance; in other years the species may be so scarce that it is difficult to find a single individual. This is well illustrated by the varying hare and the lemmings, animals that have become almost classical examples, with the corresponding fluctuations in numbers of the animals that depend on them largely for food, the lynx and the arctic fox especially. The ramifications of the effects of these fluctuations are much more widespread than the prey– predator relationships, extending as far as the differential growth of certain vegetations and the prosperity of trappers. There is much evidence to show that these periods of abundance and scarcity rec o ^ u ^ r with a regular rhythm, and with a ^^ periodicity of different length for some species; notably about four years for some of the smaller rodents and ten years for some of the larger animals. There is also evidence for long-term changes in abundance in some of the largest species, such as the moose and the wolf. Whether or not these have a regular periodicity is unknown. It used to be though these fluctuations were world wide, but much recent data indicate they do not synchronize over wide areas, and the animals may be common in one area while scarce in another but a short distance away (see “Population Cycles”).
Bodily Adaptations
The severity of northern c onditions has had its effect in directing the ^^ evolution of the animals living under them. No one factor will account for

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everything, but cold, deep snow, and type of cover and food available, as well as other less tangible factors have molded the bodily form; sometimes one factor is dominant, sometimes another.
It has been laid down as a zoological rule (Bergman’s rule) that when closely related animals occur in warm and cold climates, those from no ^ r ^ thern climates tend ^^ to be larger. This has been correlated with the larger animal having a propor– tionately smaller body surface to unit of body weight, and so reducing radiation of heat, an important factor in arctic climates.
When we examine this for arctic mammals, there are so many exceptions and contradictions that it seems other factors, probably ecological, have played more important parts in determining the direction of evolution of arctic mammals.
First it must be pointed out that both very large and very small mammals occur in the subarctic forests. In North America the pigmy shrew ( Microsorex ^ Microsorex ^ ) , ^^ less than four inches long, weighing only a few grams and one of the smallest mammals, and the big brown bear ( Ursus ) and the moose ( Alces ), weighing over 1,000 pounds and among the largest of North American mammals, all occur in the Subarctic. In the Eurasian Subarctic there is also a tiny shrew, an enormous bear, and a moose.
In some species the size is greater in the north than in the south: the northern short-tailed weasels tend to be larger than more southern ones; the arctic hare is larger than the more southern varying hare; the northern coyotes tend to be larger than southern coyotes. But there are many obvious exceptions: the largest musk ox are not to be found in the north; the southern caribou are larger than the most northern caribou; the northern wolves are not as large as some of the more southern ones; the northern chipmunk is a small species. The tundra shrew is smaller than its closest relative to the south. The common meadow

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mouse or vole of eastern North America in the east shows a decrease in size in going northward; in the west, going from southern Canada to the Mackenzie Delta it shows a decrease through northern Alberta and southern Mackenzie, and then an increase in size farther north. Therefore, it would appear that in gross size no general rule applies.
Correlated with a cold climate, appendages tend to be short (Allen’s rule), presumably an adaptation for the conservation of heat. We see it in the small ears of the arctic fox as compared with the ears of more southern foxes in both Eurasia and North America; the shorter ears of the arctic and varying hares as compared with the long ears of more southern forms such as the jack rabbits.
The tail, too, has undergone a reduction in the north; it is very short in the moose, caribou, and musk ox; the lemmings have the tail very much reduced; the arctic fox has a relatively shorter tail than the red fox; the red squirrel has a relatively shorter tail than does the more southern gray squirrel. However, when it comes to a question of feet, which according to Allen’s rule should be relatively shorter in cold climates, we find other environmental factors have been more effective. The moose has developed very long legs, presumably for wading through bogs and deep snow, though the musk ox, living farther north, does have feet relatively shorter than its more southern relative, the bison. The adaptations in feet are more pronounced in ^ ^ characters adapted to the physical ^^ aspects of the environment. The long legs of the moose have been mentioned; the caribou solves the problem of getting over deep snow and soft bog in another way, by developing “snowshoes.” Its hoofs spread widely when the weight is placed on them, and serve to keep the animal from sinking deeply into the soft medium. The same adaptation is also very apparent in the snowshoe rabbit, with its long broad hind feet which have given it its name, and in the lynx. Although the lynx is

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almost the same size as the bobcat, its nearest relative further south, its hind feet are almost 10 inches long and disproportionately broad, while the hind feet of the bobcat are only about 8 inches long and much less bulky. Another striking peculiarity in foot development peculiar to the Arctic is in the seasonal development of the foreclaws of the banded lemming. In the summer they are of normal size, but in winter the nails become greatly enlarged, the enlargement being shed in the spring. This is usually assumed to be a n unique adaptation for burrowing in snow, although the brown lemming that does not have this seems to get along just as well.
Other ecological adaptations for special environments as in other parts of the world are also found; the long feet or legs for running (deer); short broad feet with sharp claws for climbing (squirrels, martens, sable); fringes on sides of the feet for swimming (muskrat, some shrews); webbed feet for swimming (otter); and broadened forefeet with stout claws for digging (moles, marmot, ground squirrel). The spring coat of the Canada porcupine, with spines which stick into the mouth of a would-be predator and discourage it, is a striking case of defensive armor, but this type of adaptation is more common in temperate and tropical climates.
A prime necessity for an animal living in a cold climate is a heavy coat of fur for warmth. This we find reaching its highest development in the Sub– arctic and the Arctic. The hairy covering of many animals tends to consist of long, coarse, stiff guard hairs, serving to protect the underfur, and the shorter, denser, finer underfur, furnishing the warmth. In the musk ox these are strikingly contrasted, where the long guard hairs may reach a length of 24 inches or more, while the underfur is a woolly coat 2 or 3 inches thick, close to the skin. In the caribou there is not this sharp distinction, the

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insulating effect being achieved by a very dense coat of hair of about uniform length. The hairs are thicker at the tip than at the base, are hollow and filled with air, and are so closely spaced they will not lie down. The caribou skin is universally considered one of the warmest of skins for covering. The roughness of the pelt and the brittleness of the hair, however, make it un– suitable for civilized use.
Our finest furs for the fur trade come from the Arctic and Subarctic. Many of them are of the weasel and wolf tribe; their sleek, glossy, dense guard hairs and warm underfur make them especially prized. But some rodents also provide pelts of note ^ , ^ of which the beaver is the finest. From the north of North America important animals for the fur trade include the fisher, marten, lynx, beaver, and arctic fox, which supply the most costly furs, and also the red fox (whose color phases, the cross and silver, no longer command a fabulous price since they are being extensively raised on fur farms), wolf, weasel, squirrel (of secondary importance), otter, mink, and muskrat (a staple fur, now important for the large number taken). From the northern part of the Old World come such fur ^ s ^ as sable (related to marten but with finer fur), otter, lynx, kolinsky or yellow weasel, ermine (the weasel of North America), arctic fox, red fox, here (a much better fur than that of American hares and used to simulate arctic fox), burunduk (a chipmunk), baum marten (related to sable), otter, squirrel (related to the American red squirrel but of finer pelt), and wolf.
Not only is the fur coat of northern mammals warmer than that of those living in warmer climates, but the animals tend to be more completely furred. The deer of southern climates have bare areas on the nose; these areas are more fur-covered in the moose and caribou; the same is true of the musk ox.

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The feet of many northern mammals are also much more heavily furred than their southern relatives; the bottom ^ s ^ of the feet of the polar bear and ^^ arctic fox in winter are completely covered with fur, and the lemmings and some of the voles have furry feet.
A storing-up of fat under the skin as reserve food to carry the animal over the lean winter period and to serve as insulation against the cold has often been postulated. There is no doubt that many animals do get fat in the fruitful days of summer, but the value of this as a factor in overwinter sur– vival (except in hibernators) is probably overestimated. This is particularly true of the caribou, in which an old male may have 50 pounds of fat laid down as a blanket over its hips, just under the skin. Far from being a reserve for winter, this fat is used as a reserve food for the mating period in the fall, when for some weeks the male does not eat, and consequently enters the winter lean and in poor condition.
That the color assumed by arctic mammals is an adaptation to their environment has been questioned. Many arctic and subarctic mammals are some shade of brown, as shrews, voles, some bears, most of the weasel family, and beaver; the moose and the musk ox are blackish; some voles, the pika, and some caribou are grayish; [: the ] brilliant colors are approached in the red-brown of the red fox, red squirrels, red-backed mice, and banded lemmings. Contrasting patterns are found in only a few: the stripes of the chipmunk; the spots of some ground squirrels; the rump patches of sheep; the rump, neck, and flank markings of some caribou; and the lateral stripes of the wolverine.
But the striking thing about coloration of arctic mammals is the tendency of some of the tundra animals to be white. This is apparent in the polar caribou of both hemispheres. The most northern wolves also tend to be white

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(although the black phase of the red fox, a forest animal, tends to be most common in the northern edge of its range), and this whiteness reaches its greatest development in the polar bear, which is white the year round.
This whiteness is also acquired by another method; a seasonal change so that the animal is white in winter when the ground is snow-covered, and brown or gray when the land is not snow-covered. This seasonal color change is shown by some species of both predatory animals and those that are preyed upon. The hares of the forest have this double molt; the arctic fox is bluish- brown in summer and white in winter; the weasels and the banded lemmings (but not the brown lemming) show this change. With the arctic hare in North America, while the southern ones become slate-colored in summer, the northern ones stay white or nearly white the year round.
The functional value of a white coat to these animals is still being debated. The first and obvious correlation is that, with the snow changing the dark background to white, the color-changing food animals are less con– spicuous to predators; and color-changing predators are less conspicuous to their prey. This may be true, but white coloration reappears also in antarctic birds where there are no effective enemies.
The mammals that change color with the seasons have two molts a year. But with most arctic mammals there is but a single annual renewing of the fur. This molt takes place in a short space of time. The fur is often all shed about the same time, the incoming coat pushing off the old fur over the animal’s whole body. Before the molt the animal may be covered with a long dense coat; during the molt the caribou or the arctic fox may present a very ragged appearance, with great flakes of old fur peeling off. When the molt is first complete and the incoming hairs still short, the long-haired animals such as the arctic fox may appear to be much smaller than when they were wearing their winter coat.

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Food
Mammals all depend on vegetation for their food, but some get this at first hand while others get it by eating other animals which eat plants.
On the tundra, the caribou, the musk ox, the hare, and the banded and brown lemmings are the herbivores, feeding on grasses, leaves, and twigs. Preying on them are the wolf, the arctic fox, and the weasel. The polar bear has closer touch with the sea, whence it draws most of its food.
In and near the taiga with its more varied vegetation, one finds various types of herbivores: the voles, hares, ground squirrels, marmots, sheep, and moose grazing and browsing; voles tunneling for roots; some mice, tree squirrels, and chipmunks favoring seeds and fruits; beaver and porcupine eating much bark of trees but getting it in quite different ways (the beaver felling the trees by gnawing through them at the base and then eating the bark, the porcupine climbing the trees and gnawing off the bark in situ ); and the muskrat and the moose feeding to some extent on aquatic vegetation. As a natural correlation the greater the number of herbivores ^ , ^ the more predators there are: the wolf ^^ and weasel; but there is also the red fox feeding on mice and hares; the lynx preying on the woodland hare; the marten chasing the squirrel in the trees; and the otter chasing fish in the streams (and it is said to attack beaver and take muskrats). Here also are shrews, hunting insects and other invertebrates in the ground cover, and a few bats catching them in the air overhead.
The bears are special cases in regard to food: they are terrestrial carni– vores in structure, but the polar bear has invaded the domain of the sea, feed– ing on fish and on seals; and the black grizzly bears much of the time fill their stomachs with vegetable material but prefer meat, never losing an opportunity to secure a meal of it, even if it means eating carrion.

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Some mammals, such as the musk ox, sheep, voles, and lemmings feed on much the same types of vegetation in summer and winter. But the caribou that feeds on grass during the summer turns to lichens for the winter; the snowshoe rabbit, eating grass and herbs in summer, turns to bark and twigs in winter; the shrews, insect - ^ ^ eaters in summer when insects are plentiful, ^^ may eat seeds as well in winter; the arctic fox that in summer feeds on lemmings and birds (and their eggs and young), finding the birds gone and the lemmings hard to reach under the snow in winter, may go along the beach picking up whatever appears from the sea or may follow the polar bear for scraps.
The black and grizzly bears that feed on herbaceous matter (grass, roots, and horsetail) during the summer change to berries when they are plentiful in the fall; grizzlies change to fish diets when salmon run in the Pacific streams.
Adaptations in feeding habits have to be made. The caribou that grazes may find its food covered by snow and have to dig for it. On some wintering ranges, caribou have been reported digging pits four feet deep through the snow to the browse underneath. Legend has it that the caribou digs with the flattened brow antler, but recent observations indicate it uses its forefeet only.
Arctic hares, feeding on wind ^ - ^ swept areas, are usually able to push aside ^^ the light layer of snow covering their food by using their noses and scraping with their forepaws. Sometimes, however, there is a frozen crust over the snow, and then the behavior of the hare follows a different pattern. The sense of smell apparently enables it to locate its hidden food, and then over the chosen spot it hammers the crust with blows of its forepaws. With the crust broken, the hare may remove the larger pieces with its mouth, and then, with nose and forepaws, gets at its food in the usual way.

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Storage of Food
In a country where food is abundant for a short season and scarce or difficult to get for the rest of the ^ ^ year, a logical development is that of ^^ harvesting the food in the season of plenty and storing it until the season of scarcity. This we find in many of our mammals, both flesh - ^ ^ eaters and ^^ vegetarians. In some, this storage is a highly developed behavior, and probably essential for the animal’s winter survival, as with the beaver, pika, and voles; in others it is more haphazard, and its survival value is probably not so generally important.
The meat - ^ ^ eaters are able to store food in the cold climate where it ^^ decays slowly. Bears sometimes bury their surplus from a meal, and even the polar bear may cut out large blocks of snow with his forepaws and cover the remains of a seal. Wolves often chew off parts of a large mammal they have killed and carry the pieces away and bury them. These, however, seem to be temporary rather than long-range storage.
The arctic fox, locally at least, makes caches for winter use. In northern Greenland these foxes lay up stores of little auks or dovekies. They are laid together in an orderly manner, always with the heads eaten off, all the tails pointed the same way, and laid in rows or arranged in heaps. Large numbers of eggs are also collected. In one cache, 27 little auks and 40 eggs were re p ^ c ^ or t ^ d ^ ed. ^^
The mink stores such food as muskrat, fish, Squirrels, and birds. One mink cache in a hollow long was found to contain 13 freshly killed muskrats. Weasels often kill more than they need and this is sometimes considered a bloodthirsty habit. But it is no more a lust for killing than is the woodsman’s foresight in providing his larder with meat for the winter. Weasels when undisturbed [: ] o not leave their prey scattered about, but carefully store it

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away and, in many cases, bury it. Not only will the weasel carry [: ] off prey that it has killed, but will carry off a supply of animals already dead, as was shown when one rifled a collector’s tent and carried off not only mice and birds but also chipmunks that had been made into specimens. This storing instinct of weasels does not seem so definite as that of some rodents, and it is said much of the stored meat probably decays.
The vegetarians store a number of types of food; seeds, roots, herbage, and bark. The store may vary from a mushroom casually stuck in a fork of a tree by a squirrel to the elaborate cache of cut sticks made by the beaver.
In the coniferous forests, the tree squirrels become busy in the autumn cutting down the fresh crop of cones for the seeds which they contain and caching the cones in little holes dug in the forest floor under a favorite tree, and here they also deposit quantities of berries. The squirrels, or a succession of squirrels, use the same feeding and storing place year after year and a whole heap or mid ^ d ^ en of the cone scales accumulates. These middens ^^ may be conspicuous things, up to 9 feet high and 12 feet across. It is in this pile of debris that the squirrels bury their winter’s food supply.
The little chipmunk is also a diligent storer of food. Soon after he emerges from his winter home in the spring and until he retires in early winter, he devotes much of his time to gathering and storing away seeds for food. These are stored in various places - - some in crevi s ^ c ^ es in a rock, ^^ some in his winter home in an underground burrow.
Several species of voles store roots for winter. On the American tundra, the root of the plant Hedysarum boreale or “licorice root” is gathered by voles and stored in underground chambers. These roots are tasty to humans, and are stored in such quantities that some Eskimos search them out with the

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aid of dogs, and appropriate the store for their own use. Above timber line in the mountains of the New World, another species of vole excavates chambers just below the surface of the ground and stores quantities of carefully cleaned starchy rhizomes of a sedge, individual stores amounting to a double handful or more apiece. In Asia the same habit prevails with certain voles. In the lower Kolyma region of Siberia, the ^ a ^ farinaceous root is laid up in large ^^ quantities by voles in their burrows, and here too the local people seek out these stores as additions to their own food supply. Although these roots would be present in the ground all winter, the ground would be frozen, and this source of food would be unavailable to the voles if not gathered before the freeze-up.
The pikas that live in rock heaps and talus slopes above timber line make “haystack” caches. In late summer and early fall, the animals indus– triously gather the stems, leaves, and flowers of a wide variety of plants growing in or near their rocky homes. They pile their cuttings into miniature “haystacks” on shelving rocks, in spaces between rocks, or more rarely under logs or stumps, where they are exposed to the air but are well protected from rain by overhanging rocks or logs. These stacks average about the size of a bushel measure, and, safe under the snow, are the pika’s winter food supply.
The beaver makes an underwater store of its favorite food, usually of branches such as aspen or willow. The branches and sticks are cut on the shore, then pushed, rolled, or dragged to the water. Once afloat, the beaver grasps the stick in its teeth and lets it float alongside as it swims to the food pile. This food pile is usually located near the beaver’s lodge, handy for winter use. The first pieces brought to the store may be forced into the bottom of the pond to anchor them; on later trips, the beaver dives with its

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load and forces the material into that already there. The final store is an entangled mass of waterlogged brush and sticks that may reach considerable size, up to 124 feet in circumference. When the pond freezes over, the beaver has its food at hand. When it wants to feed, it leaves its house by its ^ the ^ underwater entrance, swims under the ice to the food pile, detaches a length of stick, swims back to its ^ the ^ house, and devours the bark from the stick at its leisure, without having to expose itself to the elements or to it ^ s ^ enemies.
Migration
A yearly seasonal change in environment, a change from a mild growing season of plenty to one that is severe, with snow and without plant growth, demands seasonal adaptations in the animals’ behavior. One of the most obvious is that of migration, when the animal moves from an area with unfavorable con– ditions to one of more favorable conditions. The question of migration in land mammals in the Arctic usually directs attention to the caribou and the brown lemmings with their well-known movements of sorts; perhaps incipient and rudi– mentary migration are indicated in a number of others. Voles of the genus Microtus tend to summer in low, wet , places where the growing vegetation on which they feed is lush; but in winter they may move, perhaps only a matter of a hundred yards or so, to a drier slope. One effect of this is seen in the spring when the snow melts, and vole signs completely cover a restricted area on a slope where they have wintered and eaten all available vegetation. Musk ox, one of the most stationary of arctic mammals, makes a similar biannual change of territory, from lowlands in summer to higher land in winter. Perhaps this is correlated with depth of snow in the lower places being greater than on wind-swept exposed places. Depth of snow is certainly correlated with movements of sheep in the Yukon and Alaska mountains, where sheep winter on areas of

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little snowfall or where the wind sweeps away the snow, and spend the summer spread out over a much wider area. The polar bear, which follows the sea ice, is scarce or absent in summer where there is no ice, and the female polar bear that has to leave the sea ice and move to an area of land to hibernate and to bring forth her young also shows incipient migration.
The brown lemmings, though their movements in northern Europe, and in North America to a lesser extent, have been widely publicized, represent a special case of migration. Periodically, but apparently without regularity, a population of lemmings may become very dense and then vast numbers of them move away from the densely populated area. In Norway they may swarm down the mountains and into the sea; on the Murmansk coast they sometimes swim out to sea; in Arctic America the most notable accounts are of cases where they cross the sea ice. The lemmings appear to move continuously in a certain direction, perhaps determined by slope, the animals going downhill which explains their going to the ocean. Steadily the movement presses on, as illustrated by Gavin’s observations on the frozen Queen Maud Gulf: “they were all headed in an easterly direction. They stopped at nothing. Untold thousands plunged over the ice into the water of a lead… They perished in large numbers in these leads, but here and there they found passages up the ice and blindly continued their journey without deviation and without hesitation.” But these movements differ from real migration in there being no return. The animals migrate en masse and perish. Only those few left behind survive to carry on the species, and start the population building up again to where another mass emigration occurs.
The caribou is another wanderer whose movements are often called migration but which really fall in another category. Uncertainty and irregularity are

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are the peculiarities of caribou movements. The general statements that caribou move toward the arctic coast of Siberia in summer and southward away from the coast in winter, and that similar movements occur in northern Canada tell only a part of the story.
The caribou in summer favors rich grass, but in the long winter it lives on the abundant lichens (“reindeer moss,” Cladonia ). The moss is slow-growing, taking perhaps 15 years to recover from severe grazing. (It has been demon– strated that arctic tundra will support at most 10 caribou per square mile.) The caribou is extremely gregarious and the herd units sometimes contain 100 to 2,000 head where the animals are plentiful. Thus they graze close-herded. If they stayed long on an area they would exhaust the grazing for many years. The only adaptation possible within this animal’s habits is a roving life, during which it stays but a short time in any place. This is just what has happened. Most of the caribou are continually moving, summer and winter; the rut takes place during migration, and even during calving there is only a temporary halt.
In the special case of caribou, the migration seems to be an adaptation for conserving the range; the animals return to certain favorite summering areas where they feed on grasses, but for the rest of the year they wander, getting a bite here and another there. To do otherwise would unduly deplete the range. The direction taken in migration seems to be determined in part by topographical factors; in part by a line of good pastures. This last, of course, may be determined by former use, as well as by chance, and we find that caribou may use an area for a number of years and then go elsewhere for a number of years. The direction may be north and south, as in Siberia and in the main range in Arctic Canada. The former migration to and from Victoria l Island to the mainland is a good example. In southern Canada, on the barrens and

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the forest edge, the migration, while north and south, tends to be circular, perhaps an adaptation to cover more range during the year; with the Yukon- Tanana herd, it retraces its route hammed in by mountains. In Baffin Island much of the migration is from the summer range of the grass plains and marshes of the west to the higher eastern country where lichens are abundant in winter. In northern Yukon the movement may, in the fall, first be north to the coast, then east to the Mackenzie River, then south, and west again through a mountain pass to the range from which they started (some years they don’t use this route at all). But all guesses may fail, and, as Murie writes, after pronounced movement caribou are still everywhere and it is difficult to say where they’ve gone; some caribou seem to winter some years in almost every part of the range, and some populations, as the present ones on Victoria Island, on Spitsbergen, and probably many others, do not seem to migrate at all.
The only clear-cut migration in Arctic-inhabiting mammals is that of the bats that have ventured into the northern forest. One, at least, the hoary bat, that has been recorded north to Southampton Island, makes definite migrations by flying to warmer climates in winter and back again in the summer.
Hibernation
Another way in which northern mammals are adapted to the winter is through hibernation, spending the winter in a dormant or semidormant state. The hiber– nating animal typically enters this winter sleep in a fat condition with the stomach empty. Some bears are said to purge out their intestines with special foods and then, both in North America and in Eurasia, to eat a quantity of fibrous material which plugs the intestines and remains in place during the winter. In its dormant condition, body temperature may drop to a few degrees above freezing and bodily processes slow down greatly, so that little of the

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accumulated body fat is used as a reserve of food during the winter. Most of this fat apparently serves as insulation and as a store of food for the animal when it wakes up in the wpring, when little fresh food is as yet avail– able. This winter sleep appears not to be continuous even with the most pro– found hibernators, the formant animal rousing at intervals throughout the winter. Possibly this is an adaptation to keep it from freezing; for with waking, bodily processes speed up and body temperature increases. Violent shivering often accompanies this waking, apparently another heat-inducing phenomenon.
While the most profound hibernators such as the marmots and the ground squirrel go into hibernation in the fall and do not emerge until the spring, there are other species such as the red squirrel which disappear into their shelters and remain quiet for longer or shorter periods, a few days or a week or two, in severe weather. Probably all should be called hibernators, of varying profundity. Since hibernation is an adaptation for passing over a period of unfavorable conditions, one might expect it to be commonest in the Far North. But this is not the case. Hibernation is particularly a phenomenon of temperate and arid climates; a larger percentage of mammals living in these climates hibernate than in either arctic or in very warm climates. The following illustrates the decrease in the number of hibernating mammals as one goes from the Temperate Zone to the Arctic: In an area in southern Alberta (about latitude 49°), 16 of th d ^ e ^ 55 mammals hibernate; in southern Mackenz ^ i ^ e (about latitude 60°), 9 of the 43 species hibernate; at the Mackenzie Delta on the Arctic Sea, only 5 out of about 36 mammals hibernate; while on the Canadian Arctic Islands, only 1 out of 9 species hibernates (the polar bear), and that only partially.

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While there is great change in the number of hibernating species, going from north to south, it is not a habitat difference; polar bears, grizzly bears, ground squirrels, and marmots hibernate north of the timber line, and one must go some distance south in the forest before the number of hibernators increases greatly.
It is sometimes said that hibernation is impossible in the Arctic because with permanently frozen ground the animals cannot find a frost-free place to hibernate. However, this is obviously not the case, as both ground squirrels and marmots hibernate near the edge of the Arctic Sea; the polar bear is said to hibernate in snowdrifts; and farther south, the black bears and certain bats hibernate in resting places where the temperature of their immediate surroundings goes below freezing.
A hibernating species usually hibernates for a longer period in the northern than in the southern part of its range; for example, the black bear in Florida does not hibernate, in Ontario it goes into hibernation in December, while at the Mackenzie Delta it goes into hibernation in October. But this does not hold with the polar bear, which is a partial hibernator in the Hudson Bay area, but hibernates little, if at all in the northern Greenland.
The age of the animal, its sex, and its physical condition seem to affest its hibernation. Where the polar bear hibernates, it is said that more females than males hibernate, or perhaps only gravid females. Of animals that ordinarily hibernate, such as the grizzly bears, individuals abroad during the winter are lean, perhaps not having been able to accumulate sufficient fat to enable them to go to sleep for the winter.
The average dates of mammals going into hibernation and emerging from it in the spring are not sufficiently well known in the Arctic for us to tabulate.

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Data from elsewhere are not applicable, as this varies locally with climate. In general, the most profound hibernators retire in the fall and are not seen again until the spring. Those with the longest period of hibernation are probably the ground squirrels. In the Arctic they have been recorded abroad from April to December but these are extreme dates and the average period of activity is probably May to September at most, for farther south one species is recorded with a hibernation period of 9 months.
The place of hibernation is usually an underground chamber dug by the animal and line s ^ d ^ with vegetation, but bears may scratch out only shallow dens, ^^ and polar bears are said to hibernate in snow burrows. The young of the black, f ^ g ^ rizzly, and brown bears are born while the females are in hibernation, and ^^ suckle and female while she is in a dormant state. Even in the farthest north where the polar bear hibernates little, the female retires to a snow cave at the time of the birth of the young and remains there for some time, allowing the small, weak young to develop somewhat before venturing abroad.
When hibernators emerge in the spring they are still fat, only a small part of the fat having been used during the winter sleep, and this store of fat which served so well as insulation during the winter becomes an important food reserve for the animal until food becomes plentiful later in the spring.
The mammals in our area with long hibernating periods include the bats, bears (especially the black, grizzly, and brown), badgers, skunks, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots, and jumping mice.
Shelter
Despite the severity of the arctic winter, many of the arctic mammals are active throughout it, with no more than the sheltered side of a hill, some bushes, or some rocks to break the wind. Among these are the deer, the musk ox, the

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rabbits, and many of the carnivores. Indeed, for some of these grazing animals the wind is a friend, for it sweeps the snow from their grazing grounds.
Many of the mammals that do make tunnels and use shelters apparently do it as much for escape from their enemies , or for feeding purposes as for ^^ protection from the elements.
Lemmings live much of their lives in burrows, underground or under the snow, partly correlated with their feeding, partly with their need of pro– tection from predators, and partly for shelter from the elements. On low fertile country in northern Greenland, long stretches are quite undermined by banded lemming tunnels, and sown with their holes. In the depth of winter the banded lemmings are rarely found above the surface of the snow, rather carrying on their winter life in the system of passages between the layer of snow and the surface of the ground. Here they find their food and make their nests. Only when spring approaches do they begin to wander over the surface of the snow and then, sometimes, a frozen crust traps the animals, preventing them from digging down into the snow again, and they perish.
Both food and shelter lead the weasel under the snow in the depth of winter in the Far North. It digs down through the snow to the system of lemming tunnels, between the snow and the earth, and ^ , ^ following these, preys on the lemmings. It ^^ has been suggested , that the shelter of the snow blanket protecting these animals from the cold is essential, and a winter with little snow may prove fatal to many lemmings and weasels.
The pika of the rocky areas spends most of its life in and about ^ the ^ crevices of the rocks, only venturing a little distance into the meadows in search of herbs and grasses and then darting back to shelter. During the winter, with

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its store of food laid by, it does not have to leave the shelter of its rocky fastness at all. The ground squirrels and the marmots make deep burrow ^ s ^ , about ^^ which their lives center. These may be largely for protection from enemies in summer, but are also their retreats for the long sleep of winter.
In the taiga, voles and shrews make tunnels and runways through the soil, the vegetation, and the snow, and generally live in cracks and crannies; but tiny shrews may be abroad on the snow even when it is far below zero, as their lacy tracks show. Tree squirrels make warm nests of twigs and fiber in trees in the more southern parts of the taiga, but in the north depend more on under– ground burrows for sleeping places. Muskrats and beaver spend much time in the water and make burrows with underwater entrances; both make dome-shaped “houses” in the water, but the beaver with its larger size and requirements make ^ s ^ the more elaborate system. To ensure that there will be enough water for its needs, the colony of three to ten animals (typically a beaver family consists of the two adults, the two or three yearlings, and the several young of the year) make a dam of sticks, other vegetation, and mud, above which a pond full of water accumulates. Out in this pond, resting on the bottom, the beaver builds its house of sticks, which may be six feet or more across, and as many high above the water. Hollowed out inside, above the water level, is the ne x ^ s ^ t chamber, ^^ with an underwater entrance and exit. In winter, the beaver is completely shut off from the outside world by his frozen roof and the frozen surface of the pond, and, if it were not for human trappers, it would be most secure from every enemy and the elements.
Mammals which ordinarily do not use shelters in their everyday lives may make them for the breeding season, as places in which the young are raised. This is well illustrated by the deep dens of the wolves and foxes.

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Mammal Interrelationships
In an area where species are few, some close interrelationships between animals develop, recalling the well-known associations between animals and plants such as the dependence of the caribou and reindeer on reindeer moss (lichens) and squirrels on conifer seeds. Wolves follow both caribou and reindeer herds; the presence of these animals probably makes possible the presence of wolves on the tundra. The abundance of the arctic fox is so closely correlated with the abundance of lemmings that the arctic fox increases and decreases with the increase and decrease in the numbers of lemmings. A natural check has demonstrated the validity of this: in southern Greenland where there are no lemmings, the foxes may fluctuate but there is no regular variation in numbers corresponding to those in the arctic fox in Baffin Island opposite where lemmings do occur. The patterns in a relationship may vary from place to place, giving interesting correlations.
The red fox, in Ungava, seems to depend for food on the lemmings and wolves ^ voles ^ , ^^ with a four-year cycle of abundance; the red fox also has a four-year cycle. In Ontario, where the fox depends more on the snowshoe rabbit, with a ten-year cycle of abundance, the fox, too, tends to follow the ten-year cycle of its favorite prey. The dependence of the lynx abundance on that of the varying hare has been mentioned under “Fluctuations in Numbers,” p.000.
The mountain sheep is an animal of the mountains, where it can easily out– distance the wolf. On level country, the sheep is at a disadvantage and it is probabl y ^ e ^ that the pressure of wolf predation on mountain sheep has been an ^^ important factor in restricting it to its present habitat in the mountains, and has perhaps been a factor in its evolution as a mountain animal.

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Herds of caribou and reindeer attract arctic foxes, both summer and winter, and, during the fawning season of reindeer at least, the foxes occasionally attack weak fawns.
In summer, with lemmings common and easy to secure, the arctic fox lives bountifully; in winter, with food scarce, the arctic fox may attach themselves to polar bears and follow them out onto the sea ice, trying to get part of the meals of the polar bear or taking his leavings, and even eating their badly digested excrement with voracity. When a polar bear is lying asleep, the attendant arctic fox may curl up on an ice block nearby.
On the tundra where some hummock makes a resting place and lookout for birds of prey, their droppings enrich the soil there and the vegetation s grows more luxuri eua ^ a ^ ntly, making a good feeding place for lemmings. The same has been ^^ recorded for the mounds at the entrance to arctic fox burrows on the Siberia tundra. An interesting result is that the carnivores unwittingly provide a good feeding area for lemmings and attract them to places where they are more quickly found.
When lemmings are plentiful, the wolves may prey entirely on them, leaving the caribou in peace; thus the lemmings may affect caribou numbers.
Mammals in Relation to Man
Advantages . The mammal life of the sea and the land has made human life possible in the North. While sea mammals and fish have been an important food source, some of the natives have depended entirely on land mammals, and all have drawn heavily on them. The mammals, especially the caribou and the moose, supplied staple meat, although some Indians used hares extensively and one group became known as : ^^ Hare Indians.” The meat, killed in abundance when the ^^

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animals were plentiful, was eaten fresh, raw or frozen, or cooked; it was preserved for future use in caches where the cool climate retarded its dis– integration; and some was wind-dried (by Eskimos) or smoke-dried (by ^ ^ Indians) for better preservation. To make a still more nourishing and lasting fare, dried meat was sometimes pounded and mixed with fat to form pemmican that would keep for years.
No part of the animal was wasted; what is often regarded as waste (the blood, marrow, and intestines) was eaten, and with the caribou even the con– tents of the paunch. Not only are “game” animals so used, but even foxes, wolves, ground squirrels, and lemmings may be eaten. Besides eating the animals themselves, the Eskimos would sometimes seek, with the aid of dogs, the roots stored by the voles on the American and Eurasian tundra to add these tasty items to their own fare.
Not only did the land mammals provide food; they supplied clothing too: the caribou hide supplied material for warm, light garments, ideal for arctic winter wear and for which no satisfactory substitute has yet been found. Other skins were also used, especially polar-bear skins for pants by the Eskimos; Indians used mooseskin for tanned leather; on occasions an inland mountain– dwelling Eskimo group might dress completely in sheepskin; skins of marmots and ground squirrels were also used for jackets and robes, and skins of hares where woven into robes. The mammals also supplied the material for sewing, sinews still being the most satisfactory material for sewing skins into clothing.
The sinews and strips of hide provided material for snares and fish nets; musk-ox horns were spliced together to form bows, and horn and bone were used for tipping spears.

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In Eurasia, the wild reindeer provided the ancestor of the domestic reindeer, on which an important culture of the Eurasian tundra exists.
Not only was the land mammal fauna important to the original human in– habitant, but early traveling white men, explorers, and scientists would have been unable to make the travels and the studies they did without the caribou and the musk ox to supply them with meat, and some prospectors in the North still depend on the country for their meat.
With the advent of traders and the market for furs, the residents of the Arctic and Subarctic grew to depend on civilization for many things, such as flour, tea, tobacco, and weapons of the chase. To pay for them, the fur trade became important and is still the main support of many northern people and the main economic productiveness of large areas.
Disadvantages . While the land mammals are an important scource of support for the arctic dweller, they affect man adversely at times.
Unprovoked attacks on man, of course, stand out although they are rela– tively few in number. Wolves in the New World are not known to attack man unless the wolf is obviously deranged, though they have been known to kill sledge dogs wandering too far from camp. In the Old World, however, wolves have long been a real danger to human life. In Russia, the wolf was man’s chief enemy in the animal world, and the peasants pronounced a spell on St. George’s Day as a protection against the wolf. The present-day prejudice and fear of the wolf in the New World is probably based, in part, upon the very real fear in which it was held in the Old World.
Bears are always potentially dangerous and especially so when they have cubs. Probably a bold front will usually avert an attack, but not always. Richardson, while saying that grizzly bears usually ran away from man, gave

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one account of a grizzly which molested a party of voyageurs . They “had been employed all day in tracking a canoe up the Saskatchewan, had seated themselves in the twilight by a fire, and were busy in preparing their supper when a large grizzly bear sprang over their canoe…and seizing one of the party by the shoulders carried him off.” One of the men followed and rescued the bear’s victim by shooting the bear. The polar bear has been known to come to the edge of the ice and watch an approaching boat full of hunters with the apparent intention of throwing itself in among the hunters; the polar bear has been recorded as stalking humans and killing them apparently for food. However, it has been suggested that many cases of polar bears approaching humans are the result of curiosity.
Any large strong mammal may be dangerous at close quarters, but only two others need mention here. the musk ox has been recorded as making unprovoked attacks on men, and the bull moose, in the rutting season, occasionally attacks man.
Where supplies of food are put down in caches for future use, the destruct– tion of these caches can be extremely serious. On the tundra, polar bears may do this. They may enter huts, break up boxes, smash cans of meat and eat the contents, and even drag away the stovepipe. The arctic fox is also a per– sistent robber of meat caches, squeezing through almost incredibly small crevices between the stones covering the cache, and the unfortunate travelers have returned to find their meat supply gone.
On the barrens and in the forest, the wolverine is universally known as the worst and most persistent robber of caches, cabins, and trap lines. If a wolverine has time to work undisturbed, there are few caches he cannot enter; he rolls away heavy stones and logs; he gnaws through fixed timbers; he climbs

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to elevated caches and excavates buried once. He eats what he can and carries away not only food but articles he cannot use, such as guns and spyglasses. Although he is very destructive and very difficult to catch, some northern dwellers have come to consider a certain amount of wolverine predation as inevitable, and, like the annoyance of mosquitoes, take this as a matter of course.
Black bears in the forest country have a deservedly bed name for destroying unattended camps, breaking open and ravaging cabins, and smashing canoes, doing much more damage than the mere rifling of the stores would necessitate. Trappers, returning to their trap lines in the fall, have had their plans seriously upset by finding a black bear has paid their outfit a visit.
The smaller beasts, shrews, mice, and small carnivores, may all levy toll on man’s stores. Generally, because of their smaller size, these activities tend to be more annoying than serious, although red-backed voles have removed 40 pounds of rolled oats in a 3-week period, and squirrels, in addition to eating delicacies, may take buttons off underwear or chew up clothing for nests.
The only poisonous item in the land mammals of the North is the liver of the polar bear. It has a probable excessive amount of vitamin A, which may cause violent sickness when eaten by humans.
SYNOPSIS OF NORTHERN MAMMALS
As stated previously, from the northern Arctic southward, the number of species tends to increase. Each species has its own tolerance and its own requirements; the environmental conditions change gradually from tundra to forest, from northern forest to southern forest. Some mammals have their headquarters in one or other of the habitats. Others, more common elsewhere,

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ranging into northern Europe, they barely get north into our area.)
Bats: Chiroptera
These flying mammals are chiefly found in the tropics, where species and individuals swarm. Insect-eating species would find an abundance of food in the mosquitoes of the arctic summer, and some more northern species hibernate or m o ^ i ^ grate. Bats are nocturnal and the lack of darkness in the North may re– strict their northward range. In America they are rare (genus Myotis ) or accidental in our area. However, in Eurasia at least one species (genus Eptesicus ) ranges to the arctic coast in the west and onto the tundra in Siberia.
Flesh- ^ E ^ aters or Carnivores: Carnivora
Bears (Family Ursidae) . The white polar bear (genus Thalarctos ), drawing much of its sustenance from the Arctic Sea, is circumpolar in distribution. The brown bears of Europe and Alaska and the grizzlies of western North America (genus Ursus ) range commonly on the barrens and the forest. The black bear of North America (genus Ursus or Euarctos ) is a forest bear and ranges to the timber line.
Wolves and Relatives (Family Canidae) . The wolf (genus Canis ), of both tundra and taiga, is circumpolar. The arctic fox (genus Alopex ), a true polar animal among those ranging farthest north, is also circumpolar in distribution. And the red fox (genus ( Vulpes ), very similar in Eurasia and America though ^^ sometimes considered as different species, is a widespread forest animal extend– ing its range onto the edge of the tundra. In the New World, the coyote ( Canis latrans ), a more southern animal of open forests and plains, has in recent years extended its range greatly into our area and now reaches the arctic coast in the west. In Eurasia, the red dogs (genus Cuon ) of Asia are more southern, though ranging north to the Amur district of Siberia.

EA-Zoo. Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

Cats and Relatives (Family Felidae) . Only the lynx (genus Lynx ), one species in America and one in Asia, are truly boreal. They are animals of the taiga ranging into the neighboring tundra in years when they are plentiful. In America, the puma ( Felis ^ Felis ^ concolor ) strays north almost to our area; in Asia, the tiger ( Felis tigris ) ranges north only to about the latitude of Lake Baikal.
Weasels and Relatives (Family Mustelidae) . Two species of weasels (genus Mustela ) are circumpolar: the least weasel and the short-tailed weasel or ermine. In North America, there is the mink (genus Mustela ) which extends north to timber line; in Eurasia the kolinsky or yellow weasel, a large brownish weasel (as fur it ranks just below the mink) extends from the Sea of Okhotsk to European U.S.S.R. in the forest area; in Europe, the European mink ranges north to the Arctic Sea.
In the New World there are one or two species of ^ marten ^ (genus Martes ); in the ^^ Old World there are two; the sable, ranging from Kamchatka to European U.S.S.R., and the pine marten of northern Europe. All are closely related and are largely geographical representatives. In North America another close relative, the fisher, barely extends north into our area.
The European badger (genus Meles ) ranges north to reach the Arctic Sea at the White Sea; the American badger (genus Taxidea ) is more southern.
In North America, the otter (genus Lutra ) of the waterways is a rare animal of the streams of the forest taiga, extending north to the Mackenzie Delta; in Eurasia, related species occur.
The wolverine (genus Gulo ) is ^ a ^ circumpolar species group (or two closely related species), more typical of the taiga but wandering commonly into the barrens.
The skunk (genus Mephitis ) is a New World group with one species, the striped skun i ^ k ^ , barely intruding into the southern part of our area. ^^

EA-Zoo. Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

Hares, Rabbits, and Pikas: Lagomorpha
Hares and Rabbits (family Leporidae) ^ (family Leporidae) ^ . The arctic hares of North Americ [: ] ^ a ^ ^ ✓ ✓ ^ and the snow hares of Eurasia are all closely related animals (genus Lepus ) of the tundra. In North America, there is also the varying hare or snowshoe rabbit (genus Lepus ) of widespread distribution in the taiga.
Pikas or Rock Rabbits (Family Ochotonidae) . These small relatives of the hares (genus Ochotona ) occur in both Eurasia and America. In the New World they are confined to the mountains of the west; they also occur in the mountains of Europe and Asia, and north to northern Siberia where they extend nearly to sea level and the Arctic Sea.
Rodents: Rodentia
Squirrels and Relatives (Family Sciuridae) . Tree squirrels (genus Sciurus ) are common important taiga animals, ranging north to the limit of trees. They are represented in America by the red squirrel and in Eurasia by the common squirrel. A flying squirrel (genus Glaucomys ) inhabits the American taiga, and a distantly related species (genus Pteromys ) occurs in that of Eurasia, going north of the Arctic Circle.
Chipmunks (genus Eutamias ) are small, active, terrestrial squirrels with stripes. In America, one species ranges northward into the western part of our area; in Eurasia, a related species ranges north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia.
In America one species of ground squirrels ^ (genus Citellus ) ^ occurs in the Western Arctic; ^^ in Eurasia related species (called suslik ) range well north in Siberia.
Marmots (genus Marmota ), in America called woodchucks or ground hogs inhabit the meadows and open forests and extend into our area in the west. The hoary marmot ranges, in Alaska, north to the mountains facing the Arctic Sea, and in Siberia and Kamchatka. Other species occur eastward into the mountains of Europe,

EA-Zoo. Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

Beaver (Family Castoridae) . Related species (genus Castor ) occur in the streams of the taiga of Eurasia and America.
Voles and Relatives (Family Cricetidae) . This family of rodents contains two subfamilies: the Microtinae (voles and lemmings) and Cricetinae (wood m mice). The voles and lemmings, small vegetarians, have two circumpolar speci al ^ e ^ s groups ^^ on the tundra: the banded lemming (genus Dicrostonyx ) that changes to a white winter coat, and the brown lemming (genus Lemmus ) that does not. Other voles, of the genera Microtus and Clethrionomys (meadow mice or voles, bank voles, water voles, red-backed voles, etc.) and related forms are plentiful as to species and individuals in the taiga and spread out onto the tundra of both the Old and the New Worlds. The most striking of these is the huge (for the group) muskrat (genus Ondatra ) of the American taiga, which has been introduced into parts of Eurasia.
The white-footed mice (genus Peromyscus ) of America range through much of the taiga, and a pack rat (genus Neotoma ) ranges in the mountains of the west. In Eurasia their place is taken by the distantly related wood mice (genus Apodemus ), which tend to be more southern.
Jumping Mice (Family Zapodiae) . In America one species intrudes into the Mackenzie (genus Zapus ); related species in Eurasia are more southern, restricted to the Chinese area.
American Porcupines (Family Erethizontidae) . The Canada porcupine (genus Erethizon ), a forest animal, ranges north to the limit of trees. It is a member of a New World group with headquarters in the American tropics. In the Old World, the porcupines, belonging to quite another group (family Hystricidae) do not range as far N north as our area.

EA-Zoo: Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

Hoofed Mammals: Artiodactyla
Deer (Family Cervidae) . Caribou and reindeer of several species (genus Rangifer ) are the chief deer of the circumpolar tundra and range into the taiga; the circumpolar species group Alces , called moose in America and elk in Eurasia, is restricted to the taiga.
In the New World the mule deer (genus Odocoileus ) intrudes into the southern edge of the taiga; in the Old World the musk deer (genus Moschus ) extends north almost to the Arctic Circle.
Sheep and Relatives (Family Bovidae) . Mountain sheep (genus Ovis ), in America, occur only in the west above the timber line; in Kamchatka and the mountains of Siberia are related species.
Bison of America (genus Bison ), which still exist under protection, used to extend into the southern part of our area; in Europe the related European bison or aurochs (wisent) is about extinct.
The musk ox (genus Ovibos ) is an animal of the American tundra, with no living Eurasian representative. The mountain goat of western American mountains (genus Oreamnos ) occurs only in the southern part of our area; its relatives are in the mountains of central Asia and Europe.

EA-Zoo. Rand: Terrestrial Mammals

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Anderson, R.M. “Mammals and Birds,” Bethane, W.C. ed., Canada’s Western Northland , Ottawa, Patenaud ^ e ^ , 1937, pp.97-122. ^^

2. ----. “Mammif e ^ è ^ res de la Province de Qu e ^ é ^ bec,” Soc. Provancher, Quebec. ^^ Rapport Annuel, 1939, pp.37-111.

3. Anthony, H.E. Field Book of North American Mammals . N.Y., Putnam, 1928.

4. Brehm, A.E. Brehms Thierleben, Allgemeine Kunde des Thierreichs. Vol. 1. Die S a ^ ä ^ ugethiere. Pts.1-2 . Grosse Ausg. 2. ^^ umgearb. und verm. Aufl. Leipzig, Verlag des Bibliographischen Institut e ^ s ^ , 1876-77. ^^

5. Hesse, Richard, Alee, W.C. and Schmidt, K.P. Ecological Animal Geography . N. Y., Wiley; Lond., Chapman & Hall, 1937.

6. Kobelt, Wilhelm. Die Verbreitung der Tierwelt . Leipzig, Tauchnitz, 1902.

7. Miller, G.S. Catalogue of the Mammals of Western Europe (Europe Exclusive of Russia) in the Collection of the British Museum . Lond., The Museum, 1912.

8. Ognev, S.I. Zveri ^ S ^ SSR i Prilezhashchikh Stran; Zveri Vostochnoi Evropy i ^^ Severnoi Azii . (The Mammals of Russia (USSR) and Adjacent Countries; the Mammals of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia.) Moscow, Akademii Nauk, ^ S ^ SSR, 1928-40. Vols.1-4. ^^

9. Rand, A.L. Mammals of Yukon, Canada . Ottawa, Cloutier, 1945. Nat.Mus.Can. Bull . 100.

10. Sclater, W.L. and Sclater, P.L. The Geography of Mammals . Lond., Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1899.

11. Seton, E.T. Lives of Game Animals . N.Y., Doubleday, 1925-28. Vols.1-4.

12. Simpson, G.G. “Holarctic mammalian faunas and continental relationships during the Cenozoic,” Geol.Soc.Amer. Bull . vol.58, pp.613-88, 1947.

13. Tate, G.H.H. Mammals of Eastern Asia , N.Y., Macmillan, 1947.

14. Winge, Herlaf. “Gr o ^ ø ^ nlands Pattedyr,” Medd.Grønland , vol.21, pp.319-521, ^^ 1902.

A. L. Rand

Amphibians

EA-Zoology (Karl P. Schmidt)

AMPHIBIANS

PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS
With the manuscript of this article, the author submitted one photograph for possible use as illustration. Because of the high cost of reproducing as halftones in the printed volume, only a small proportion of the photo– graphs submitted by contributors to Encyclopedia Arctica can be used, at most one or two with each paper; in some cases none. The number and selection must be determined later by the publisher and editors of Encyclopedia Arctica . Meantime all photographs are being held at The Stefansson Library.

EA-Zoology (Karl P. Schmidt)

AMPHIBIANS
Amphibians and reptiles whose body temperature fluctuates with that of the environment must be able to hibernate safe from frost. Complete freezing, i.e., freezing of the heart, kills them. It appears that the extremities of cold-hardy frogs and salamanders may freeze without permanent injury; and it is likely that the freezing point of the body fluids, concentrated by the freez– ing of the extremities, is well below 0°C. Thus, north of the line of perma– nently frozen subsoil, amphibians find no safe refuge, except in hot spring ^ s ^ . ^^ Cold hardiness in amphibians requires that the development of the eggs, de– posited in water, may take place at or near the freezing point.
Among amphibians, only two species of frogs range into the Subarctic in the Western Hemisphere. Both of these reach Great Bear Lake, which is crossed by the Arctic Circle. These are: Pseudacris migrita septentrionalis , the northern swamp tree frog, and Rana sylvatica latiremis , the northern wood frog. These forms are characterized by the shortness of their legs, and they merge with a uniform gradient of increasing leg length (a geographic cline) into the related forms at the south. Thus the establishment of a southern limit for the northern subspecies is entirely arbitrary. In a broad sense the swamp tree frog ranges south to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, and the wood frog to Arkansas.
The swamp tree frog does not appear to be known from Alaska or from Labrador.

EA-Zoo. Schmidt: Amphibians

The wood frog ranges to the Yukon and Mackenzie deltas and has been recorded also from the Labrador coast at Jack Lane Bay, at about latitude 56° ^ ^ N.; it is ^^ still abundant at Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, north of 58°.
The Rocky Mountain toad, Bufo boreas boreas , reaches southern Alaska and the Peace River district of Alberta. A northern race of the American toad, Bufo terrestris copei , reaches Hudson Bay, as do the mink frog, Rana septentrionalis , and the leopard frog, Rand pipiens .
The Old World amphibians that range to the 60th parallel or farther north include several species of salamanders and frogs and toads.
Salamanders
Hynobius keyserlingii , a salamander with no vernacular name, is found from the northern Urals to Kamchatka, ranging north of the Arctic Circle at Verkhoiansk.
Triturus cristatus cristatus , the crested newt, inhabits central Europe and goes as far no ^ r ^ th as 60° ^ ^ N. in Scandinavia and Soviet Russia. ^^ ^^
Triturus vulgaris vulgaris , the common European newt, ranges through central and northern Europe, north to 63° N. in Scandinavia.
Frogs and Toads
Bufo bufo bufo , the common European toad, ranges throughout northern Europe and Asia, north to the 60th parallel; the eastern limits are unknown.
Rana arvalis arvalis , the moor frog, inhabits northern Europe and Asia, north to the Arctic Circle. Another subspecies, Rarvalis issaltschikovi , has been described from Archangel.
Rana ridibunda ridibunda , the common European pond frog, is found in central Europe and north to th t e 60th parallel in Soviet Russia. ^^

EA-Zoo. Schmidt: Amphibians

Rana temporaria temporaria , the European grass frog, ranges through central and northern Europe and across Asia to Kamchatka, north to North Cape in Scandinavia, and to Verkho l ^ i ^ ansk in Siberia. ^^
Of the Old World frogs, the grass frog is by far the most abundant northern species, ranging well beyond the Arctic Circle. This species is directly related to the American wood frog.

EA-Zoo. Schmidt: Amphibians

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Boulenger, G.A. The Tailless Batrachia of Europe . London, Ray Society, 1898.

2. Hildebrand, Henry. “Notes on Rana sylvatica in the Labrador Peninsula,” Copeia , 1949.

3. Mertens, Robert, and Müller, Lorenz. “Die Amphibien und Reptilien Europas,” [: ] Senckenbergische Naturf.Ges. Abbandl . no.451, pp.1-56, 1940.

4. Patch, C.L. “Notes on northern woodfrogs,” Copeia , 1949.

5. Schmidt, K.P. “A geographic variation gradient in frogs,” Field Mus. Nat.Hist. Zool.Ser . vol.20, pp.377-82, 1938.

6. Werner, Franz. “Die nordlichsten Reptilien und Batrachier,” Fauna Arct ., Jena, vol.4, pp.527-44, 1906.

Karl P. Schmidt

Reptiles

EA-Zoology (Karl P. Schmidt)

REPTILES

Reptiles in northern climates like amphibians must be able to hibernate safe from frost or at least from severe frost. It is likely that their north– ward range can extend only slightly beyond the line of permanently frozen sub– soil. No reptile appears to range much beyond the 50th parallel in North America. In the Old World, however, no less than six species range north of latitude 60° N. and some of these pass the Arctic Circle.
Two of the northern species, the lizard known as the blindworm and the European viper, hibernate in aggregations, and some of these overwintering groups are mixed lots of the two species, no doubt with occasional representa– tives of the smooth snake and perhaps of other species present.
There is an evident advantage of viviparity for breeding in the North, the gravid mother being enabled to follow the sun and thus maintain herself and her developing young at a higher temperature than is available for eggs deposited in the ground. This appears to be correlated with the fact that the two species that range well beyond the Arctic Circle, the mountain lizard and the viper, produce living young, as does the blindworm, which ranges nearly as far north.
The scientific and common names of the northernmost reptiles, and their approximate distributions are given below.
Lizards
Lacerta agilis agilis , the sand or fence lizard, inhabits central Europe northward beyond 60° N. in Sweden, Finland, and western Soviet Russia.

EA-Zoo. Schmidt: Reptiles of the Arctic Region

Lacerta vivipara , the mountain or viviparous lizard, is found throughout central Europe across northern Asia to Sakhalin Island, north to North Cape in the Scandinavian Peninsula and to the Arctic Sea in Soviet Russia.
Anguis fragilis , the blindworm or Blindschleiche , is found in Europe, north to the Arctic Circle in Sweden and Finland.
Snakes
Natrix natrix natrix , the common European water snake, is found in central and northern Europe to central Asia, northward in Sweden and Finland to 64° N.
Coronella austriaca austriaca , the smooth snake, exists in Europe, north to 63° N. in Norway, and north to 64° N. in Sweden.
Vipera berus berus , the common European viper, is located in central and northern Europe and across northern Asia to Sakhalin Island, and north beyond the Arctic Circle in the Scandinavian Peninsula.

EA-Zoo. Schmidt: Reptiles

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Hecht, Günther. “Zur Kenntnis der Nordgrenzen der mitteleuropäischen Reptilian,” Berlin. Univ. Zool.Mus. Mitt . Vol.14, pp. 501-95, 1929. Text fig. 1-15, pl. 3.

Karl P. Schmidt

Caribou and Reindeer

Caribou

(EA-Zoo. A. W. F. Banfield)

CARIBOU
CONTENTS

Scroll Table to show more columns

Page
Status of Geographical Herds 2
Barren Ground Caribou 2
Alaska Peninsula Caribou 3
Osborn Caribou 3
Stone Caribou 4
Ungava Caribou 4
Polar Caribou 5
Western Woodland Caribou 6
Eastern Woodland Caribou 7
Newfoundland Caribou 7
General Aspects 7
Range 7
Physical Characteristics 8
Habits 9
Disease ^ s ^ 12 ^^
Enemies 13
Bibliography 16

EA-Zoology (A. W. F. Banfield)

CARIBOU
When the prairies of western North America were first explored by white men, they supported vast herds of bison, which formed the basis of the economy of the Indian tribes. By 1890, with the advance of agriculture, ranching, and the transcontinental railway, the bison had been reduced from its millions to the verge of extinction.
The first explorers to the arctic grasslands of North America also found innumerable herds of another big-game species — the caribou (Rangifer arc–tious). They, too, provided she ^ l ^ ter, clothing, and food for the native popu– lations of Eskimos and Indians. The bison has been extirpated from its mid– continental plains habitat with the exception of a few herds in national parks, but the caribou still roams the arctic prairies in numbers roughly comparable to primitive conditions, largely because its domain has not yet been fully exploited by civilization.
The caribou is still the cornerstone of the economy in large areas of northern North America. It serves primarily as a staple source of food. The hides supply arctic clothing, beddings, and shelter; other parts, such as the antlers and sinews, are utilized. Residents of isolated inland settle– ments in northern Canada and Alaska, both native and white, are largely de– pendent on the caribou for their continued existence in remote areas.

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

The recent increased interest in northern development in Alaska and Canada has drawn attention to the precarious state of many bands of caribou. In the past decade (1940-49), improved northern transportation facilities and renewed interest in the Arctic have made possible the collection and publication of data on mammal distribution. It is now possible to take stock of this important natural resource more accurately than at any previous time. The present status of North American caribou has been reported by Banfield (3).
The present classification of the genus Rangifer in North America is generally considered unsatisfactory because of the scarcity of representative specimens. The most generally accepted classifications are those of Anderson (1) and Murie (15). They in turn have accepted the work of Jacobi (9). Within the area covered by this Encyclopedia, nine ^ seven ^ races of four ^^ species are recog- ^ ][: Ok FB] Au. O.K? ^ nized. The present status of these races is discussed below.
Status of Geographical Herds ^ ][: Ok FB]? ^
Barren Ground Caribou ( Rangifer arcticus arcticus ). This race, which is by far the most numerous, includes the several large herds of continental arctic prairie caribou of the Mackenzie and Keewatin Districts of the Northwest Territories. Basing his calculation on the carrying capacity of the land, Anderson (2), in 1938, estimated a population of approximately 3,000,000 ani– mals. A recent preliminary aerial survey (1949) has indicated that, though present numbers are probably less than this estimate, primitive abundance in the central portion of their range is still undiminished.
The nomadic migrations of these caribou during the past ten years have brought them in winter well into the northern portions of the p ^ P ^ rairie p ^ P ^ rovinces and west to the Mackenzie River valley. In the northeast section of their

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

range, caribou have been greatly reduced in numbers by heavy hunting pressure of the Eskimos. Over large areas, caribou are reduced to small nomadic bands which no longer carry out the characteristic summer migrations to and from the lower arctic islands and peninsulas. According to Manning (12), scattered bands are still to be found on Melville Peninsula. Caribou are still fairly plentiful along the arctic coast, from the mouth of the Back River west to the Horton River. Gavin (7) relates that in the Perry River area large num– bers appear in the early summer and bear their fawns on small coastal islands. In recent summers, caribou have occurred in increasing numbers on the Kent Peninsula and a few have crossed to Victoria Island. On that island, however, only a few individuals are regularly observed.
According to Manning (12), the population of the species on Southampton Island has been similarly reduced to isolated bands. Nearly Coates Island, which has no resident native population, supports a fairly large herd of caribou from which numbers are taken from time to time by journeying Eskimos.
The caribou population on Baffin Island is found chiefly along the western coast, bordering Foxe Basin. The Eskimo population is largely distributed on the eastern and southern shores of the island. Movement of Eskimos to the western coast to utilize these remaining herds has been intentionally dis– couraged.
Alaska Peninsula Caribou ( Rangifer arcticus granti ). This race of caribou occurs, according to Murie (15), from Unimak Island east to Port Heiden and Becharof Lake.
Osborn Caribou ( Rangifer arcticus osborni ). The Alaska Highway has not only increased our knowledge of the distribution of this race of caribou in northern British Columbia and southern Yukon Territory, but has greatly increased

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

its vulnerability to hunters. It seems that these caribou are restricted to isolated bands inhabiting alpine ranges. The seasonal movements of this race are altitudinal or local in nature.
In western Yukon Territory this race of caribou occurs, according to C. H. D. Clarke, in the Kluane Reserve area, from Donjek River north to the White River, where their range is occasionally overrun by winter incursions of Stone caribou. To the east, bands occur in central Yukon, along the Canol Road to the Macmillan Pass (17). S am ^ ma ^ ll bands occur on the Mackenzie District ^^ side of the pass, along the Keele River. An aerial reconnaissance of the upper Nahanni River, in early 1948, indicated a moderately numerous caribou population.
Stone Caribou ( Rangifer arcticus stonei ). This is the migratory caribou of the Alaska mainland and arctic coast, east to the Mackenzie River delta. According to Murie (15), there are several separate herds in the following areas: Alaska range, arctic coast ^ , ^ and Yukon-Tanana region. Dufresne (5), in 1942, estimated a population of about 4 ^ 5 ^ 00,000 caribou in Alaska. More recent reports suggest a decrease in this number.
There are at present two centers of abundance in the Yukon Territory, Canada. The northern herds are found on the plains between the mountains and the arctic coast during the summer. During autumn they migrate south through the Mackenzie Mountains, west of Aklavik and Fort McPherson, to the upper Porcupine and Peel rivers. In recent years these herds have shown only a gradual decline in numbers. In the second center of abundance, west of Dawson, numbers have been greatly reduced. The Yukon River crossings at Forty - mile, Dawson, and Stewart are no longer in frequent use.
Ungava Caribou ( Rangifer caboti ). Migratory caribou were formerly

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

abundant on the unforested lands of the Ungava Peninsula and were an important natural resource for the Eskimos. If the peninsula is considered as a whole, a gradual decrease in numbers has occurred (13). In several areas the decrease was comparatively rapid, due in part to emigration. Recent fluctuations in local populations are believed to be caused by local movements of small herds.
Large forest fires during the latter part of the nineteenth century have been generally blamed for the decrease in population. Using information ob– tained by aerial reconnaissance, Manning (11) estimated, however, that only 8 per cent of the caribou lichens were destroyed by fires in the wooded area. In excellent winter caribou range bordering the treeless country, he saw prac– tically no sign of fires.
The present range of the Ungava caribou seems to have two fbci of abundance. On the east side of Hudson Bay, caribou are to be found in small numbers in an area that extends from the headwaters of the Povungnituk River south to the Seal lakes, and includes the headwaters of the Larch and Leaf rivers. Bands also occur in an area that includes the vicinity of the Quebec-Labrador boun– dary at latitude 56° to 57° N., part of the George River basin, and the upper Whale River basin.
Polar Caribou ( Rangifer pearyi ). The range of this small white caribou is restricted to the northern arctic islands. It has suffered less human interference than any other species of caribou. It was previously thought it was ^ to be ^ present in considerable numbers over most of its range. Recent explora– tions, however, have indicated that much of this territory is unsuited for caribou range because of the lack of vegetation on mountains and the presence of extensive icecaps.
Polar caribou are reported from Banks Island and no ^ r ^ thern Victoria Island,

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

but the center of abundance seems to be on the islands north of Lancaster Sound. They occur in some numbers on Prince Patrick and Melville Islands. On Ellesmere Island, caribou occur in small numbers on the small erosion plains at the heads of the numerous fjords.
Caribou also are reported from the northwestern coast of Greenland as far north as the Thule area, but they are practically extinct there now. Distribution along the west coast ranges from Upernivik District southward to the Frederikshaab District.
Along Greenland’s northeast coast, caribou have entirely disappeared, ^ — Au: oK? [: Ok FB] ^ although they were frequent there in former days, notably around Scoresby Sound, where the Ryder Expedition (1891-92) encountered numerous herds. The Danmark Expedition (1906-08) found traces of caribou (old, castoff antlers and ex ^ c ^ rements) as far north as Holm Land (80° 24 w ^^ N.), and the First Thule ^^ Expedition (1912) found similar remains as far north as Adam Biering Land and Vildt Land, at the head of Independence Fjord, southern edge of Peary Land. The finds of the Thule Expedition have been confirmed by the Danish Peary Land Expedition (1948-50), as indicated by a preliminary account of its geographic work given by Fristrup (6). The account states specifically that caribou formerly inhabited Peary Land. So far, no traces of caribou have been found in upper Peary Land, that is along its northern shores (10).
Peary, who hunted caribou both on Ellesmere Island and in the Thule District of northwest Greenland, found that the Greenland specimens differed somewhat from those on the Canadian side of the Smith Sound route. “I have seen many winter coats of the Greenland Caribou and they are pronouncedly darker than the Ellesmere specimens” (16).
Western Woodland Caribou (Rangifer caribou sylvestris). The main centers

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

of abundance of the woodland caribou are south of the region treated in this Encyclopedia. In the Mackenzie River valley of the Northwest Territories, woodland caribou occur in small isolated bands. They have suffered from range destruction by forest fires. Heavy hunting pressure has further restricted their range to areas remote from settlements and river routes. They are to be found in the western half of Wood Buffalo Park. A recent aerial reconnais– sance (1949) has indicated a population of caribou south from the Liard River to the British Columbia boundary. They are also known from the Trout Lake area, west of Fort Providence. East of the Mackenzie River they are reported in the Horn Mountains, the Fish Lake area, and the Willow Lake area.
Eastern Woodland Caribou ( Rangifer caribou caribou ). The eastern woodland caribou has suffered habitat destruction by agriculture, lumbering, and forest fires. Its range in North America is no longer continuous, the species having been reduced to isolated herds. In Labrador, the woodland caribou are reported from the Cartwright area, the upper Hamilton River valley, and in the Mealy ^ Au: oK? [: Ok FB] ^ Mountains to the south. In Quebec, there are scattered herds north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the Rupert River drainage. The discovery of large deposits of iron ore on the Quebec-Labrador boundary constitutes a new threat to the survival of caribou in the Ungava Peninsula. A herd occurs in the Gasp e ^ é ^ Peninsula and in 1949 the population of this herd was estimated at 1,500.
Newfoundland Caribou ( Rangifer caribou terra n enovae ). In the 25,000- square-mile caribou range in Newfoundland, and estimated number of 15,000 caribou was reported in 1949. There has been no decrease noted in recent years. The annual kill by residents is less than 300 animals.
General Aspects
Range . The range of caribou, in general, is farther north than that of

EA-Zoo. Banfield: Caribou

Any other member of the deer family (Cervidae) and extends to the northern limits of land, except that they now appear to be extinct in Peary Land. The range of the genus Rangifer ^ Rangifer ^ , like that of the wolf, is circumpolar. The members of the genus in Europe and Asia have been called reindeer; but recently the tendency, in North America at least, is to restrict the designa– tion reindeer to the various domestic subspecies, using caribou for the wild animals.
Physical Characteristics . The caribou is specially adapted to its northern habitat. The pelage is thick and long and the muzzle is furred. Another northern deer, the moose ( Alces Americana ), overcomes the difficulty of deep snow with its long legs. The caribou, moderately long legged, has little deep snow to contend with north of the tree line. When the caribou run, the hooves click. If a large herd of caribou is passing by, this “click-click” noise is loud and distinct.
In fresh autumn coat the caribou are cinnamon-brown with a white neck, “beard,” and a lateral stripe across the shoulder and along the flank. The abdomen, rump, tail, nose, and a ring above the ho f ^ o ^ fs are also white. The legs, chest, and lower flanks are darker brown. By late spring the old coat is much worn and has become pale-buff in color. At a distance the caribou then appear almost white. A new dark pelage grows during the summer months.
There is considerable range in the size of caribou in different parts of northern North America. Differences of size are among the characteristics that form the basis for separation of the caribou into several races. The Alaskan races are the largest, while the polar caribou ( Rangifer pearyi ) is the smallest. Murie (15) states that the average live weight of six Alaskan males in 366 pounds. The average dressed weight of eighteen males was 247

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pounds. The females are much smaller. The average total length of male cari– bou from the interior of Alaska is about 78 inches and the average height of shoulder is about 46 inches.
Both sexes carry antlers; those of the bucks are much larger than those of the does. Each antler consists of a main beam which sweeps back and out from the burr. Close to the burr are two tines which point forward. The first, which grows medially forward over the face, is called the brow tine. The two opposite brow tines grow close together and usually one is dominant and palmate in form. The second tine on the beam is called the bez tine. It, also, is generally palmate and grows anteriorly. Beyond these two tines the beam turns sharply up and gives rise posteriorly to the ^ a ^ number of terminal tines. There is great variation in antler formation; some are palmate, others more digitate. It is a general characteristic that the beams of cari– bou ( Rangifer arcticus ) are circular in cross section while those of the wood– land caribou ( R. caribou ) are generally flattened. The bucks grow and shed their antlers much earlier than the does.
Habits . Caribou possess a keen sense of smell and rely largely on this sense for warning of danger. Their eyesight is fair. They notice movements quickly but can easily be stalked upwind. The normal reaction when they are suspicious of danger is to circle to a position downwind from the object of curiosity. They do not seem to associate noise with danger. Caribou are well known for their insatiable curiosity. When alarmed they flee, but usually soon pause to look over their shoulders at the intruder. In large numbers they seem even more curious and bolder and sometimes may be approached closely.
Caribou are strong swimmers and readily cross large bodies of water in migration. In the water they float with the back and rump above the surface.

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It is suggested by Clarke (4) that the sound of running water attracts caribou to shallow crossings.
The caribou uses a variety of gaits. It seems to be a restless animal by nature. While slowly feeding along a ridge, it will suddenly break into an easy trot, only to resume a walk again after a few seconds. When alarmed, the caribou trots with head held high and legs thrown loosely forward and out. This gait can be changed to a fast pace with which the caribou covers great distances with seemingly little effort. When fully alarmed, the caribou will break into a gallop, but this gait is never maintained for a long period.
During the summer the bucks put on considerable back fat before the rutting season, which takes place during the autumn. Murie (14) observed small bands of does, each with a buck in charge, during the period September 14 to October 7. When the rut is on, the big bucks hard the does, spar with opponents, and often neglect to eat. This means that they enter the winter in poor condition. In Alaska the fawns are born between May 15 and June 15. They are reddish in color, with a black muzzle and dorsal line, and lack the spots of other fawns of the deer family. This coat fades to a buff color in July. A little later this coat is lost and fawns take on a darker coat similar to that of the adults.
The fawns are precocious and soon follow their mothers. Within a few days they can run as fast as the does, and by midsummer they are grazing for them– selves. The caribou does are solicitous mothers and seldom desert their young when in trouble.
During the short arctic summer, when the herds are on the open lands beyond the tree line, their food consists chiefly of green forage. During this season, the caribou seem to feed chiefly by browsing — stripping the leaves from the shrub willows ( Salix sp.), birth ( Betula glandulosa ), and

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bilberry ( Vaccinium uliginosum). They also graze on the grasses and sedges in the arctic swales. Typical plants utilized are: bent reed grass ( Cala–magrostis sp.), bluegrass ( Pea sp.), sedges (Carex sp.), and cotton grass (Erøophorum sp.). In late summer, mushrooms are eaten when found.
During the winter, lichens assume the major role in the caribou diet. The caribou easily paw through the snow to secure the ground vegetation. Some of the more important lichens are: Cladonia , Cetraria , Usnea , and Alectoria . Dried grasses, the leaves and twigs of many heaths, such as bearberry (Arcto–staphylos sp.) and crowberry (Empetrum nigrum), and the twigs of shrubs, such as willow ( Salix sp.) and aspen ( Populus tremuloides ), are also eaten.
Local movements seem to be governed by the food supply and the avail– ability of routes of travel. The lichens which from the major portion of the winter diet of caribou may take as long as fifteen to twenty years to recover from heavy utilization. Long migrations are a common characteristic of the caribou in North America. Along the routes the terrain is covered with parallel trails which the caribous follow in single file.
The populations of aborigines have learned to depend on these seasonal movements for their supplies of meat and clothing. Many theories have been advanced to explain to movements of the caribou. Marie (14) states that the migrations are probably due to several factors. There is the midsummer search for fresh feeding grounds, then the change from the grassy summer ranges to the winter lichen range. Coupled with these factors, the rutting activity stimulates movements in the autumn and the animals retrace ancestral routes through habit. In the spring there is a tendency to leave the forest because of the desire for a change to a grass diet and the urgency of the ap– proaching fawning season.

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Disease ^ s ^ . Caribou are subject to a variety of parasitic diseases. The most extensive parasitic condition of the caribou herds is that caused by the warble fly (Oedemagena tarandi). The warble fly is a large orange-and-black beelike fly which deposits its eggs on the hair of caribou during the summer. The larvae hatch, bore through the skin, and, by autumn, have moved to the back region. Here they become encapsulated under the skin, with small breathing holes through the skin. By May, the larvae are about three-quarters of an inch long. When mature, they enlarge the breathing holes and squirm through, dropping to the ground, where they pupate. From the pupae the adult flies emerge early in the summer. The effect of a heavy infection of warble larvae is to render the hide useless for clothing during a large part of the year.
A second parasitic fly which attacks caribou is the nostril fly (Cophe-^[: u: for trompe?][] Hadwen(1922) gives both for reindeer I dont know! FR^ nemyia nasalis). This is a large, dark fly. The larvae are deposited in the nostrils during the summer by the adult fly, which is viviparous. These migrate backward and lodge in the nasopharyngeal region. By early spring they have become much enlarged and form tight clusters in the throats of the animals. Caribou are often observed coughing^ ^ and sneezing at this period, probably because of the discomfort due to the presence of these larvae. The larvae detach themselves and drop out early in the summer, to pupate on the ground, where they develop into adult flies.
In the Arctic, there is a close association between many of the large mammals, including man, through a predator-prey relationship. Several para– sitic flatworms seem to have taken advantage of this close relationship to complete their complicated life histories. Thus the tapeworms ( Taenia hy–datigena, T. krabbei, and Echinococcus granulosus), which occur as adults in the intestines of wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs, appear as larval bladder- worms in the livers, lungs, and muscle of caribou. The predators become

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parasitized by feeding on the infected caribou which had previously become parasitized by eating eggs of the tapeworms washed out of wolf or other f a eces onto the vegetation.
The close relationship of natives to both caribou and their domestic dogs has introduced the possibility of a secondary cycle, including man, which is distinct from the natural caribou-wolf-caribou cycle.
Several other diseases have been observed among caribou. Hadwen (8) ^ (7a) ^ recorded an infestation of a protozoan of the Sarcosporidia order. Murie (14) reported findings skulls showing necrosis of the jawbones. It seems very likely that caribou suffer from a disease similar to necrotic stomatitis.
There is some loss of life due to accidents. Waterfalls and rapids take a natural toll during migrations. Clarke (4) reported the findings of more than 500 carcasses at the foot of a falls on the Hanbury River in the Northwest Territories.
Enemies . With the exception of man, the wolf is the most important preda– tor of caribous throughout the greater portion of their range. In recent years North American caribou have undergone serious reductions in range and popula– tions. In several cases, the ranges are no longer continuous and the isolated herds are vulnerable to extirpation.
It is popularly believed that wolf predation has been the major factor in the caribou decrease. This view, when subjected to critical analysis, can– not be maintained. In many areas the decrease in caribou started before any local influx of or increase in wolves. It seems significant that the Barren- Ground caribou, which has had less contact with civilized man than the majority of other races, still occurs in numbers comparable to those found under prim– itive conditions, in spite of the presence of a relatively uncontrolled wolf

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population. It should also be remembered that caribou and wolves shared the same arctic ranges for countless years before the arrival of European man, yet the latter found caribou there in abundance.
Wolves take their greatest toll of caribou during the winter months, when they follow the migrating herds. During the summer months there is less wolf pressure on caribou because of the presence of other forms of prey, such as waterfowl and other nesting birds on the grasslands, ground squirrels ( Citel lus parryii ), and the young of other mammals, such as arctic hares ( Lepus arcticus ), arctic foxes ( Alopex sp.), and lemmings ( Lemmus sp.). These animals act as buffer species between the wolf and the caribou. ^ Au: OK? Ok FB ^
The second period when the caribous is particularly vulnerable to predation is during the fawning season. During the first week of their lives, caribou fawns are most vulnerable to the attacks of wolves ( Canis lupus ), as well as coyotes ( Canis latrans ), lynx ( Lynx canadensis ), and golden eagles ( Aquila chrysaëtos ). There are doubtful claims that the wolverine ( Gulo luscus ) preys on fawns and extremely doubtful ones that the grizzly bear ( Ursus sp.) does too. Although all these predators, but not including the wolf, manage to capture a few fawns at this season, these animals are so few in numbers and local in distribution as to have little effect on the survival of the caribou herds as a whole. Observations of grizzly bears and golden eagles hunting newborn fawns are given by A. Murie (14) and observations concerning the relation of the lynx to the caribou are given by O.J. Murie (15). Clarke (4) has estimated that a single wolf kills, on the average, twelve caribou per year, but that would be for sections where the wolf has many sorts of provender. In the Far North, where the caribou is practically the only food available through two-thirds of the year, the rate would be higher.

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Since the writings of Darwin, the theory of the survival of the fittest has achieved wide acceptance. In removing the less-fleet caribou, which are usually the aged, sick, or injured animals, the predator benefits the species by improving the stock. When wounded or aged animals are commonly observed hobbling in the rear of a migrating herd of caribou, one can justifiably con– clued that the wolf pressure is not excessive.
Harper (8) has pointed out the interesting fact that the Queen Charlotte Island and Spitsbergen were the only areas where the caribou did not share their range with the wolf. The races of caribou inhabiting these areas were the runts of the tribe. The Queen Charlotte Islands caribou ( Rangifer arcticus dawsoni ) is believed to be extinct. In achieved this status without the as– sistance of the wolf.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Anderson, R.M. Catalogue of Canadian Recent Mammals . Ottawa, 1946. ^ Nat. Mus. Can. Bull . 102. Biological Ser . no.31. ^

2. ----. “The present status and distribution of the big game mammals of Canada,” North American Wildlife Conference, 3d. Baltimore, 1938. Trans . pp.390-406.

3. Banfield, A.W.F. “The present status of North American caribou,” North American Wildlife Conference, 14th, Washington, 1949. Trans . pp.447-91.

4. Clarke, C.H.D. A Biological Investigation of the Thelon Game Sanctuary . (Ottawa, Patenaude, 1940.) Nat.Mus.Can. Bull . No.96. Biological Ser . No.25.

5. Dufresne, Frank. Mammals and Birds of Alaska . Wash.,G.P.O., 1942. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv. Circ . No.3.

6. Fristrup, Børge. “A preliminary account of geographical work of the Danish Peary Land Expedition,” Geogr.Tidsskr . vol.49, pp.41-66, 1948/49.

7. Gavin, Angus. “Notes on mammals observed in the Perry River district, Queen Maud Sea,” J.Mammal . vol.26, no.4, pp.226-30, 1945.

7a. Hadwen, Seymour, and Palmer, L.J. Reindeer in Alaska . Wash.,G.P.O., 1922, p.68. U.S. Dept.Agric. Bull . no.1089

8. Harper, Francis. Land of the Caribou . Natural History Magazine, 1949. Manuscript. 18(5): 224-231, 239 ^ vol. 18,no.5, pp. 224-231, 239, 1949. ^

9. Jacobi, Arnold. “Das Rentier, eine Zoologische monographie der Gattung Rangifer,” Zoologischer Anz . B.96. Erganzungaband . 1931.

10. Jensen, Ad.S. “The fauna of Greenland,” Greenland. Commission for the Direction of the Geological and Geographical Investiga– tions in Greenland. Greenland, Vol.1. The Discovery of Greenland, Exploration and Nature of the Country . Editors: M. Vahl (and others). Copenhagen, Reitzel; Lond., Milford, 1928, pp.320-23.

11. Manning, T.H. “Bird and mammal notes from the east side of Hudson Bay,” Canad.Field Nat . vol.60, no.4, pp.71-85, 1946.

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12. ----. “Notes on the coastal districts of the eastern barren-grounds and Melville peninsula from Igloolik to Cape Fullerton,” Canad.Geogr.J . vol.26, pp.84-105, 1943.

13. ----. “Preliminary report on a background study of the caribou,” Quebec. Assoc. for the Protection of Game and Fish. Annual Report vol.80, pp.20-21, 1948.

14. Murie, Adolph. The Wolves of Mount McKinley . Wash.,G.P.O., 1944. U.S. National Park Service. Fauna of the National Parks of the United States. Fauna Series no.5.

15. Murie, O.J. Alaska-Yukon Caribou . Wash.,G.P.O., 1935. U.S. Biological Survey. North American Fauna no.54.

16. Peary, R.E. Nearest the Pole . Lond., Hutchinson, 1907.

17. Rand, A.L. Mammal Investigations on the Canol Road, Yukon and Northwest Territories, 1944 ^ Territories, 1944 ^ . Ottawa, 1945. Nat.Mus.Can. Bull . 99. Biological Ser . No.28.

A. F ^ W ^ . W ^ F ^ . Banfield
Economic Zoology of Caribou

EA-Zoology (Olaus J. Murie)

ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY OF CARIBOU
From early times, throughout the world, venison has been a favored food for primitive people. Not only have the members of the deer family served as food for man, ancient and modern, but they have contributed importantly to the diet of large carnivores. Probably in adjustment to this ecological state of affairs, the deer of the world have developed characteristics such as speed, alertness, large [: ] size, or fecundity, or combinations of these, to meet the hazards of their environment.
In their special adaptations, the caribou of the Arctic and Subarctic are unique in several respects. In response to the rigors of their climate they have developed an unusually warm cost of hair, with hairiness extending even over the nose. Instead of the trim feet of southern deer, they grew rounded hoofs that spread when necessary, the better to walk on snow or boggy ground. They respond to cold with heavy layers of fat. And they exist in large herds. Incidentally, for some reason, the females bear antlers, and even the fawns grow spike antlers in the first summer.
Some fo ^ of ^ these are the very zoological attributes that have been such a boon to man in the Arctic. The caribou skin makes warm clothing; the excessive fat is a godsend to fat-hungry man in the winter cold; and the fact that caribou run in herds, and normally are numerous, makes it possible

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to depend on them as a source of food. I say this as a general rule, having in mind that not always have the herds been dependable in specific instances!
To begin with, the north country of America was people s ^ d ^ by two principal groups, The Eskimos were primarily a coastal people, finding much of their subsistence in the sea, though taking advantage of the caribou and other land animals at every opportunity. In exceptional instances Eskimo groups live ^ d ^ inland, away from the sea. The North American Indian was a man of the forested country (and the southern plains and deserts). There was accordingly a different human eco p ^ l ^ ogy for the coastal Eskimo and the Indian of the northern forest. The two peoples were not entirely exclusive of each other, and their interests clashed, with some hostility, at the borders of their natural territories.
For both of these ethnic groups the caribou had an economic significance in many respects similar to that of the bison for the Plains Indian farther south. Both animals traveled in herds, wore numerous, and furnished an important source of food, clothing, and shelter.
With the crude weapons at first available to them both Eskimos and Indiana found it necessary to summon great ingenuity to capture the animals. The bow and arrow were, of course, standard equipment for stalking game. Among the Eskimos, at least, this had its drawbacks in open country, but by various ruses, taking advantage of the animal’s temporary curiosity, or its grazing habits, or some local topographic features, the hun g ^ t ^ er was able to get within bow-shot of caribou.
But driving was a favorite method. The process has been described in several variations, but essentially the plan was as follows. The hunters would choose an area frequented by caribou, such as a migration route, and

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there two lines of cairns were placed, consisting of rocks, piles of turf, perhaps topped with sticks and even with a piece of garment that would flutter. These lines would converge on a narrow defile, or the shore of a lake. As the animals wandered between the two “wings” of the trap, hesi– tating to approach those prominent objects on either side, women and children might appear from behind the cairns the animals had already passed. As the caribou moved on, urged from behind, more people appeared, until the animals came into the narrows where concealed ^ hunters ^ had an opportunity to shoot, or into the water where hunters in kayaks would dart out after them and spear the swimming animals. Large numbers were sometimes killed by this method.
In various localities snare fences were built. In northwestern Alaska it is reported that snares were sometimes simply placed in gaps between willows, where caribou were accustomed to pass. But in interior Alaska, in the Tenana and upper Yukon region, long pole fences were erected across well-known migration routes, sometimes extending for several miles. At intervals there was a gap in the fence, in which was place a twisted raw– hide snare. As late as 1921 I saw some of these snare fences still in good repair, the poles and posts being held firmly with willow withes. One of these led directly to the old corral, where the animals were at one time thus guided into a definite trap. When thus enclosed they were shot by arrows, or sometimes speared through the bars with a knife fastened at the end of a pole.
In this general area there were also lookouts for spying migratory g herds. One of these was a platform built high in a spruce, with the limbs cleared away for an unobstructed view. Another, more elaborate structure,

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was built of poles tied with willows, in the form of a huge stepladder with a platform on top.
Snare fences were reported also by ^ ^ Lowe (3) near Boulder Creek, in Copper River Valley, and a reindeer herder reported snare fences formerly built by Eskimos in the lower Kuskokwim River region. In 1920 at least five caribou were caught in snare fences near Tanana Crossing; in this case old aban– doned telegraph line was used for snares. As late as 1926 rawhide snares were still being used on the Old Crew River, in norther ^ n ^ Yukon Territory, mostly by the old men or hunters lacking ammunition. MacFarlan d ^ e ^ (4) speaking of woodland caribou of the Northwest Territories, remarks that at one time Indians used twisted rawhide snares to capture them, and that the Indians near Fort Anderson, on Anderson River, obtained a few of the barren ground caribou in the same manner. Similar snare fences were used in parts of Alaska to capture moose.
These we d ^ r ^ e the primitive methods by which the Eskimos and Indians supplied their needs. The meat was a staple, obtainable at certain seasons in quantity. Seals, walrus, fish, and rabbits were the other more or less dependable food resources of these northern people.
The caribou meat was eaten fresh or dried. The contents of the rumen, rich with lichen remains, were eaten fresh or, when possible, frozen and stored for future use. The colon was relished, and it may be significant that this is also sought out by certain carnivores. The marrow of the bones was greatly enjoyed, and of course the quantity of fat which the caribou accumulates in the fall is a prize in the North. I have never found caribou meat tough, and a large fat bull is excellent eating. The meat has a high water content and some of us who drove dogs found that twice as much caribou meat was required by a sled dog as compared with mou ^ n ^ tain sheep meat. (The latter was fed to dogs only in real emergency.)

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Caribou skins were universally used for clothing — warm park [: ] s, leggings, moccasins, mittens, and other miscellaneous a d ^ r ^ ticles. In the Hudson Bay country I found that moose-hide moccasins were somewhat warmer in the cold dry snow but that caribou-hide moccasins were better moisture repellents when the weather was somewhat warmer and the snow was damp. In Hudson Bay, also, the Indians used the unborn caribou fawns for food, and made light caps the bags from their skins. Caribou rawhide, or babiche, was used for the wea b ^ v ^ ing of snowshoes, and hides were used for tents. Caribou antlers were used for many handy tools. Possibly no other northern animals has produced a greater variety of economic uses for the original inhabitants of the North. Add to this the fact that this hardy deer inhabited some of the most “barren” portions of the Arctic, and it will be realized T ^ w ^ hat an important animal this proved to be in arctic economy.
Stefansson (11) has given us a dramatic example of some of the bleakness of the surroundings in which you might find caribou in the northern fringes of its range. He had reached Isachsen Land with two of his companions seriously ill. “I walked that day twenty miles across one of the very few stretches of entirely barren land that I have seen in the Arctic. Underfoot was gravel without a blade of grass.” Yet next morning (in a more favorable grazing area) he came on a band of caribou, which saved the day for his party. Here was a group of men, exploring some of the northern fringes of our con– tinent, reaching into the polar sea, where one might expect little life to be found. Yet there were caribou.
Caribou are not always dependable, or predictable, and Indians have on occasion suffered hardship through the un d ^ c ^ ertainties and vagaries of caribou movements. They are erratic travelers and while generally they follow

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established routes, they may be slow in arriving, they may veer away from a former course, or they may not go as far as in former years.
In the early spring of 1921 I reached Tanana Crossing, in Alaska, and found that the Indians were having a difficult time. They were awaiting the caribou herds which come back over the Alaska Range to drop their fawns in the Tanana River country. Fish were scarce and I was having great diffi– culty in obtaining food for my dogs. Finally, on April 28, the caribou same — long lines of them leading down the snowy slopes into the valley of the Tanana. The Indian village came to life and soon caribou meat was hung to dry on numerous racks, something like fourteen or fifteen per family. It is often famine or feast in caribou country.
With the coming of the whi l te man in the North, and his rifle and trade goods, the caribou-man ecology changed. For the explorer, the whaler, the trader, and particularly the pioneer trapper and prospector, caribou meat became a staple food. Hunting became easier. The native people relinquished their primitive methods and accepted firearms, and they were able to kill more game. They killed more than they needed, and found it profitable to supply the white men. The annals of the North are filled with accounts of barter in caribou meat and skins. In the enthusiasm over the new hunting facilities, many animals were wasted.
E. W. Nelson (6) writing of the Bering Sea coast of Alaska, said: “When the Americans first obtained control of the Territory firearms were unknown among the natives, and when the natives first obtained guns they kept the traders supplied with meat at the rate of two charges of powder and ball for a dear. One winter, just preceding the transfer of the Territory, an enormous herd of Reindeer [caribou[ passed so near St. Michaels that a

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6-pounder loaded with buckshot was fired at them, killing and wounding a number of them.”
Speaking of Alaska Peninsula and adjacent coasts, he says further” “In the summer of 1880 one men from Point Barrow took about five hundred skins, and many others took nearly as large a number. Only a few stragglers now remain on the Kaviak Peninsula and in the country between the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers.”
Again: “When Mr. Dall came down the Yukon in the spring of 1867, he saw over four thousands skins of reindeer fawns hanging up in a village near Anvik, and at present scarcely half a dozen deer, old and young, are [: ] r ^ t ^ aken yearly in that district.
“The skins taken in summer are valued at about one dollar each among the fur traders, who buy them in one part of the country and trade them for furs in other parts.”
James Wickersham (12) writes of interior Alaska in 1900: “Captain Farnsworth, then in command at Fort Egbert, had established a hunting camp on the divide between Mission creek on Forty Mile river, about fifty miles from Eagle, and had sent hunters and a squad of soldiers there to kill caribou for the post.” Mr. Wickersham mentions seeing fifty caribou hung on racks.
Osgood (7) reports that in the fall of 1901, in east central Alaska, a white man killed 62 caribou in one day, and immediately afterward a party of Indians killed 42. Next day a hunter killed 7 cripples in that vicinity and followed the bloody trail of the herd for some miles.
Edward A. Preble (8) referring to the report of A. J. Stone, says: “He considers that the animals are fast being exterminated in that quarter

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[east of the Mackenzie River delta], principally on account of the demand for meat at the trading posts, and at the wintering places of the whalers along the Arctic coast.”
MacFarlane (4) commented: “In the course of the company’s five year occupation of Fort Anderson, we received considerable quantities of venison and many skins of the Barren Ground reindeer from the Eskimos and Indians who reported thereto for purposes of trade.”
In 1917, at Fort Chimo, Ungava Bay, I learned that the Naskapi Indians would occasionally bring some caribou meat to the trading post, th r ough these animals had already become extremely scarce on the Labrador Peninsula. Our party had crossed through the interior without seeing one. Three years ^ ^ later, in interior Alaska, I found that mountain sheep, moose, and caribou were being sold to the construction camps along the route of the government Alaska Railroad. At the restaurants in the towns one could order moose or caribou from the menu. A number of years previously professional hunters had been supplying caribou to the local markets, and one of these men gave me many details of their hunting technique.
Originally the numbers of caribou were more or less in adjustment with their environment, which included the scattered human population using primitive weapons. When the white pioneers came into the North — explorers, whalers, traders, prospectors, trappers, adventurous souls with that innate urge to experience what lies beyond — bringing with them more lethal weapons and a large market for game, the drain on the caribou herds became greater than their population dynamics could withstand. Still later came the more permanent settlements, with increase of white population. Today even a grater influx of people is taking place, with roads, railways, and aircraft.

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Thus the original prospect in northern lands has virtually disappeared. Industrial civilization is reaching northward, with modern convenience and huge demand on natural resources.
It must be kept in mind that during the early ^ ^ pioneer period the caribou served on important purpose. W ti ^ it ^ hout the caribou — a herd animal existing in large numbers — with its potential for abundant meat and materials for clothing and similar necessities, life in the North would have been much more difficult. Even today, in much of the territory, caribou contribute importantly to the personal economy of many people — Eskimos, Indians, and whites.
However, no longer does the supply appear inexhaustible. The caribou have completely disappeared from many areas, such as the extensive portions of Alaska bordering on Bering Sea, and the area east of the Mackenzie River delta. The woodland caribou has disappeared from former ranges in northern states and parts of lower Canada, and they have become extremely rare on the Labrador Peninsula. In many other areas they are reduced in numbers.
In Siberia and northern Europe the reindeer was domesticated long ag l o, so extensively that in parts of their former range wild reindeer are scarce or no longer exists. The North American caribou were never domesticated. But with the disappearance of the wild caribou in the areas bordering on Bering Sea, domestic reindeer from the Old World were substituted, together with Lapp herders to instruct the Eskimos. In many ways this was a help to the Eskimo, but there is much confusion about the project. Proper reindeer ^ hording ^ requires a nomadic life.
Consider, for example, the natural feeding habits of caribou. In my study of the Alaska-Yukon caribou (5) some years ago, I came to the following

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conclusions: “…the fact that the caribou do not linger in any one locality, but are nearly always on the move, keeps them distributed over a wide territory and tends to preserve their winter food.”
Studies conducted by the U.S. Biological Survey in the nineteen twenty’s indicated that the lichen growth, so beneficial for caribou and domestic reindeer, once it is destroyed requires about as long to recover as does a destroyed forest. These considerations led me to suggest further in my published report (5):
“Apparently each species adopts a particular migratory habit to suit its food requirements. In the case of the caribou the need appears to be an avoidance of concentration, and the need for greater dispersal of the caribou has been met by greater restlessness, resulting in a greater and more varied migration. Throughout its circumpolar range, the caribou normally seeks lichens for winter forage, and throughout its entire range it is a wanderer. These two facts appear to be related, and in the absence of any other solution it seems reasonable to conclude that the caribou’s peculiar taste has made the species the restless wanderer that it is.”
It may prove to be a fact that the Alaskan reindeer ranges are overgrazed. Certain white owners undertook to raise domestic reindeer for market, and since commercial enterprise naturally requires large quantity for profit, such operations no doubt provided an additional impact on the native caribou herds and the original range.
It is axiomatic that a reindeer industry and wild caribou herds cannot occupy the same area. The migratory caribou draw with them on their journey sizable numbers of reindeer that are thus lost to the owner. For this reason, in reindeer territory it has been the custom to attempt to eliminate any

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stray caribou that come into the range of the domestic animals.
At one of the sessions of the International Technical Conference on the Protection of Nature, meeting at Lake Success under the auspices of UNESCO in the summer of 1949, a Canadian delegate introduced the subject of preserv– ing some of the Canadian species of caribou, particularly those of the Labrador Peninsula. There has been consideration of substituting the domestic reindeer. To meet this difficulty some considerations of caribou biology may be worth while.
There has been the belief that the North American caribou, being migratory, cannot be domesticated. Yet I have seen a caribou calf, pretty well grown when it was captured in the fall, so thoroughly tamed in less than two weeks that it would follow its owner about like a dog. An elk calf, caught when a few days old in the highly migratory Jackson Hole elk herd in Wyoming, grew up perfectly tame and, although up to more than four years of age it had perfect freedom and in winter mingled with the wintering wild elk, it never showed any desire to migrate.
In areas where native caribou have been reduced to dangerous levels, experiments would be worth while to raise a herd of the animals native to that area, rather than replacing the remnant with the domestic reindeer. It is entirely possible that the native caribou could be given sufficient domestication for controlled herding as in the case of domestic reindeer. Such a procedure would tend to insure the perpetuation of the native stock, a serious consideration among the many people, scientists as well as other groups of conservationists, whose aims are typified by those of the International Union for the Protection of Nature. Under such a plan escapes from the domestic herd would find their own kind, and there would be the

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hope of restoring the original wild population.
Wolves, disease, and perhaps other factors have always been a drain on the caribou herds. These cannot be ignored. But the most critical of all factors, as we have found in modern game management, is the destruction of habitat. In the future, if it is our decision to retain the caribou, there must be such land-use planning that proper range, extensive range, may be designated for caribou. The more intensive types of land use could well be segregated into the more favorable areas. The caribou ranges thus preserved could be dedicated to multiple use, of the kinds not incompatible with the needs of caribou. Such uses would be the wilderness type of recreation (which is being given so much attention today among conservationists), certain field sports, scientific studies, particularly in ecology, preservation of other wildlife that shares similar habitat, and like categories.
By proper planning and suitable regulations, caribou may still be an economic asset to many people, and of great recreation value as well.

EA-Zoo. Murie: Economic Zoology of Caribou

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Boas, Franz. “The Central Eskimo,” U.S. Bureau of Ethnology. Annual Report , 6th, 1884-’85. Wash., G.P.O., 1888, pp.409-669.

2. Jenness, Diamond. “The life of the Copper Eskimos,” Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913-1918. Report, vol.12, pt.A, pp.1-277, 1922.

3. Lowe, P.G. “From Valdez Inlet to Belle Isle, on the Yukon,” Glen, E.F., and Abercrombie, W.R. Reports of Explorations in the Territory of Alaska (Cooks Inlet, Sushitna, Copper, and Tanana Rivers) 1898 . Wash., G.P.O., 1899, pp.353-87. U.S. War Dept. Adjutant General’s Office. Doc . no.102. Military Intelligence Div. Publ . no.25.

4. MacFarlan d ^ e ^ Roderick. Notes on Mammals Collected and Observed in the Northern Mackenzie River District, Northwest Territories of Canada, with Remarks on Explorers and Explorations of the Far North . Wash., G.P.O., 1905, U.S.Nat.Mus. no.1405.

5. Murie, O.J. Alaska-Yukon Caribou. Wash., U.S. Dept.Agriculture, Bur. of Biological Survey, 1935. North American Fauna no.54.

6. Nelson, E.W. Report upon Natural History Collections Made in Alaska between the Years 1877 and 1881. Wash., G.P.O., 1887. U.S. Army. Signal Service. Arctic Series of Publications no.3.

7. Osgood, W.H. Biological Investigations in Alaska and Yukon Territory . Wash., G.P.O., 1909. North American Fauna .no.30.

8. Preble, E.A. A Biological Investigation of the Athabaska-Mackenzie Region . Wash., G.P.O., 1909. North American Fauna no.27.

9. Stefansson, Vilhjalmur. The Friendly Arctic . N.Y., Macmillan, 1921.

10. ----. Hunters of the Great North. N.Y., Harcourt, Brace, 1922.

11. ^ ----. ^ My Life with the Eskimo . N.Y., Macmillan, 1913.

12. Wickersham, James. Old Yukon. Wash., Washington Law Book Co., 1938.

Olaus J. Murie
Reindeer Herding in Canada

EA-Zoology (Richard Finnie)

REINDEER HERDING IN CANADA
The first successful experiment in reindeer husbandry in Canada began in the spring of 1935, when 2,370 animals from Alaska were delivered to a reserve at the east side of the Mackenzie Delta. Despite many difficulties and setbacks, the reindeer steadily increased and, by 1947, numbered 6,400, even though between 3,000 and 4,000 had be slaughtered for food and clothing during the intervening years, and still others had strayed away.
In 1908, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell established 250 Lapland reindeer at St. Anthony in northern Newfoundland; within ten years they had increased to 1,200 but had begun scattering for lack of attention. In 1918, all that were still available, 126, were given to the Canadian Government and moved to the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near St. Augustin, Quebec. At first they multiplied, but here again inadequate care took its toll and, in 1923, the 145 remaining were shifted to Anticosti Island and liberated. There they were stricken with disease and, by 1941, only 9 were left.
This was not the first attempt to introduce reindeer into Canada. Back in 1911, the Department of the Interior had bought 40 breeding does, 6 stags, and4 geldings (to be trained as draft animals) from the Grenfell herd at St. Anthony, and had shipped them to Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. The journey was a hard one for them: by boat to Quebac k , by train to Edmonton,

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by wagon to Athabaska Landing, and by scow to the Fort Smith vicinity. Fifteen died on the way from injuries or lack of suitable food. By the fall of 1913, only three were left, one having been killed by dogs, the rest having taken to the woods when tormented by flies or having succumbed to some undiagnosed malady.
In 1918, the same year that the ill-starved experiment was being under– taken in Quebec, Vilhjalmur Stefansson returned from five years in the Arctic with the conviction that there lay an opportunity to develop a vast new source of wealth with domesticated reindeer and musk oxen. He set about trying to induce the Federal Government to go in for reindeer breeding as a public enterprise. The Right Honorable Arthur Meighen, who was then Minister of the Interior, soon became sufficiently interested to arrange the appoint– ment, in May 1919, of a Royal Commission to investigate the possibilities as outlined by Stefansson in an address before both Houses of Parliament. The commission consisted of J. G. Rutherford, Railway Commissioner (chairman); James S. McLean, manager of the Harris Abattoir Co., Toronto; James B. Harkin, Commissioner of Dominion Parks; and Dr. Stefansson. During the next year the commission questioned 35 expert witnesses and finally brought in a favorable report. In March 1920, Stefansson withdrew from the commission, partly because he felt that he was prejudiced and partly because of a new idea he had: that a reindeer industry might be expedited with private backing.
In October 1919, Stefansson opened negotiations with the Hudson’s Bay Company. He next made formal application to the Department of the Interior to lease grazing rights over a large area of southern Baffin Island for a fifty-year period, with the privilege of transferring it if granted. Meanwhile the Hudson’s Bay Company agreed to support his reindeer venture, and later

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a musk ox venture, too, should he be granted his lease.
The lease was formally signed on June 11, 1920, giving Stefansson exclusive rights for reindeer grazing over 113,900 square miles of southern Baffin Island for 30 years. The Hudson’s Bay Reindeer Company was incorporated and to it Stefansson transferred his lease, in consideration for which he was retained solely in an advisory capacity.
Stefansson’s plan was to buy a selected herd of a thousand reindeer in northern Norway and ship them to Baffin Island, and he recommended Storker T. Storkerson, a member of his Canadian Arctic Expedition, as permanent manager. Storkerson, a Norwegian, visited the prospective grazing grounds during the summer of 1920, was well pleased, and the following winter journeyed to London to report to the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company with the expectation that he would now have the responsibility of selecting and buying the breeding stock in Norway. This was denied him, however, and he at once resigned in protest.
This was the beginning of a chain of misfortune ^ s ^ that led to disaster. The Hudson’s Bay Company’s supply vessel ( Nascopie , which was sent to Norway to fetch the reindeer, had space for only 687 animals, 60 of which died or were lost before the herd was loaded. Rough weather en route took another 77, so that only 550 remained to be put ashore at Amadjuak Bay, Baffin Island. No accommodation for the Lapp herders who were employed had be d ^ e ^ n provided, nor had provision been made to receive the deer; so while the herders were trying to erect dwellings, the herd dispersed. A year later, in June 1922, there were 210 reindeer left, including new calves. The Lapps departed for home and were replaced by local Eskimos who had not yet acquired enough experience as herders. By 1925, the entire herd had vanished.

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However, the sanguine report of the Royal Commission upon the possibilities of the reindeer industry in the arctic and subarctic regions, published in 1922, was not forgotten.
The report recommended that a number of experimental herds be estab– lished in the most suitable locations. It was believed that the development of such herds would provide reliable and economical food and clothing supplies for the natives, both Indians and Eskimos, and guard against actual starvation due to failure to find wild game. The commissioners added that the herds might become a food source also for white men engaged in developing the natural resources of the country, and lay the foundation for a future commer– cial meat industry.
The Northwest Territories and Yukon Branch, Department of the Interior, which had been created in 1921, made further inquiries about reindeer herding, especially in Alaska. This was intensified by the rapidly changing economy of Canadian Eskimos. Nearly all had acquired rifles with which they were decimating the d ^ c ^ aribou and altering their migration routes; and al were turning more and more to the trapping of white foxes. It was feared that fluctuations in the numbers of fur bearers and the uncertainties of the fur market might seriously affect the natives.
The Government observed that similar conditions had prevailed in Alaska forty years earlier, and that the natives’ lot had been improved by the introduction of domestic reindeer from Siberia. The original herd of 1,280 animals introduced between 1891 and 1902 had increased to more than 750,000. In addition more than 200,000 had been slaughtered to supply meat and clothing. Two-thirds of the Alaskan reindeer were nor owned by natives.
It was the desire of the Canadian Government to promote the introduction

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of an industry which the natives could develop rather than to establish a government industry, and it was decided, before incurring the expenses involved in introducing reindeer, to have a thorough investigation made. This was to cover the country between the Alaska-Yukon boundary on the west, the Coppermine River on the east, Great Bear Lake on the south, and the Arctic Sea on the north.
It was to be a general botanical reconnaissance with special reference to reindeer pasture, carrying capacity, and other general conditions of importance to a future reindeer industry. Since in Alaska the reindeer industry had become such a success, it was considered that previous to the field work in Canada the investigators should, with the permission of the United States Government, spend a season in Alaska to make an exhaustive study of the reindeer industry and its effect on the country and people.
Chosen for this assignment were two brothers, A. Erling ^ P ^ orsild, a trained botanist, and R. T. Porsild, a zoologist, both of whom had spent many years in North Greenland, were experienced arctic travelers, and could speak the Eskimo language. The investigation lasted from May 1926 to November 1928, during which the Porsilds traveled 15,000 miles by dog team, canoe, motorboat, and on foot. They returned with 15,000 herbarium specimens of vascular plants and nearly 5,000 specimens of cryptogams, plus some zoological specimens and many photographs.
In his report, Erling Porsild indicated a half-dozen sections he considered suitable for reindeer pasture: ( 1 ) the arctic coast from the Alaska-Yukon boundary eastward, including Herschel Island, to the Mackenzie Delta; ( 2 ) the Mackenzie Delta and its islands; ( 3 ) the arctic coast and hinterland from the Mackenzie River to Cape Bathurst; ( 4 ) the plains north

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of Great Bear Lake; ( 5 ) the Dease Valley; and ( 6 ) the Dismal Lakes and Kendall River valleys.
In summing up, Porsild estimated that there was a total of 15,000 square miles of grazing land in the coastal area from the Alaska-Yukon boundary to Cape Bathurst and from the mouth of the Anderson River to Point Separation at the south end of the Mackenzie Delta. Allowing 40 acres per head for this type of country, he considered that it would have a year-round carrying capacity of 250,000 reindeer. The pasturable country north and east of Great Bear Lake comprised 38,000 square miles which he believed would support 300,000 reindeer, giving each one 60 acres. (In 1930, he made a grazing survey of the central Keewatin District, west of Hudson Bay between Churchill and Chesterfield Inlet, ascertaining that, while the greater part must be classified as summer pasture only, it still contained suitable reindeer ranching areas exceeding those of the Mackenzie District, along the coast from Nelson River north to Dawson Inlet.)
On the basis of the Porsild report, the Canadian Government proceeded to acquire the breeding stock for establishment in the Mackenzie Delta. By an Order in Council of May 1, 1929, the Minister of the Interior was authorized to purchase from Lomen Brothers, Nome, Alaska, 3,000 head of adult reindeer. Under the terms of a contract subsequently made, Lomen Brothers agreed to furnish this number of the largest and sturdiest animals in their possession, with a proper proportion of bucks and does, and to deliver them at the Mackenzie Delta in the spring of 1931.
In the fall of 1929, Erling Porsild went to Nome to represent the Government in the selection of the herd and the beginning of the drive, while his brother was given charge of arrangements for the reception of the

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of the reindeer in the Mackenzie Delta. In December, 2,890 does and 307 bucks were selected in the Buckland Valley, and to these were added about 250 steers for food and draft purposes. Lomen Brothers placed Andrew Bahr, a veteran Lapp herder, in charge of the drive, assisted by other Lapps and several Eskimos.
The drive got under way in December 1929. After the initial effort of detaching the selected animals from the main herd, many unforeseen difficulties were encountered. At first many of the deer broke away and were not recovered. Blizzards, intense cold, and depredations of wolves, the distraction of wild caribou, and the stampeding of the reindeer, all impeded progress along the 1,500-mile route. The trek continued, however, with losses being recouped in some measure each fawning season. The deer reached Canadian territory in 193 8 ^ 38 ^ , but an unsuccessful attempt to get them across the Mackenzie Delta in the winter of 1933-34 delayed delivery until March 1935.
The number of deer delivered was 2,370, consisting of 1,498 does of all ages, 3 ^ 2 ^ 89 bulls, 322 male fawns, and 261 steers. Only a fifth of these were original stock from the Buckland Valley herd in Alaska.
Long before the trek ended, a corral had been constructed at Kittigazuit on the mainland just east of the Mackenzie Delta, while headquarters for the reindeer staff was established, with dwellings and warehouse, about 40 miles inland at the foot of the Caribou Hills along the East Channel of the delta, 70 miles by water from Aklavik.
In 1931, three Lapp herders and their families were brought from Norway to assist in controlling the herd upon its arrival and in training the local Eskimos. These men joined the herd during the winter of 1932-33, for the last stage of the drive.

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In December 1933, the Government officially created a reindeer reserve comprising about 6,600 square miles, including both summer and winter ranges, immediately east of the Mackenzie Delta. Two years later this area was photographed from the air, and the resulting maps proved invaluable to the herders in their travels and in the selection of fresh grazing grounds.
During the first summer on the reserve, the herd grazed in the coastal area in the vicinity of the corral at Kittigazuit, where a roundup was held in midsummer. A count then made showed that there was an increase of 800 healthy fawns. In early winter the herd was moved inlan t ^ d ^ to the environs of the main station, where the plateau extending back from the river carries a good cover of reindeer moss for winter feeding. The following spring the reindeer were taken to Richards Island, adjoining the Kittigazuit range. The island proved wholly satisfactory for summer grazing and has been used thus ever since. Here a corral with holding pens and a lead fence was constructed for the annual roundup.
When alarmed, the reindeer from into a compact body and begin to circle. Herds consistently move clockwise or counterclockwise, according to the tendency of the parent herds. The Canadian deer mill counterclockwise, as do their Alaskan forebears, and this peculiarity has to be taken into considera– tion in the construction of corrals and holding pens.
The roundup procedure is to count all the deer, mark all that have not previously been marked (with a V-shaped notch cut in the right ear), and check the sexes, enumerating does, fawns, and yearlings. Bulls over four years old are castrated. All diseased or maimed animals are killed at once, while old does and surplus bucks (a proportion of 10% of the latter is maintained) are selected for slaughter later in the year.

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The handling of the reindeer at roundup time and on other occasions tends to prevent them from becoming wild and intractable. Some of the mature steers in the herd are broken to harness for transporting supplies and firewood, moving camp, and the like.
Of fine grain and classed between beef and mutton, reindeer meat is palatable, nourishing, easily digested, and free from gamy flavor. The skin, with hair intact, is unsurpassed for cold-weather bedding and clothing. Contrary to the practice in Norway, the milking of Canadian reindeer has not yet been attempted to any extent, although the milk is among the richest kinds known, with a butterfat content of 2 3 ^ 2 ^ %.
In the summer of 1939, an inspection of the Canadian reindeer was made by Dr. Seymour Hadwen, Director of Pathology and Bacteriology, Ontario Research Foundation, Toronto, and formerly Chief Veterinarian and Parasi– tologist of the United States Bureau of Biological Survey. He reported the herd to be in excellent condition and practically free from disease and parasitism, and was struck by the fertility of the deer as shown by the bearing of fawns by some of the does only one year old. He noted that there had been a gradual increase in the dressed weight of slaughtered steers. Some carcasses now weighed as much as 200 pounds, and the average was 167 as against 150 in 1935. The dressed weight of the aged does was about 135 pounds. He concluded that the excellent range and favorable climate, as well as good management, were responsible for the development of large and vigorous stock.
The Canadian deer are allowed to graze freely over an area of several square miles, the herders watching for straying individuals — which, after a winter storm, sometimes have to be tracked some distance and returned to

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safety. On the semiannual drive between summer and winter grazing grounds, the main herd covers about 75 miles in easy stages. Reindeer moss ( Cladonia rangiferina ) is the principal food in winter, and although it is eaten to some extent in summer too, it is not nearly so nourishing as the grasses, willows, and other shrubs that are then available. If overgrazed, the moss may take many years to recover, but the other food renews itself annually. A system of rotating the winter grazing areas guards against moss depletion.
Like all other northern land mammals the reindeer are harassed by flies in summer, but by moving them 15 to 20 miles away from an area at the time warble-fly grubs emerge from the hides and drop on the the ground, the herders are able to minimize reinfestation.
There was steady though unspectacular growth in the size of the herd, the official totals at roundup time being 2,980, including 815 fawns, in 1935; 3,750, including 936 fawns, in 1936; 4,092, including 1,181 fawns, in 1937; 4,631, including 1,281 fawns, in 1938.
In December 1938, about 950 deer were separated from the main herd and transferred to a location in the vicinity of the Anderson River. This became the nucleus of a new herd under the management of Eskimos under government supervision, and the following yea d ^ r ^ it had increased to 1,196. A roundup, in August 1940, showed that the new herd numbered 1,559 animals, including 448 fawns. Meanwhile, the main herd on Richards Island and grown by 1940 to 5,076, including 1,486 fawns, despite the reduction in 1938.
The training of young natives as herders proceeded, and a second subsidiary herd was started in 1940. To qualify as independent herders the Eskimos had to serve as apprentices for three years, then they received the deer under a lending arrangement subject to the return of a similar number

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of animals as the herds increased.
Both the training program and the industry itself suffered a serious setback in 1944, when the custodians of the native herds, together with their families and a white supervisor, lost their lives in the wreck of a schooner in a storm off the arctic coast. The native herds became scattered, and all the animals that could be recovered were maintained as a government unit in the Anderson River area.
The reindeer industry in northwestern Canada is still in its infancy, and the main concern is to train young natives as herders and at the same time build up new breeding stock. Still, there has been available for dis– posal each year a number of surplus animals, chiefly steers and old does. About 300 deer in the main herd have been slaughtered annually for food and clothing. The slaughtering operations have been conducted for the most part in the late autumn and early winter, the meat being distributed mainly to the mission hospitals and residential schools in the Mackenzie Delta. ^ The remainder of the meat goes far relief and camp purposes, with a limited quality for local sale. ^
Fawn skins which become available at the annual roundup, usually from injured or defective animals, are turned into parkas and other clothing for the herders. Experiments in tanning have been carried on with hides from mature animals. Some of the skins of adult reindeer killed for food have been shipped as far as the Canadian Eastern Arctic, when caribou were scarce, to be used for bedding and the making of winter clothing.
In the spring the main herd is moved from the winter range to the coastal area, where fawning occurs between the first of April and early June. This interlude is followed by the driving of the deer over the ice to the northern part of Richards Island, where the winds help to lessen the scourge of flies. Later the deer are shifted gradually toward the corralling

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grounds. The roundup is usually held during the last week of July, and, if the winter is favorable, finishes within four or five days. Afterward the herd grazes over the summer range until it is once more assembled for the annual slaughter of surplus stock.
All herders share in an annual bonus of fifty cents per head. Two men are usually on duty concurrently, each having a dog to help him, for a period of 24 hours, at the end of which time they are relieved. Under ordinary conditions the herder’s life is fairly placid, but it [: ] becomes strenuous during emergencies such as storms, or the threat of wolves; and when the herd must be transferred from one range to another, or rounded up.
Two of the Lapp herders returned to Norway in 1936 and 1938, but the third has remained. In the first years of the building up of the herd all of the Eskimos employed or apprenticed belonged to the Mackenzie Delta, but, with the placing of native herds farther east, young Coronation Gulf Eskimos were encouraged to take training.
The Canadian reindeer industry was beset with problems from the first, of which the most formidable were not with the deer themselves but rather with people. While capable white men can be found to act as supervisors, it is always hard to maintain a full complement of native herders and apprentices.
This difficulty was anticipated as long ago as 1920 by Dr. Diamond Jenness, Chief of the Division of Anthropology, National Museum of Canada, when he appeared before the Royal Commission and stated that he was not sure that it would be an easy task to convert the Eskimos into efficient herders. He pointed out that while they were intelligent and trustworthy, they had always been hunters and fishermen, and as long as caribou and fish

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and seal were plentiful they might not readily turn to herding. If game became scarce, however, he thought that they would develop into herders as Eskimos had done in Alaska.
He did not mention the further complication of fur trapping which in those days was still a minor occupation of the Eskimos. In succeeding years the Mackenzie Delta Eskimos, particularly, trapped white foxes almost to the exclusion of hunting, and a number of them became comparatively wealthy. Such people have been reluctant to forego opportunities to make quick profits with foxes in favor of long-term investment in reindeer herds.
Familiar complaints of native herds are that they are onerously tied down to their deer, with no time for trapping or even putting up enough dog feed, and that they are obliged to hire other Eskimos to help them but lack the means to pay them. To cap the climax, from their point of view, the number of deer they may slaughter is rigidly restricted. The principles of conservation are hard for them to grasp.
^ { ^The successful continuation and expansion of the reindeer industry will therefore depend on the employment of an ample number of keen and competent white supervisors, careful over-all management, and a suitable program of education for the natives, plus a profitable market for meat and hides to keep pace with the expanding herds. ^ } ^
Richard Finnie
Reindeer Breeding in U.S.S.R.

EA-Zoology (V. J. Tereshtenko)

REINDEER BREEDING IN THE U.S.S.R.
CONTENTS

Scroll Table to show more columns

Page
Definition and Classification 1
Historical Background 5
Reindeer Breeding Before the 1917 Revolution 14
Reindeer Breeding After the Revolution 17
Reindeer Herding 24
Utilization of the Reindeer 28
Draft Animals 30
Meat 37
By-Products 40
Bibliography 44

EA-Zoology (V. J. Tereshtenko)

REINDEER BREEDING IN THE U.S.S.R.
Definition and Classification
The English term “reindeer breeding” is liable to misinterpretation when applied to conditions in the Soviet Union, and may easily cause con– fusion among foreign students who do not have sufficient mastery of the Russian language or do not inform themselves as to views on the zoological classification of reindeer.
There are two sources of possible confusion, the first of which comes from Russian terminology and nomenclature applied to reindeer breeding. Berthold Laufer, in The Reindeer and Its Domestication (27), falls victim to this difficulty, for he complains that the Russians do not discriminate between stag and reindeer, calling both indifferently olen . But any Russian-English dictionary indicates that olen means “deer” in English. The English word “reindeer” and its equivalents in other languages are translated into Russian by adding a qualifying word to olen . Thus “reindeer” in Russian is severnyiolen , which literally means “northern deer.” The only Russian equivalent of the term “reindeer breeding” is olenevodstvo , the ending vodstvo implying the breeding or cultivation of something, thus the word may signify the breeding of any deer. As a matter of fact, in

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the territory of the U.S.S.R. the breeding of other species of deer as well as reindeer has been developed. Accordingly, although the word olenevodstvo often conveys the meaning of “reindeer breeding,” this is not always the case, and therefore if taken out of context the word may lead to misunderstanding.
A second source of possible confusion to the foreign student of Soviet reindeer breeding is the lack of precision in the existing classification of reindeer in Russian literature and even more so in the works about reindeer written outside of Russia.
For instance, the first 16 reindeer purchased in 1891 for the introduction of reindeer breeding in Alaska, and the second group of 171 purchased in 1892. were obtained from Cape Sertse Kamen and South Head, Siberia. The initiator of the plan was Dr. Sheldon Jackson, United States General Agent of Education in Alaska. Lieutenant B. P. Bertholf was later sent by Jackson to purchase reindeer, with instructions to get a better breed than those “usually met with on the northeast coast of Siberia.” In the report on his mission, Bertholf stated that the Tungus deer “are much larger and sturdier and have longer legs than the deer of the northeast coast of Siberia”, that “the interior Chukchi and those some distance to the west of the east cape have deer which are larger than those on the coast”; and that Koriak deer are smaller. In the light of the modern zoological classification, Bertholf’s mention of the “Tungus deer” may perhaps be interpreted as a reference to reindeer which are described by Soviet zoologists as a subspecies rather than a “better breed”.
Rangifer , the genus which in English commonly includes all species of of domestic and wild reindeer and caribou, but which is treated by some Soviet writers as a species, is represented in the Soviet Far North by Rangifer tarandus , the Russian severnyi olen . Within this group the following subgroups

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are distinguished, the Russian equivalents of the Latin names being formed by adding one or two qualifying adjectives to severnyi olen: ( 1 ) Rangifer tarandus tarandus , an inhabitant of Lapland and eastern European taiga ; ^ , ^ Laplandskii severn ^ y ^ i olen in Russian; ( 2 ) Rangifer tarandus pearsoni , which is found on Novaya Zemlya and called Novozemelskii severnyi olen in Russian; ( 3 ) Rangifer tarandus sibiricus , or Sibirskii tundrovyi severnyi olen , in Russian (Siberian tundra reindeer); it lives in the eastern European and Siberian tundra, on the Novosibirskie Islands, and sometimes is found also in the nor h thern taiga; ( 4 ) Rangifer tarandus valentinae , an inhabitant of the woodland area of Siberia and Ural up to Tataria in the west, northern Mongolia in the south, and the Stanovoi Range in the east; it is called Sibirskii lesnoy severnyi olen (Siberian woodland reindeer) in Russian; ( 5 ) Rangifer tarandus phylarehus , found on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the coast of Okhotsk Sea, in the Amur region, and called Okhotskii severnyi olen in Russian; ( 6 ) Rangifer tarandus setoni , Sakhalinskii olen in Russian; it is met on the island of Sakhalin; ( 7 ) Rangifer tarandus angustrirostris , found in the mountains of the Transbaikal region, and in the Barguzin Range in particular, its Russian name is Barguzinskii severnyi olen .
The wild reindeer does not occur between the middle course of the Yenisei and that of the Ob. It is found on Sakhalin, but not in the center of Yakutia. It is found also on Novaya Zemlya, Vaigach, and the islands of Novosibirskie, Belyi, and Medvezhii. In the past, the bor ^ d ^ er line went farther south than that of the present time and reached such cities in C ^ E ^ uropean Russia as Novgorod and Kazan, and the middle course of the Kama.
As in the whole deer family, reindeer horns differ from those of other

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ruminants in being solid, generally branched, shed, and renewed annually. In contrast to other deer, the reindeer has antlers in both sexes, those of the males larger and more branched. In the early stages of growth they are soft and covered with a downy, vascular covering — the “velvet” — which later is shed, or rubbed off. The antlers are cast every year; the males usually cast them between November and December, the gelded reindeer and the yearlings from March to May, and the females in May and June. At first the growth of antlers proceeds slowly; toward the end of May, and especially in June, the antlers of the mature stags grow rapidly. It is said that in the whole kingdom of vertebrates there is no other tissue known which grows as rapidly as reindeer antlers (4). According to some observations made in the Pechora region, antlers grow at a rate of 0.39 inch and even as much as 0.79 inch a day at the beginning of June. Speaking of the antlers of Cervus elaphus , another species of the deer family, Maiseven (4), asserts that “their growth cannot be compared even with the growth of malignant tumors. It far exceeds the latter.”
Depending upon climatic conditions and food supply, reindeer differ considerably in weight and size. North of the tree line the reindeer is dark brown in color, short and stocky (the height being about 39 to 43 inches), but lighter in weight than the woodland reindeer which is long, big-framed, with long legs and narrow chest (height about 43 to 46 inches) and of steel-gray color. As a rule reindeer increase in weight from northwest to southeast. The Nentsi reindeer are smaller than those met in the Norilsk district, while the reindeer of the Tungus are much [: ] larger, weighing up to 330 pounds. On the northern slopes of the Saian Mountains ( Karagasskii olen ) [: ] it reaches a height of 55 inches. It is very strong, capable of carrying

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more than 200 pounds on its back over the most difficult roads. (According to data of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, the average reindeer in Alaska stands 42 to 44 inches high, measures 5 1/2 to 6 feet from nose to tip of tail, and has an average dressed weight around 150 pounds.^)^ The reindeer of the Tafalarsk district (Irkutsk region) is considered one of the strongest and largest. The weight of the male reaches 440 to 507 pounds, and it can easily carry a load of 175 to 220 pounds on its back. At the All-Union Exhibition in 1939-40, some 4-month fawns from the Tafalarsk district were shown weighing 185 pounds. The reindeer in Buriat-Mongolia, in the Amur region, and on the island of Sakhalin are also strong and larger than those of Yakutia. In the Chukhotsk district they are rather small, the carcass weighing 130 to 150 pounds. The reindeer of European Russian (such as those found in Malozemelskai Tundra, Bolshezemelskaia Tundra, and the Iamal s — Iamal reindeer) are a little larger than those of the Chukhotsk district but smaller than the Tafalarsk, Amur or Yakut reindeer. The average weight of the Kolguev reindeer is about 300 pounds for the buck and 250 pounds for the doe.
According to the views of some, the domestic reindeer of a given region are in size and other characteristics similar to the wild caribou (wild reindeer) of the same or neighboring districts.
Historical Background
The origin of reindeer breeding is still doubtful. According to some writers, it falls within historic times; by other investigators, domestication is believed to date from prehistoric time. D. M. Wilcken in his work on the history of domestic animals Grundzüge der Naturgeschichte der Haustiere

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(Leipzig, 1905), asserts that the domestication of reindeer occurred in prehistoric times. Recent Soviet investigators accept this, as in the article on reindeer breeding in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
There are many authors, however, who do not share the prehistoric theory. For instance, L. Reinhardt in his Kulturgeschichte der Nutztiere (Munich, 1912) maintained that the domestication of reindeer “could not have taken place much earlier than 500 years ago.” ^ Berthold Laufer for (27) suggests that ^ Reinhardt’s figure should be multiplied “at least by three.” Laufer concedes that the wild reindeer (caribou) was among the game hunted by Paleolithic man, but does not see any evidence that man of that age attempted to domesticate the animal. Laufer suggests that since the domesticated reindeer is lacking in aboriginal America, its domes– tication cannot be of very ancient date. Further proof of this, according to Laufer, is the fact that the classical authors, at least in western Europe, have left us no account whatever of the domesticated reindeer. The first good description of wild reindeer ( bos cervi figura ) under the name of tarandus , was by Julius Caesar. King Alfred of England (849-899) knew that in his time the Norwegians had domestic reindeer in the north of their country (26A).
Archaeological evidence does not shed much light on the question. In Scythian and Siberian antiquities of the Bronze Age, as well as on burial stones in Mongolia, figures of elk have been found, but they are shown as wild animals, and no representation of domestic reindeer accompanied by men has yet been discovered.
The question of where the first domestication began leaves less room for speculation than the question of time. It is true that the wild reindeer or caribou had formerly a much wider geographical range than at present. Its remains are found associated with hippopotami in Pleistocene formations much

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farther south in Europe than the location of the Hercynian forests, where they we e ^ r ^ e found by Caesar. All investigators agree that the domesticated reind d ^ e ^ er was the cultural property of the Old World and the domestication of the animal occurred somewhere in the territory which may be described at present as the Soviet North, together with the adjoining region of Lake Baikal. A former popular notion that the animals were tamed at first only by the inhabitants of the northern plains was banished long ago. Laufer (27) considered that “the records referring to the woodland reindeer are much older than those pertaining to the tundra reindeer of the maritime coasts,” and that “the woodland reindeer is the first in point of time to be domesticated and spread from the south into other regions, gradually developing into the tundra reindeer through infusion with the blood of wild forms of the tundra.” There is no historic evidence that reindeer breeding was restricted to a certain ethnic group. Apparently it was bound originally to certain localities with a suitable floristic environment.
The earliest records in existence containing references to the domestic– cated reindeer are Chinese. The Chinese were well acquainted with tribes in the north and northwest of their country, and although no Chinese author of the pre-Christian era made any allusions to reindeer, a story dating back to 499 A.D. contains such a reference. It was found in the Annals of the Liang dynasty ( Liang shu , ch. 54, p. 12) in a story told by the Buddhist monk, Huei Shen. In 499 A.D., J ^ H ^ uei Shen returned after a long journey to the Liang and gave a fabulous account of the land of “Fu-sang,” allegedly located far from the “northeastern ocean.” He reported that in Fu-sang people had vehicles drawn by horses, oxen, and stags, that they raised deer as oxen were reared in China, and that cream was made from deer milk. The

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whole description of the land of Fu-sang is considered a concoction placed together from heterogenous ^ ^ elements without any coherent geographical value, nevertheless, the allusion to reindeer is accepted as authentic. Since the breeding of horses, cattle, and reindeer ^ ^ is found concurrently only in the Baik e ^ a ^ l region, there is every reason to identify the oldest Chinese account of the tame reindeer with the culture of that region.
The Annals of the T’ang dynasty (618-906) contain another reference to reindeer breeding. Speaking of the tribe Wu-huan, which lived either east or southeast of Lake Baikal, the Annals state that those people “have neither sheep nor horses, but keep reindeer [stags] in the manner of cattle or horses. These animals subsist only on moss. They are trained to draw sledges [carts]. Moreover, reindeer skins are utilized as material for clothing.” ( T’and shu , ch. 217 B, pp. 7a-b).
Marco Polo’s travels also contain s a reference to reindeer. Speaking about a tribe called Mescript, he states: “They are a very wild race and live by ^ ^ their cattle, the most of which are stags and these stags, I assure you, are used to ride upon.” (Yule and Cardier. The Book of S e ^ i ^ r Marco Polo , Vol. I., p. 269). Marco Polo’s “Mescript” is identified with the Merkit in the country of Barga, near Lake Baikal.
In the history of the Mongols, written by the Persian historian Rash i ^ ī ^ d al-D i ^ ī ^ n in 1302, an allusion to reindeer breeding is understood by some specialists in the text where the author speaks of a tribe, “Woodland Uryangkit,” living in the o forests northeast of Lake Baikal. While the oldest Chinese records refer to reindeer breeding in the Baikal region, the Annals of the Mongol dynasty of the thirteenth century mention the existence of the domesticated reindeer at the source of the Yenisei and east of the

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river “Wu-se” (Is), an affluent of the Yenisei. ( Yuan shi , ch. 42, 63, p. 32 B; K’ien-lung ed.). These Annals speak of the Kirgiz living on the upper Yenisei, and mention a small territory “Han-ho-ha,” apparently inhabited likewise by the Kirgiz: “This region is accessible only over two mountain passes and abounds in wild game, while domestic animals are scarce….They transport their chattels on white deer and consume the milk of this deer.”
The Chinese noticed that reindeer were used also by the Tungusian tribe Oroci. The memoirs of the Manchu Tulishen’s embassy to the Kalmyk (1712-1715) describe briefly the reindeer among the Tungus living in the region of Irkutsk (G.T. Staunton, Narrative of the Chinese Embassy to the Khan of the Tourgouth Tartars ^ ) ^ . For the Yakuts the reindeer was a secondary acquisition. According to some historical records, the Yakuts were driven from the grass– lands near the Caspian and Aral seas by the Mongols of Genghis Khan and brought to the land of present Soviet Yakutia the steppe dwellers’ made of life. Their domestic animals were the horse and cow, while reindeer breeding was adopted by them from the Tungus. The Yakuts used to call e reindeer “Tungusian foreign cattle” and asserted that the Tungus were acquainted with no other domestic animals. (V. L. Seroshevski, Yakuty , vol. 1, pp. 146,307.) Historically, reindeer breeding has never occupied an important place in the culture of the Tungus and has spread mainly in the northern districts of Yakutia. The Yakuts did not adopt milking the reindeer and killed the animals for meat only on rare occasions.
Regarding the western centers of reindeer breeding in the Soviet North, the earliest reference is contained in the narrative of the Norseman Otter (Ohthere), who “said to his lord, King Alfred, that he dwelt farthes e ^ t ^ north

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of all Norsemen.” Around 870 A.D. ^ , ^ Ottar (26A) undertook several voyages in the course of which he navigated the White Sea, reached the south coast of the Kola Peninsula and became acquainted with the old Permians of the present northeast of European Russia. The account of Ottar’s travels is included in an Anglo-Saxon translation of the Hormista of Paulus Orosius and contains the following statement: “He [Ottar] was a very rich man in those possessions in which their wealth consists, that is, in wild animals. He still had when he came to the king, 600 tame deer, unsold. These deer they call ‘reindeer’; six of them were decoy-dear; these are much prized among the Finns [Lapps] because they capture wild deer with them.” (Alfred the Great. The Anglo-Saxon Version from the Historian Orosius. London, 1773).
No references to domesticated reindeer are found in the Finnish national epic poem, Kale y ^ v ^ ala , although the elk and caribou are mentioned in songs dating from a time prior to the Finns’ Christianization in 1151 A.D. Among the Russian sources, probably the earliest reference to reindeer is made in a document relating to 1499 (I.V. Shcheglov. Chronologicheskii perechen vazhneishikh dannykh iz istorii Sibiri 1032-1882 ; Published by the East Siberian Section of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, Irkutsk, 1883, p. 12). In that year, Ivan the Great decided to complete the subjugation of “Yugra” - the territory of the Ural Mountains, inhabited by Vogul and other Ugrian tribes - and sent a military expedition there. In the description of this expedition, the following statements are found [translation]: “The military chiefs [voivody] slew 50 men of the Samoyed [Nentsi] on the Rock and captured 200 reindeer. …Proceeding from Lyapino they met the Yugor princes who came on reindeer from Obdor; from Lyapino the military chiefs traveled on reindeer; the army, however, on dogs.” (Lyapino, later called)

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Vorulsk, was a small town on the banks of the Sygma; Obdor was a settlement not far from the mouth of the Ob; “Rock” was a designation of the Ural; the distance covered from the Rock to Lyapino was about 290 miles.) This document makes it clear that the Uralic Ugrians wee acquainted with the domesticated reindeer at the end of the fifteenth century. Mention of domesticated reindeer is made in the epic traditions of Irtysh-Ostiak, traced to a period from the fourteenth to the fifteenth centuries (S. Patkov. Die Irtysch-Ostjaken ).
The credit for bringing the reindeer from Asia to C ^ E ^ urope is usually attributed to the Nentsi [Samoyeds] whom Laufer calls “the most skillful and successful reindeer breeders.” Their language has a very specialized nomenclature of reindeer and the equipment pertaining to reindeer breeding, and has special terms denoting the gelded and ungelded male, wild, domesticated, and hornless animals, calves (fawns) in various stages of growth, etc. Among the Nentsi, as among the Ostiaks, on sacrificial holidays the reindeer was slaughtered in honor of the gods. They also adopted, like all other reindeer- breeding tribes, the use of property marks for the purpose of recognizing their animals. While Chukchi used to bite a piece out of the fawns’ ears for this purpose, the Nentsi, Tungus and others cut marks on the ears of their reindeer. These tribes display [: ] great skill in lassoing the reindeer.
As to reindeer driving, it apparently developed as an imitation of driving dog sledges, which for centuries had been a distinctive method of transport– tation among such tribes of Eastern Siberia as the Koriaks, Kamchadals, Giliaks, and Yenisei-Ostiaks. An old statement regarding the use of reindeer with sledges is found in the information on Siberia gathered from oral accounts by the Jesuit Philippe Avril who visited Moscow in 1664, having

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been commissioned by the King of France to discover a new land route into China: “To make the reine-deer go more swiftly they tie a great dog behind, that scaring the poor beast with his barking, sets her a running d with his barking, sets her a running with that speed, as to draw her burthen no less than forty leagues a day. …But that which is more wonderful as to these sort of sledges, they are driven along by the wind sometimes over the land cover’d with snow, sometimes over the ice of frozen rivers, as our vessels that sail upon the sea. For in regard the country beyond Siberia is open and extremely level as far as Mount Caucassus, the people who inhabit it making use of this advantage to spare their beasts, have so order’d their sleds, as either to b y ^ e ^ drawn along by the reine-deer, or else to carry sails, when the wind favours ‘em.” (Jesuit Philippe Avril. Voyage en divers etats d’Europe et d’Asie . Utrecht, 1673, Paris, 1692. Also published in English under the title “ Travels into Divers Parts of Europe and Asia ”, London, 1693.)
The custom of decorating riding deer with ribbons to which glass beads or buttons are sewn has been widespread among the natives of Siberia, par– ticularly the Tungus. It has continued until modern times and as recently as September 1950, the Soviet Weekly reported on the traditional “Reindeer Day” festival held in the Nenets National Territory, at which the competition for the best decorated animals and sledges was a part of the program.
According to Laufer, reindeer breeding spread westward from the Nentsi to the Ugrian tribes of the Ural and the Lapps, and eastward to the Tungusians, from the latter to the Yakut, Chukchi, and Koriak. When the Nentsi moved northward beyond the forest, they took along their woodland reindeer. Their old stocks were gradually replenished by capturing the northern caribou, until a point was reached when the better bread predominated.

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Soviet scientists, in their attempts to determine the original area of the domestication of the reindeer, are less definite in their conclusions than were some of their western colleagues, particularly [: ] Laufer. For instance, volume 43 of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1939) states that the question of indicating the exact region where the reindeer were originally domesticated is highly controversial; the “two oldest centers of reindeer breeding” established with certainty are the Nymylanskoe in eastern Asia, and the Nenets in the west. The Soviet scientists also consider it proved that the larger ethnic groups of the north adopted reindeer breeding from the smaller tribes; the Yakuts took it from the Evenki, the Komi from the Nenets, etc.
Perhaps one reason for the doubt displayed by Soviet explorers regard– ing the origin of reindeer breeding is the confusion of names applied by historians to various reindeer breeding tribes of the Far North. Early Russian traders often gave these tribes names which were really terms of derision. Only in recent years have the correct names been restored or established with the help of modern ethnography and better knowledge of local languages and dialects. For instance the word “Samoyeds,” mentioned as early as 1096 in the Old Russian chronicle of Nestor, actually means “people who devour one another.” The tribe called Nentsi, living at present on the shores of the Arctic Sea, from the Mezen River to the Taimyr, constitute apparently the bulk of former “Semoyeds.” These Nentsi, however, should be distinguished from Nentsi (Gods) living in the Far East. Possibly also some of the Ostiaks should be included in the group of former “Samoyeds.” Some [: ] of the supposed old tribal names proved to be simply the native words designating “men” or “people.” Chukchi living in the Soviet Chukotsk-National

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District were recently renamed the Luoravetlans, since, “Chukchi” simply means “rich in reindeer.”
It has been said that reindeer are less dependent on man than other domestic animals such as horses and cattle. This is largely a matter of adaptation to environment. The reindeer respon ^ d ^ s to care and feeding as other animals do, but it is at home in arctic and subarctic regions; it can find its own food if necessary, and it requires no shelter from the cold, while sheep and cattle imported from warmer climates require stabling and other care. Large herds of cattle and sheep do live through severe winters on the plains of the western United States without shelter, but every now and then, in bad winters, the losses are severe.
Reindeer Breeding Before the 1917 Revolution
As an organized industry, reindeer breeding did not exist in Imperial Russia before the Revolution. It was considered an occupation of the primitive tribes who inhabited the Far North and the Russians did not display active interest in its study or development. When Lieutenant Berthof visited St. Petersburg on his assignment to purchase the reindeer for Alaska, he “was astonished at the apparent lack of information at the government’s disposal regarding reindeer matters in Siberia…. It was impossible to find out h where the deer were or the number of deer, and I got the impression that the officials didn’t much care.”
The Great Encyclopedia of F. A. Brockhaus and I. E. Efron, published in St. Petersburg in 1897, indicates that in 1888-89 the reindeer herds in Russia amounted to 533,000 head; of these 263,000 were in European Russia, 198,000 in Siberia, and 72,000 in the principality of Finland. In 1893, the

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number of reindeer in the Archangel Region was 270,000 and it increased to 367,128 in 1895.
A 1914 publication of the Resettlement Administration of the Imperial Government (22) stated that “There is no exact figure available as to how many natives in Siberia are engaged in reindeer breeding and what number of the reindeer they possess.” According to this source there were about 1,100,000 reindeer in Russian Asia in 1906; of these 515,000 were in two districts of the Tobolsk region, 95,360 in the Yeniseisk region (mostly in the Turukhansk district), 287,000 in four districts of the Yakutsk region, 176,000 in the Primorsk region (including Kamchatka), 2,000 in the Narymsk district of the Tomsk region, 2,400 in the Irkutsk region, about 1,500 in the Transbaikal region, and also a small number in the Amur region. “Neverthe– less,” states the above source, “these figures are not reliable and actually there should be many more reindeer, since the count was not made everywhere.”
The number of reindeer in Yakutia dropped to 120,900 by 1911, such decreases having occurred often owing to a complete lack of zootechnical and veterinary facilities, depletion of pastures, and frequent outbreaks of various epizootics. The “Siberian plague” (anthrax) was a real scourge to reindeer breeders, in the Bolshezemelskaia Tundra alone, 76,000 animals died of disease in 1898, 200,000 in 1907, and 100,000 in 1911.
Some influential Russians were concerned for the welfare of the reindeer industry. There were, for instance, the nineteenth-century projects of Senator Unterberg and N. L. Gondatti (later Governor-General of the Priamur region) aiming at the encouragement of reindeer breeding.
In the early 1900’s, the Russian government forbade the exportation of reindeer to Alaska after the first few purchases (1,280 head) made by the

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United States government. The reason for this unexpected veto has never been explained; It may have reflected the apprehension of the Russian government that further exports on an increasing scale could have depleted the East Siberian herd with damaging effects on the natives’ economy, or it may have been part of a general plan to discourage non-Russians from attempts to build up a commerce with the natives of northeastern Siberia.
Shortly before the end of the Imperial regime, there occurred a dramatic episode connected with the utilization of reindeer (25). In 1915 the Russian government was hastily building the new port of Murmansk and the railroad across the Kola Peninsula in order to arrange a channel of transportation for munitions and supplies coming from the western Allies, of which Russia was critically in need. As early as November 1915, a question was raised in St. Petersburg as to how the cargoes from Murmansk could be delivered to Rovaniemi, the nearest railway station in Finland, before the railroad con– struction was finished. Rovaniemi was roughly 150 miles from Kandalaksha, a Russian town approximately 135 miles south of Murmansk. About 12 miles of the railway line was already built from Kandalaksha toward Murmansk by January 1916. Under the auspices of the Department of the Navy, a meeting was called in Archangel to discuss with local businessmen the possibility of using reindeer. The consensus was that reindeer transportation would be too expensive and impractical. A navy captain named Roshakovski did not agree with the majority. With the help of a local man he made an investigation and reported his conclusions to the Tsar. All precedents were broken and he obtained official permission to use reindeer and an appropriation for the project.
In the meantime a few British ships loaded with munitions anchored in

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Murmansk, being unable to proceed to Archangel. On January 1 6 ^ 5 ^ , 1916, Roshakovski was back in Murmansk and on the same day the loading of the cargo on sledges began. About 15,000 reindeer with an adequate number of drivers was drafted. Day and night the caravans of sledges were dispatched from Murmansk under the supervision of noncommissioned officers, with one, two, or four reindeer carrying each sledge loaded with boxes of munitions. The reindeer were driven about 45 miles without rest and then released to pasture, while fresh reindeer assembled at established points were harnessed. At times 20 reindeer trains were in circulation. At a point reached by the railway under construction, the cargo was loaded on cars, delivered to Kandalaksha 12 miles away, again reloaded on sledges and carried to Rovaniemi. Some cargo was shipped directly to Petrozavodsk, over 500 miles south of Murmansk, but that distance proved to be too long. By the middle of April the thaw– ing of the snow interrupted this unusual transportation. By that time, however, the reindeer had delivered to the Russian army 250,000 rifles with adequate quantities of cartridges and a great quantity of hand grenades. It was revealed later that about 1,000 reindeer died as a result of exhaustion in the course of the spectacular performance.
Reindeer Breeding after the Revolution
The first years after the Revolution of 1917 did not create conditions especially favorable for the reindeer husbandry. Although there are con– siderable discrepancies among the available statistics, the depletion of stocks by 1933 is evident. Between 1926 and 1933, the reindeer of the U.S.S.R. decreased from 2,193,000 to 1,931,000 (P. V. Orlovski, “Agriculture in the Far North”, in Sovetski Sever , 1933, no.2, p.15). This reflects the general decline of Soviet animal husbandry in 19 3 ^ 2 ^ 9-33 as a result of

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collectivization and violent resentment to it on the side of the wealthier groups of the rural population (kulaks). Also, continuous losses from various diseases had their effect. For instance, in 1926-27 in the Kamchatsk region and on the Okhotsk coast 5% and 4.6%, respectively, of the reindeer were lost because of various diseases, while 1.8% and 3.0% disappeared from “unknown reasons.”
After 1939 the Soviet government ceased the regular release of statistics in absolute figures. The available statistics are usually given in percentages showing changes in comparison with a certain year for which no absolute figures are known. This makes it very difficult to estimate the present reindeer population of the U.S.S.R. or to determine the number of animals from year to ^ ^ year. Nevertheless, an attempt is made here to arrive at the figures sought. Table I may give an approximate picture of the reindeer stocks of the U.S.S.R. in 1933-36.
^ The ^ Great Soviet Encyclopedia states that in 1937 the U.S.S.R. possessed about 70% of the world’s reindeer population which were bred on an area of about 11,000,000 square kilometers; that year the share of Alaska was 16% and that of Scandinavia 14%. In 1948 the same Encyclopedia indicated that the total number of reindeer in the U.S.S.R. at the beginning of 1940 equaled “approximately 2,000,000” (against 2,138,000 arrived at in Table I.) The increase of reindeer after 1943 was interrupted by World War II. The war increased the demand for reindeer meat and consequently caused greater slaughter of the animals; also it led to the drafting of many experienced herdsmen.

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Scroll Table to show more columns

Table I. Reindeer Stocks of the U.S.S.R. a
Year In % of 1933 herd In millions
1933 100.0 1,615
1934 104.2 1,683
1935 110.5 1,785
1936 117.0 1,890
1937 122.9 1,985
1938 128.1 2,069
1939 130.8 2,112
1940 132.4 2,138
1941 133.3 2,153
1942 123.3 1,991
1943 118.2 1,909
1944 118.8 1,919
1945 119.8 1,935
1946 129.8 2,096
1
Table II gives a picture of the prewar distribution of reindeer herds in the Asiatic portion of the Far North:

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Table II. Reindeer in the Asiatic Far North (13).
Geographical regions 1926 1933 1937 1938 (according to the plan)
^Ob ^ Sever: 438,000 303,800 418,300 454,700
Ostiako-Vogul district 128,000 92,000 74,200 80,700
Yamalo-Nenets district 310,000 211,000 344,100 374,000
Narym district 5,000 --- 3,000 3,300
Yenisei Sever: 179,000 124,800 152,800 169,000
Taimyr district 119,000 61,300 80,300 90,000
Evenk district 49,000 52,200 57,100 63,100
Igarka and Turukhansk counties 11,000 11,300 12,700 ---
Yakutian A.S.S.R. 118,000 142,100 167,300 194,100
Khabarovsk Sever 857,900 578,000 610,900 669,000
Total 1,597,900 1,148,700 1,352,300 1,490,100
In 1940 the centers of reindeer breeding in the Asiatic Far North were the northern districts of the Khabarovsk and Omsk regions. The industry was less developed in Yeniseisk Sever and in Yakutia, where about 80% of the reindeer were found in the 16 northern districts (about 16% of the Yakutian reindeer are in the Aldan district). In the Narymsk district it was of no economic importance. Of the 610,900 reindeer in the Khabarovsk Sever in 1937, 498,000 or 80.2% were in the Kamchatka region (not so much, however, on the Kamchatka Peninsula itself) while only a little over 2% were on the island of Sakhalin. In the Chukhotsk district reindeer numbered 537,000 in 1934, while by 1940 about 62% of all the reindeer of the Asiatic Far North were concentrated here (13). No recent data are available on the value of reindeer production in rubles. In 1926-27 the total gross value of the products was given at 1,097,000 rubles.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

In the Murmansk district, within its post-1920 frontiers, there were 74,000 reindeer in 1914, the figure dropped to 28,300 in 1921 and then increased to 54,000 in 1934. It was established that this stock would reach 82,000 in 1938, of which about 10,000 would be in the industrial district of Murmansk itself.
Attempts with domestic reindeer in Novaya Zemlya before the Revolution were unsuccessful, although wild reindeer are found here in great numbers. The first attempts to develop the industry here were made in 1928 by Sevkraigostorg (the Trading Office for the Northern Regions). This organi– zation sent a large herd of reindeer with an adequate number of herdsmen to Novaya Zemlya but lack of knowledge of the local conditions prevented success. When the Soviet Academy of Science came to the assistance of the local state farm in 1930, progress was made, especially after the 1932 survey of pastures. No data are available regarding the number of reindeer in Novaya Zemlya at present.
After the Revolution, one of the first undertakings of the Soviet authorities was an attempt to improve the bread, and to organize a scientific crusade against those diseases which were periodically depleting the herds and badly damaging the products of the reindeer industry. (For instance, one parasite, the warble fly ( Oedemagena tarandi ), sometimes depreciated the value of reindeer hides 75 to 80%.) A number of special studies were undertaken for the prevention of epizootics, veterinary facilities were provided on an ever-growing scale, mass vaccination of the reindeer was introduced, and experimental breeding farms were organized. In 1932 the Reindeer T o ^ r ^ ust opened courses to provide specialists in reindeer breeding; subsequently a number of technical schools were opened for the same purpose.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

In the course of the First Five-Year Plan over 120 zootechnical and veterinarian aid posts were opened. As early as 1924 two special labora– tories were established in Salekhard and Izhma and assigned the task of studying methods of fighting anthrax. Later studies on the prevention of reindeer diseases were carried out by the Institute of Urogravidantherapy. It is reported that such diseases as anthrax no longer threaten the reindeer of the Soviet North.
In 1931 a special Institute of Reindeer Breeding was founded in Leningrad. It sponsors various projects to foster reindeer breeding, conducts research work, organizes expeditions to the Far North in order to study local condi– tions of husbandry, publishes literature on the subject, etc. Since 1936 the institute has functioned as a branch of the All-Union Institute of Polar Agriculture.
In 1936 Glavsevmorput (Northern Sea Route Administration) submitted to the government a project for the establishment of three scientific research institutes at Obdorsk, Igarka, and Yakutsk for the study of agriculture and animal husbandry in the Arctic. Within the framework of these institutions 14 district stations were to be opened, to embrace all Yakutia and the northern sections of the Ob-Irtysk and the Yenisei regions. This network of scientific institutions was to study the native animals, work on the problems of reindeer transportation, and train specialists from among the natives.
On the eve of World War II, 4 regional stations and 5 zootechnical bases in the Far North were devoting their work to the d problems of rein– deer husbandry exclusively. An inventory of better-bred stocks was taken in some districts, and the method of artificial insemination has been applied.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

Concentrated fodders and portable corrals are used effectively in many places. Methods of more efficient protection of reindeer against wild animals, the wolf in particular, were studied. (In 1926-27 approximately 75,000 reindeer were victims of wild animals.) A special set of rules for reindeer breeding was worked out and decreed by the government, these decrees regulate the use of pastures, prescribe the obligatory zootechnical and veterinary measures, etc. A periodical called The Soviet Reindeer Industry is published several times a year, and is devoted to various problems of reindeer husbandry and technology
State farms and collective farms are considered by the Soviet govern– ment as the main channels for application of the achievements of science and better methods in reindeer breeding, and mass collectivization in the Far North began in 1929. However, the private segment in animal husbandry has been for years more important in the North than in any other part of the U.S.S.R.; this is especially g true regarding reindeer breeding in the most northern districts of the Asiatic Far North. In 1937, 85.5% of the reindeer on the Chukhotsk Peninsula and 59% of the ones in the Khabarovsk Sever were still the individual property of the natives. By January 1, 1937, 19 collective farms had been established by Glavsevmorput. Of “about 2,000,000 reindeer” indicated by the Great Soviet Encyclopedia for 1940, 436,000 are listed as the property of collective farms, while those of the state farms is estimated at 243,000. A 1939 publication of the Gosplan listed 36 “rein– deer state farms.” One of the largest of them is in Novaya Zemlya. Some of the reindeer state farms received from the government an allotment of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 hectares of land.
It was reported that the best collective farms achieved considerable

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

success in the annual increases of their herds. These farms contributed also to better organization of reindeer transportation. At present the reindeer farms interested in incomes from transportation services submit their claims to the local district administration, which works out a plan of transportation operations and allocates the demand among the collective farms; then, according to the plan, orders for the required number of reindeer, sledges, drivers, etc., are issued.
Reindeer Herding
Efficient methods of herding and proper utilization of pastures constitute the basis for successful reindeer breeding. Almost 68% of the northern prairie is considered suitable for pasture in the summer; of this 39% is also suitable for winter grazing. At the end of summer the rein– deer are driven southward toward the forest border. In spring a northward shift takes place. Such seasonal drives in the Bolshezemelskaia Tundra sometimes take s the reindeer more than 300 miles to the south. At the Lena the distance between the extreme points of movement is usually from 110 to 125 miles.
Approximately 400 far northern plants, that is, about one-third of all plants known there, may be used by the reindeer as fodder; lichens are especially important, for they preserve their nourishing value all year round, which makes them the important winter food. The animals, perhaps by their sense of smell, find the lichens underneath the snow and uncover them by pawing. Some lichens, however, grow only 0.3 to 0.4 centi– meter a year. It may take ten years before they re-establish themselves on overgrazed land; hence overgrazing presents one of the chief difficulties

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

to reindeer breeders.
In the U.S.S.R. a systematic investigation of lichen growth was first undertaken by two stations of the Institute of Reindeer Breeding, Salaskin (at Oksino on the Kola Peninsula) and Igoshina (at Labytnang on the lower course of the Ob). This study made it possible to work out a theoretical basis for choice of pasturage. Grazing should not exceed a certain limit; a sufficient quantity of viable lichen bases must be left for recovery of the pasture. Also the propagation of such valuable and comparatively quick– growing fodder lichens as Cladonia rengifera and [: ] C. uncialis is practiced.
In 1932 the institute made surveys of pastures, sometimes from the air, and grazing grounds were divided by the government so as to avoid overgrazing. From 40 to 70 hectares of pasture per year is required for each reindeer, according to Soviet sources. (The United States Dept. of Agriculture studies of carrying capacity of pastures made by pasturing reindeer within fences in Alaska indicate 33 acres as the minimum year-long grazing area requirement for one reindeer.) Such norms made it possible to establish the capacity of each territory and apportion the number of rein– deer accordingly. The haphazard movement of peoples and herds were brought under control. Long journeys from winter to summer feeding grounds were reduced to a minim.
Reindeer have natural periods of loss and gain, with some variations dependent on age, sex, and castration. Winter is generally their lean season, while during summer they fatten, gaining as much as 3/4 of a pound a day in the Malozemelskaia Tundra. The increase in weight at peak-condition periods reaches as much as 60 pounds in steers and 40 to 50 pounds in other animals.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

In winter the reindeer spend about 11 hours a day feeding. They may be maintained in good condition on cultivated fodder, such as hay, grain, fish, and bone flour. Over 13 pounds of fodder is required daily by a nonworking animal. About 4 pounds of salt a year is consumed by reindeer in pasture and 5 pounds in a feed lot. During World War II, when reindeer were used on the northernmost front, artificial fodders proved to be very useful.
Reindeer are herded much as sheep are on the large western ranges in the United States, by herders following the animals as they move about. In selecting pastures, not only the question of fodder is considered, but also the problem of the insects which attack the animals during the warm season. The reindeer requires protection from insects either by locating summer pastures on higher ground exposed to the wind, or by the use of fly repell a ^ e ^ nts and similar devices. A reindeer may lose as much as 125 grams of blood a day if exposed to mass attacks of mosquitoes, and cases have been recorded of animals dying from insect bites.
A reindeer herd should be constantly watched. They are marked by cutting or notching the ears; or a metal tag or button may be used for identification. The natives are skillful in identifying each individual animal; it is said that in one of the nomad languages there are 16 different words to designate various shades of the gray-brown color of the local reindeer.
Trained dogs are useful to herders. When the United States made a first appropriation of $6,000 for the introduction of reindeer in Alaska Dr. Shel [: ] ^ d ^ on Jackson sent a notice to the Scandinavian newspapers in the United States, seeking the services of experienced Scandinavians acquainted

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

with methods of reindeer breeding in Lapland. In the great majority of the 250 answers received, it was stated that the trained dogs of Lapland were necessary for herding. When the first superintendent of the Alaskan Teller Reindeer Station, William A. Kjellman, was sent to Lapland, his assignment was to bring not only Lapps but dogs.
However, Soviet herders rely on dogs less than do the Scandinavian Lapps. The Nenets and Komi herders use dogs more than anyone else in the Soviet Far North, the Evenki and Yakutians seldom use them. Generally, the farther from the Kola Peninsula toward the Lena, the less use is made of dogs, and east of the Lena up to the Chukhotsk Peninsula, the reindeer breeders have never used dogs in herding until recently. Shortly before World War II, the utilization of dogs in herding somehow became known in the Bulun district of Yakutia, in Chukhotsk and Koriak districts, and in the Khabarovsk region. With a few exceptions, dogs are not used even now in herding in the T ^ t ^ aiga, although experiments have proved that they can be useful there.
Reindeer are castrated to produce steers for meat and to reduce the number of bucks to a proper proportion of the herd. Fawn crops average between 50% and 60% of the adult doe population. Male and female fawns occur in about equal numbers. Twin fawns are rare. The average doe breeds to an age of 10 to 12 years. The newborn fawns weighs from 7 to 16 pounds.
The size of a herd may vary from 100 or 150 head to 3,000. The desirable size for the Komi and Nenet herds, as advocated by Soviet specialists, ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 animals. While larger herds in open country are not objectionable ; ^ , ^ on land even partially forested, herds of from 250 to 600 animals are more desirable. From 5 to 6 herdsmen are required to take care

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

of 2,000 Lead according to experience in the Murmansk region.
Utilization of the Reindeer
For centuries reindeer breeding has been one of the main occupations (sometimes the only one) of a great many tribes living on the northern prairie and at the northern border of the forest. The nomads had mastered the art of making full use of the “all provider.” However, the emphasis placed on various forms of reindeer utilization differs from region to region, for instance, riding or milking is not practiced by all the natives of the Far North. On the Kola Peninsula, in the Archangel region, and in the region of Omsk, the utmost importance is attached to the reindeer’s meat and skin; but in the Krasnoiarsk region and forested districts of Yakutia the reindeer has been appreciated mainly as a draft animal. In some forest districts of the Krasnoiarsk region, and in the Tobolsk district of the Omsk region, reindeer milk is considered important.
The folk tales of the Nentsi express colorfully the natives’ apprecia– tion of the reindeer harnessed to a sledge and say that it is “second to none in the world.” What the reindeer meant for the natives was emphasized in Russian Asia (22), published by the Resettlement Administration of the Imperial Government in 1914 [translation]: “[the reindeer] is so useful that in the whole animal kingdom you may find hardly another creature which might equal it. In the full meaning of the world there is nothing in this remarkable animal which is not used in the everyday practice of the natives of the North who are blessed by its possession. Its fatty milk, similar to cream, serves as an excellent beverage and is used in the preparation of a very tasty cheese. Meat, internal organs, marrow, brains, and the blood are used

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

for food; also the antlers, before ossifying, may be used for food; jelly can be made of them, which is considered not only tasty but also as a medicinal food. The skin is used for making the natives’ clothes as well as for shelters. All kinds of household items are made of the bones and the ossified antlers: knives, forks, spoons, sewing needles, etc. Hollowed– out hoofs are used instead of cups and glasses. The sinews are used for thread and the hair for spinning and weaving. The intestines are used in the preparation of sausages stuffed with a mixture of blood and various roots. Candles are made of the fat. The stomach is dried and serves as a substitute for kitchen utensils. Even the content of the stomach, if used immediately after the reindeer is slaughtered, is not wasted; the natives consider it a delicacy and are only too glad to use it as food. Considering the complete absence of roads in the tundra, the reindeer serves as the only pack and transportation animal which can move with ease over the most boggy ground and through snows of any depth.”
Three main types of reindeer breeding are distinguished by the Soviet specialists at present: ( 1 ) Breeding which emphasizes meat as the main product and the skin as a product of secondary importance. This type of breeding requires the maintenance of a proportionally large number of gelded reindeer rather than fawns or does (about 37%); it prevails in the eastern tundra, on the Chukhotsk Peninsula and in the Koriak district. ( 2 ) Breeding with emphasis on skin production; it is developed mainly in the Murmansk region, in Nenets and Iamalo-Nen ^ e ^ ts districts, and in Komi A.S.S.R. The best results here are achieved by slaughtering fawns in the fall and keeping herds with a possible maximum number of does (up to 45%). ( 3 ) Breeding with emphasis on the reindeer as a draft animal, which calls for a smaller number of does

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

in the herds (about 30%); it prevails in the forest zone where reindeer milk is also widely utilized.
Since the importance of reindeer transportation on the northern prairies is great, Soviet authorities consider it their ta ks ^ sk ^ to obtain a bread of animals which will be equally good as suppliers of meat and as draft animals. This is especially important for reindeer breeders in Yakutia, Chukhotsk Peninsula, Ismalo-Nen ^ e ^ ts and Taimyr districts.
Draft Animals . Without the reindeer, remarkable for endurance, strength, and speed in drawing sledges, much of the Soviet Far North could hardly be inhabited permanently. The chief advantage of reindeer over dog transporta– tion is that a grazing animal finds its own food, while provisions must be carried for dogs and their maintenance often proves difficult. Also, in an emergency the reindeer is a source of food to its master. Windy weather is difficult for the dog travel, especially when heading into the wind, while reindeer naturally travel to windward, even in a blizzard, this being a trait they have from their wild forebears, the caribou. The reindeer does not mind a temperature of −80°F.; its broad, deeply cleft hoofs fit it admirably for traveling over the broken snow, and it makes it way through areas of deep snow more easily than even a horse. Gelded reindeer between the ages of 4 and 12 are preferred for drawing sledges. The training of animals for this service starts with the third winter.
The Reindeer Breeding Branch of the All-Union Institute of Polar Agriculture undertook a number of projects for improvement of the technique of reindeer transportation. Serious defects were found in the traditional equipment used by the natives, which f ^ v ^ aried from place to place. For instance, on the Kola Peninsula and in Karelia the natives use harness with a collar,

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

but breast straps or neck bands, with all kinds of local modifications, are used in the rest of the Far North. When the Samoyeds, ^ harness ^ a few animals to draw a sledge, they place the foremost one on the left side; placing the leader on the right side is called the dolganski , method of harnessing. To urge the reindeer to go faster, the natives prod them rather cruelly in the back with a long birch pole which has a bone button affixed to its end. The Nentsi almost never use reindeer for riding. The sledge used for transport– ing heavy loads is called narta . It may be 3 meters long; the distance between runners is up to 80 centimeters. In building their narta the natives formerly used ropes and wooden rails only, since iron nails were unobtainable, and, besides, iron breaks easily under the low temperatures of the Arctic. Freight up to 770 pounds may be loaded on such a narta , drawn usually by four reindeer.
Newly devised equipment enables the adoption of reindeer for services to the Red Cross, such as carrying stretchers and transporting the sick, while a new harness recently devised makes it possible to use reindeer for work which until recently has been considered too heavy for them, such as plowing and harrowing.
The Encyclopedia Americana indicates that full-grown reindeer can draw a sledge with a load of 300 pounds and travel at the rate of 100 miles a day. w ^ v ^ arious sources of information, however, give different figures in this respect, since much depends upon the size of the reindeer in a given region, the habits of the natives, and the care they display regarding their animals. According to the Soviet Resettlement Administration, the reindeer, without being fed, easily makes 65 miles in 10 to 12 [: ] hours, provided it is permitted to stop for 1 or 2 minutes every 6 or 7 miles; however, cases

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

of reindeer covering a distance of more than 130 miles in 24 hours are not at all rare. N.N. Urvantsev reported in 1928 that in the course of his expedition he traveled on one occasion from Norilsk to Dudinka in 5 hours and 37 minutes, having covered a distance of about 62 miles.
Interesting records were established at special reindeer races organized periodically by the Soviet government. In their primitive form, such races have been popular among the tundra natives from time immemorial and are still on the programs of the yearly reindeer breeders’ festivals. The names of the victors are retained in the memory of reindeer breeders for years. Reindeer races were introduced in their modern form in the 1920’s. At the races held in the Leningrad hippodrome between December 6, 1931, and February 7, 1932. the record of the winning troika (three reindeer harnessed abreast) was 1,600 meters in 2 minutes and 39 seconds. These reindeer were from the Kola Peninsula. In 1933, at the races in Narian-Mar, Nenet National District, the best results were achieved by four reindeer of local breed, harnessed abreast, which covered 1,380 meters in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. At the race in Lovozero, Murmansk region, on December 7, 1938, the distance of 1,600 meters was covered by four reindeer harnessed abreast in 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
In tests of the reindeer’s endurance and weight-drawing capacity the average records achieved at the races in Yakutia in 1936 and 1937 were as follows: for endurance, a weights of 900 to 1,000 pounds were pulled 12.4 miles by two reindeer harnessed abreast in 1 hour and 20 minutes; for maximum weight, two reindeer harnessed abreast pulled a load of 2,200 to 5,500 pounds a distance of 400 meters.
The following speed and average load were recommended in 1948 by the Administration of the Far North of the Ministry of Agriculture of the

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

R.S.F.S.R. for reindeer continually employed for transportation services.

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Table III. Norms Recommended for Reindeer Transportation (26).
Type of road Load on sledges with 2 reindeer, in kg. Speed, km. per hr. Distance per day, in km.
Good smooth road 300 4-5 25-30
150 7-8 45-50
120 9-10 55-60
Average tundra road 200 4-5 25-30
100 7-8 45-50
80 9-10 55-60
Poor tundra road 100 4-5 25-30
50 7-8 45-50
40 9-10 55-60
The Administration also worked out a set of recommendations which should be followed in the use of reindeer for commercial transportation. A new harness, devised recently by a member of the staff of the All-Union Institute of Polar Agriculture, S. P. Popov, makes it possible to increase the load up to 700 or 800 and even 1,000 kilograms in nartas used on a good smooth road. The winter reindeer transportation train ( argish ) usually consists of 24 to 30 nartas , 70 to 85 reindeer (of which 8 or 10 are kept in reserve), and 4 or 5 men. Strings of sledges in greater numbers are considered less convenient because of the possible difficulties of finding food for a larger number of reindeer; if a string consists of only a few sledges, the utilization of the drivers becomes less economical.
The utilization of reindeer for riding and carrying pack loads is important in forests and among mountains, as well as on the [: ] prairie during the summer. Under normal conditions the reindeer may be used for

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

these services for a period of 5 to 6 years, up to an age limit of 10 years.
A 1934 United States Dept. of Agriculture publication on reindeer breed– ing in Alaska indicates from 60 to 70 pounds as a normal pack load for an animal which covers from 20 to 25 miles a day. The natives in Siberia usually load as much as 60 kilograms (more than 130 pounds) on a reindeer’s back. The Soviet Administration of the Far North, however, suggests using the following norms for continued employment of animals for this type of service.

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Table IV. Norms for Pack-Load Carrying (26).
Type of road Load on one rein– deer, in kg. Speed, km. per hr. Distance per day, in km.
Good smooth trail 50 4-5 25-30
35 6-7 40-45
Average broke country 40 4-5 25-30
28 6-7 40-45
Very broken country 30 4-5 25-30
20 6-7 40-45
Experiments with pack equipment have shown that the center of gravity of the reindeer’s body lies considerably farther forward than in other transport animals. Hence the usual type of pack equipment intended for horses proved unsuitable, as it overloads the hind legs. A new type of saddle and pack were cons ^ t ^ ructed at the Bulun Reindeer Station in Yakutia in 1937, which allows the reindeer to carry loads up to 50 or 60% of its own live weight, with a maximum not exceeding 80%.
The reindeer as a draft animal has proved important for Soviet hunters and ^ trappers ^ in North. Trap lines are long and the Siberian hunter sometimes has

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

to cover from 30 to 45 miles a day in order to inspect them, besides, these trap lines may be several hundred miles from the hunter’s home. Under these conditions reindeer transport becomes as indispensable basis for the fur trade, and possession of reindeer strongly affects the incomes of members of the collective farms engaged in hunting and trapping. For instance in 1945, the Evenki National Region, the yearly income from hunting averaged only 165 rubles in the case of a farmer without reindeer; for those who had less than 40 reindeer the income was 2,499 rubles; and for those with more than 40 reindeer, 3,469 rubles.
Observations of reindeer under saddle and pack established the fact that animal the [: ] ^ animal ^ has a constant length of stride on a level trail and changes it with strict regularity, depending upon the angle of slopes and ascents. This discovery made it possible to use the reindeer stride as a measure of length of the roadway traveled by geological, topographical, and other research expeditions.
The modernization of transportation methods does not decrease the reliance on reindeer transport in the Soviet North; on the contrary, its importance has been constantly increasing. A publication of Glavsevmorput, 1939, says: “Numerous large scale projects of the Far North were material– ized almost exclusively with the aid of the reindeer transport. In many regions of the Far North, reindeer transport is the basic means of conveying people and freight. Also in strengthening the defense of our country, the reindeer may occupy not the last place.” A 1948 publication by the Far North Administration calls the reindeer transportation “irreplaceable” and states that “in the majority of the regions of the Far North the demand for reindeer transportation has been increasing yearly.”

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Carrying good ^ s ^ from polar sea ports southward across the prairie and even into the forest, delivering meat, fish, skins, furs, and a number of other raw materials, is done by reindeer transport. Thousands of reindeer and men are engaged in this work. In 1936, in the northern regions of Yak ^ u ^ tia, 2,680,000 rubles, or 21.8% of the gross incomes of collective f o ^ a ^ rms, came from reindeer transport services. The corresponding figures for the Iamalo-Nenet ^ s ^ district was 403, 0 ^ 1 ^ 00 rubles or 15%; for the Ostiako-Vogul district, 638,700 rubles or 16%. In 1946 the income from reindeer transporta– tion constituted 17% of the total income of the collective farms in the Far North, while for some of them it [: ] was the basic income.
As a matter of curiosity it may be added here that the elk ( Alces alces ) may become a serious competitor to reindeer in some parts of the northern forest. In accordance with an order of the Yakutian government, whose country is very rich in elk, experiments were made in 1936 at the Yakutsk Agricultural Experimental station in training and driving the elk. The tests were continued in 1937 and proved that the elk, if caught at the age of one month, is easily handled and domesticated, readily fed, and as a draft animal shows high ability.
In the northern districts of the Tiumen region, E ^ K ^ rasnoiarsk Krai, Yakutia, and other districts of the Far North, there are established reindeer fr ^ e ^ ighting lines. Every 40 or 50 kilometers special shelters have been built — chumy , made of skins for winter and tarpaulins for summer. They are equipped with stoves and provide comfortable resting places for the drivers; also feed for reindeer is kept in some of them. These freight– ing lines are so planned that the overnight stopping places are at good pastures. The length of some of these lines reaches 1,000 [: ] kilometers.

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Meat . Meat is another entry on the list of articles and services offered by reindeer breeding. The full-grown reindeer yields 90 to 110 pounds of meat on the average, the autumn-killed fawn 45 to 55 pounds. The animal slaughtering is usually at the end of summer. In their estimates of meat sources of the Arctic, Soviet statisticians do not overlook the meat of the wild reindeer (caribou). It is regarded as a potentially important item of food on the Taimyr Peninsula as well as in the territory between the rivers of Iana and Indigirka. Workers and employees of the governmental industrial project in Nordvik were b ^ g ^ etting about 6,000 caribou a year from the natives in 1940; it is said that an additional 3,000 or 4,000 could be easily used without damage to the local herds. Between the Iana and Indigirka, approximately 30,000 caribou were used in a year; in 1940 the officials estimated that delivery of about 1,000 tons of meat per year could be easily arranged in this district. Better methods of hunting and utilization of airplanes for scouting the caribou herds were suggested in order to increase the yield.
In composition reindeer meat does not differ much from beef or veal of the same grade, but it differs slightly in flavor. It is fine in texture and most of the meat is tender. The Russians consider that the most desirable cut is the round, which they use for steaks or roasting; the bottom round, which is less tender, can be used best for pot roast or in soup. Reindeer meat finds a good market far to the south; somewhat as Scandinavian reindeer meat does in Oslo, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. Its importance in the Asiatic Far North may be seen from the following table:

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

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Table V. Consumption of Reindeer Meat in Relation to Total Consumption of Meat in the Asiatic Far North (13).
Geographical Regions All meat, in tons Percentage of reindeer meat
Omsky Sever: 3,650 73.7
Ostiako-Vogul district 1,651 44.4
Iamalo-Nenet district 1,998 97.9
Yeniseisk Sever: 1,299 75.8
Turukhansky district 271 33.6
Igarka district 101 4.0
Evenki district 392 94.4
Taimyr district 535 97.2
Yakutsk North (16 districts) 1,528 52.2
Chukhotsk district 2,591 98.9
Total 9,068 77.6
As of 1940 the yearly slaughter of reindeer amounted to about 300,000 animals. In the Murmansk district the reindeer meat production as planned for 1937 amounted to 607 tons.
Stressing nutrition and calorie content, Soviet authorities consider reindeer meat one of the best meats. Soviet tests claim that it is several times richer in vitamins than beef or veal; it is rich in vitamin B 2 . The [: ] October 1950 issue of the Soviet magazine Priroda asserts that recent investi– gations showed 4.2 mg. of ascorbic acid as a minimum found in reindeer meat.

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Table VI. Chemical Content of Reindeer Meat (26).
Water Albumen Fat Carbohydrates Minerals Calories per kg.
Meat of a gelded rein– deer (average fatness 63.74 18.61 16.05 0.60 1.0 2,269
Meat of a fawn (average fatness) 70.76 21.31 5.95 074 1.24 1,452

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

The Tafal [: ] rsk reindeer found in the Irkutsk region is one of the best producers of meat; the 4 or 5-month-old fawns are 80 to 90 pounds dressed weight. The gelded reindeer of the Chukhotsk Peninsula gives about 130 pounds, sometimes up to 180 pounds of meat. At an outdoor temperature of 2 or 3°C. fresh reindeer meat can be kept safely in the open for 4 or 5 days. If frozen, it can be preserved for a year. Salted meat may be shipped and retained for one year at a temperature of ^ + ^ 3 to −1°C. Steaks are used either fresh, dried, salted, or smoked; salted meat is used most often. Natives usually dry the ribs and legs in the open air and then slightly smoke them; in this form the meat is easily carried on long journeys. The tongues are considered a great delicacy; they contain from 8 to 25 mg. ^ % ^ of ascorbic acid, according to the article in Priroda .
Until relatively recent times reindeer liver was not fully appreciated. For instance, a 1929 booklet of reindeer recipes, published by the Bureau of Home Economics, United States Dept. of Agriculture (30), refers to it rather modestly as a product which “when properly prepared compares favorably in tenderness and flavor with other kinds.” The conclusion of Soviet specialists, however, bases upon the research of the Murmansk technological expedition of the Institute of Reindeer Breeding in 1932, are ^ is ^ that a pat e ^ é ^ of such high quality may be made of the reindeer liver that it “undoubtedly could serve as an item for export.” According to Priroda , reindeer liver contains from 60 to 137 ^ % ^ mg. of ascorbic acid, while that of cattle contains 6 to 20 ^ % ^ mg. only. Proper methods for utilizing the kidneys, brain, lungs, heart, and head as food have been devised recently. The reindeer’s melted fat is widely used; in taste, it is similar to lamb fat.
Hides . Reindeer hide, after proper dressing, is very soft and pliable.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

It provides the principal clothing material for the natives. From it they make garments, including boots, mittens, socks, leggings, trousers, sleeping bags, etc. It is used also for bedding, being warm and easily transported; an average skin weighs only from 4 to 6 pounds. Fawn hides are used as winter clothing with the fur on the outer side; such furs are very warm. Reindeer hides provide an excellent leather for the industrial manufacture of kid gloves, leather jackets, etc. the “chamois” prepared from the reindeer skin, especially that of the fawn, has a high value on the world’s market; it is used in the manufacture of precision instruments, optical instruments, and those used in aviation.
By-Products . As a result of years of technological research of the Institute of Reindeer Breeding, reindeer by-products are widely utilized in industry at present. The blood is salted and as a product rich in [: ] albumin is used for food and as an admixture in concentrated forages. Together with bones and viscera it is used in the preparation of dog food. It is also used in the manufacture of glue for plywood and veneer. As a matter of fact, the reindeer if properly slaughtered gives proportionally more blood than any other domestic animal (on the average, 6.76% in the case of females and 5.44% in the case of males). No industrial utilization was made of reindeer intestines until in 1932 when the Institute of Reindeer Breeding made the first tests in Leningrad. Then the expedition of 1935, sent by the Institute to organize the reindeer slaughterhouses in the Nenet region, proceeded with the experiments which were repeated in 1936. The studies proved that certain parts of reindeer intestines do not differ in their wall strength from those of cattle, and the manufacture of sausage casing from them can be carried out with the usual methods.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

The strength of the intestinal walls was found to increase considerably if immediately after removal from the carcass they are washed with water and kept for 25 or 30 days in salt. However, a disadvantage of the casings manufactured from reindeer intestines is their small diameter which does not conform with the standard requirements of the market.
Reindeer hair is also highly valued because each hair is hollow, which makes it useful for manufacturing life preservers and upholstery. The investigation made by the Textile Research Institute in 1929 and con– tinued by the Institute of Reindeer Breeding since 1932 proved that the reindeer down (the soft woolly part of the hair) is equal in quality to the highest grade of merino wool. However, the presence of a large quantity of dead, coarse, brittle fibers in the hair made it impossible for use in textile manufacturing. Finding rational methods of separating down from brittle fibers was a task set for Soviet scientists; no information is available as to what progress has been made toward solving the problem.
The sinews of the reindeer are also utilized. They are separated from the meat and dried. From them the natives skillfully make thread which they use for sewing both shoes and other clothing.
Reindeer hoofs are used for the production of keratin glue, plastics, hoof meal, hoof coal, and ferrocyanide of potash. They cannot be used, however, in the manufacture of buttons and other notions because of the insignificant thickness of their walls (0.1 to 0.2 cm.).
Antlers are ^ a ^ nother important by-product of the ^ ^ industry. They are not only employed for decorative purposes, but also for making knife handles and parts of harness; they are also used in the manufacture of glue. As early as 1866, in the Archangel Region, a merchant names Volodin made the first
p. 42 of Tereshtenko Reindeer Breeding
Chese and milk [: neg]- 5th line from bottom ch. 4 [: butter ] from same?

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

successful attempt to manufacture glue from reindeer antlers for the market. The glue obtained from the antlers is of very high quality. As a result of the technological research of the Institute of Reindeer Breeding the methods of glue production were improved to the point, where, by its quality, it could easily compete with the standards established for exported glue. The weight of the product reaches from 10 to 20% of the weight of the antlers. The weight of the antlers collected per year between 1933-36 was estimated by various authors at 1,412 to 4,740 tons. As another by-product, photogelatin was obtained from the antlers; no information is available about its 2 / quality.
In some regions of the Far North, reindeer milk is considered a valuable product. From 0.2 to 0.3 liters of milk a day can be obtained. Karagask reindeer in the Saian ranges give as much as 1 liter of milk a day. In A ^ a ^ ppearance and taste it compares with cream. Its chemical content, according to Soviet data of 1948, is as follows: water, 67.7%; fat, 17.1% casein, 10.9%; milk sugar, 2.8%; minerals, 1.5%. Thus, it contains about 3 times more minerals and 4 or 5 times more fat than cow’s milk. From reindeer milk both butter and cheese are prepared. In chemical content the butter contains 15% water, 83.5% fat, 1.4% albumin and other organic substances, 0.1% minerals; thus it approximates butter prepared from cow’s milk. It melts at a temperature of 36 to 40°C. On the average, 16% of butter can be obtained from reindeer milk and 25 to 28% of cheese. The cheese reminds one of the sheep’s-milk cheese called brynza in Russian.
Soviet authorities assert that the reindeer industry in the U.S.S.R. is in its initial stage only. On the basis of recent geographic surveys of pastures the government estimates that the Soviet Far North may provide

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

fodder for about 10,000,000 reindeer, and that the task is not only to improve the breed of reindeer but also to at least triple the available herds. It is said that whether this goal will be reached will depend upon the general economic development of the Soviet Far North; but this, in turn, may depend considerably upon the progress of the reindeer industry.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In Russian:

1. Akademia Nauk S.S.S.R. Trudy Poliarnoi Komissii (Works of the Committee for the Polar Regions), vol.14, Leningrad, 1934, pp. 54-69.

2. Arkticheskogo Instituta, Trudy . (Transactions of the Arctic Institute), 1935, Vol.22.

3. Bobrinskoi, N.A., ed. Opredelitel Mlekopitaivshchikhy S.S.S.R. (Identi–fication of the Mammals in the U.S.S.R.). Moscow, 1944.

4. Bol, V.K. and Nikolaevski, L.D. “O Roste i Sbrasyvanii Rogov u Severnogo Olenia.” (Regarding the Growth and Casting of the Reindeer Antlers) Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo , vol.8, 1936, pp.45-59.

5. Bunakov, E.B. “Economicheskoe Obosnoyanie Razvitia Olenevodstva Murmanskogo Kraia” (The Economic Foundation of the Reindeer breeding in the Murmansk District). Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo , vol.4, 1935, pp.107-162.

6. Debel, D.B. “Ispolzovanie Rogovogo Bashmaka Severnogo Olenia” (Utilization of the Reindeer Hoof). Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo , vol.8, 1936, pp.177-180.

7. Dushechkin, V.I. “Olenii Pastbishcha v Kharaulakhskykh Gorakh (Yakutia)” (Reindeer Ranges in the Kharaulakh Mountains (Yakutya)). Trudy Arkticheskogo Instituta, vol.63, pp.209-243.

8. Eikhfeld, I.G. and Chmora, N.Y. “Selsko-Khoziaistvennoe Osvoenie Krainego Severa” (Agricultural Reclamation of the Far North). Materialy Soveshchania po nauchvo-izsledovatelskoi rabote Na Krainem Severe, 27/II-3/III, 1936. Moscow, Vsesoiuznaia Akademiya Selsko-Khoziaistvennykh Nauk, Moskva, 1937.

9. Geptner, V.G. and Tsalkin, V.I. Oleni S.S.R. Sistematika i zoogeografia (The Reindeer of the U.S.S.R. Classification and Zoogeography). Moscow, Moskovskoe Obshchestvo Ispytatelei Prirody, 1947.

10. Gorodkov, B.N. “Itogi Izuchenia Prirosta Lishainikov” (Results of the Study of the Growth of lichens). Sovetskoe Olenovodstvo , vol.8, 1936.

11. ----. ed. “Sistemy Vypasa Olenei i Pastbishchnoe Khoziaistvo Murmanskogo Okruga” (Reindeer Pastures and Vegetation Cover of the Murmansk District). Trudy Arkticheskogo Institut, vol.72, Leningrad, 1936.

12. Govorukhin, V.S. “Sezonnye Pastbishcha Severnogo Olenia” (Seasonal Pastures in the Far North). Kalendar Prirody S.S.S.R., vol.2, Moscow, 1949, pp.313-338.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R. - Bibliography

13. Khrapal, A.A. Selskoe Khoziastvo Aziatskogo Severa . Moscow, Glavsevmorput, 1940.

14. Liverovski, Y.A. and Kolesnikov, B.P. Priroda Yuzhnoi Poloviny Sovetskogo Dalnego Vostoka. (The Nature of the Southern Part of the Soviet Far East). Moscow, Akademia Nauk S.S.S.R. Institute Geografii, 1949.

15. Lukashevski, V.A. and Kharin, P.S. “Svoistva Oleniei Shersti-Lenki” (The Properties of the Reindeer Hair). Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo , vol.4, 1935, pp.163-176.

16. K Mirovich, A.F. “K Voprosu ob Ispolzovanii Kishek Severnogo Olenia dlia Kolbasnogo Proizvodstva” (On the Utilization of the Intestines of Reindeer in the Manufacture of Sausage Casing). Sovetskoi Olenevodstvo, vol.8, 1936.

17. Mutovin, M.E. and Purin, A.A. “Bogatstva Kamchatskoi Oblasti i ikh Expluatatsia” (Natural Resources of the Kamchatka Region and Their Exploitation). Kamchatka Petropavlovska na Kamchatke . Shankhai, 1940, pp.155-195. “Slovo” publisher.

18. “Novoye v Ispolzovanii Severnogo Olenia i Losya dlia Transporta” (News Regarding the Utilization of the Reindeer and the Elk for Transportation). Trudy Nauchno-Izsledovatelskogo Instituta Poliarnogo Zemledelia, Zhivtnovodstva i Promyslovogo Khoziaistva. Trudy , Seriia Olenevodstva , vol.6, 1939.

19. Pinegin, N.V. Novaya Zemlya , Sevkraiz, 1935.

20. Rodionov, K.V. “Materialy po Izuchaniu Technologicheskikh Svoistv Severnogo Olenia.” (Materials Regarding the Study of the Technological Properties of the Reindeer Antlers). Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo , vol.6, 1936, pp.51-62.

21 Rodionov, K.V. “Voprosy Tekhnologii Produktov Olenevodstva” (Questions of the Technology of the Reindeer Products). Sovetskoe Olenevodstvo, vol.4, 1935.

22. Russian Asia , vol.1, 2. St. Petersburg, Resettlement Administration, 1914.

23. Sdobnikov, V. and Romanov, A. “O Myasnykh Respursakh v Arktike” (Concerning the Meat Resources in the Arctic). Sovetskaia Arctica . no.9, 1940, pp.23-36.

24. Sochava, V.G., ed. “Olenevodstvo. Olenii Pastbishcha i Priemy Vypasa Olenei v Anadyrskom Krae” (The Reindeer Ranges and Methods of Pasturing of the Reindeer in the Anadyr Region). Transactions of the Arctic Institute of the U.S.S.R., vol.62, Leningrad, 1936.

EA-Zoo. Tereshtenko: Reindeer Breeding in the U.S.S.R. - Bibliography

25. Varnek, P.A. “Russkii Sever v Pervuiu Mirovuiu Voinu” (The Russian North in the First World War). Morskie Zapiski , Pub. by Obshchestvo Byvshikh Ofitserov v Amerike. Vol.7, no.1, March 1949, pp.23-25.

26. Zhigunov, P.S. and Terentiev, F.A. Severnoe Olenevodstvo (Reindeer Breeding in the North). Ministerstvo Selskogo Khozuaistva R.S.F.S.R. Upravlenie Raionov Krainego Severa. Moscow, 1948.

In English:

26a. Bosworth, Joseph. A Description of Europe and the Voyage of Ohthere and Wulfstan , written in Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred the Great. London, 1855.

27. Laufer, Berthold. “The Reindeer and its Domestication.” Memoirs of the American Anthropological Association, vol.4, 1917, pp.91-147.

28. Palmer, L.J. “Raising Reindeer in Alaska.” U.S. Dept. of Agric., Misc . pub . no.207, 1934.

29. Report of the Royal Commission Appointed by Order in Council of Date May 20 , 1919, to Investigate the Possibilities of the Reindeer and Musk-Ox Industries in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Regions of Canada . Ottawa, 1922.

30. Stanley, Louise. “Reindeer Recipes.” Bureau of Home Economics, U.S. Dept. of Agric., Leaflet no.48, 1929.

V. J. Tereshtenko

Biology of Ovibos

EA-Zoology (A. L. Rand and Vilhjalmur Stefansson)

BIOLOGY OF OVIBOS

CONTENTS

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Page
Description 2
Range 4
Habits 5
Utilization 8
Bibliography 10

EA-Zoology (A. L. Rand and Vilhjalmur Stefansson)

BIOLOGY OF OVIBOS
The bison, through v ^ f ^ alse analogy miscalled the buffalo, and the ovibos, through misunderstanding or perhaps through cupidity miscalled the musk ox, are NOrth America’s great representatives of the family Bovidae, the one occupying the prairies of the midcontinent, the other those of the Far North.
The ovibos ranks with caribou, seal, and whale as one of the four animals most important to man in relation to the Far North. Its one land rival, the caribou, may seem to lead in the competition, because some caribou have been domesticated as reindeer; but friends of the ovibos reply that its Latin-derived name, from ovis for sheep and bos for cattle, truly implies that this animal possesses, as a candidate for domestication, the combined merits of the sheep and the cow, and is thus potentially the greatest of assets for northward colonization, being already resident in even the most northerly arctic lands.
Ovibos , appearing in northern literature under many names, among them northern ox or northern cattle, arctic ox or arctic ca f ^ t ^ tle, musk ox or musk cattle, polar ox or polar cattle, is, as said, a member of the family Bovidae, to which belongs our domestic cattle, as well as sheep and goats. Much has been written of these immediate relatives, and at one time the ovibos was

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

considered a bison specialized for arctic conditions. More recent studies show that the ovibos of northern America and the takin of the mountains of southern Asia are the sole living representatives of a once more widespread and diversified group, only some of which were adapted for arctic conditions. This group is most closely related, on the one hand, to the goats and sheep, and, on the other, to the goat antelopes, such as the Rocky Mountain goat and the chamois.
The original home of the ovibos group seems to have been in Eurasia, where five fossil genera are known from the Pliocene. By the next epoch, the Pleistocene, the five genera had disappeared, another fossil genus had evolved in Eurasia, and the group had invaded North America, where three fossil genera appeared. Also in the Pleistocene, the two modern genera arose, Ovibos (musk ox, polar ox) in Eurasia and America, and Budorcas (takin) in Asia. With the close of the Pleistocene only these two modern genera were left. Budorcas is still restricted to Asia. Ovibos lingered on in Eurasia until the Recent period; in Europe it existed in prehistoric times along ^ with ^ the last Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon men, the mammoth, and the woolly rhinoceros; in Siberia it may have survived longer. By historic times Ovibos existed only on the northern plains and arctic islands of America.
Description
Ovibos moschatus is a rather stout, compact ungulate with short legs and a very short tail. The pelage is long and shaggy, contributing materially to a bulky appearance. The underfur is a fine, soft, woolly layer, 3 to 6 inches thick; the abundant guard hairs are very long and coarse and may reach a length of 24 inches or more. In adult males the horns sweep downward,

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

outward, and upward in sharp hooks, the base of the horns enlarging with age until they cover the forehead; the horns of the female are less expanded at the base. The color of the pelage is generally deep brown to black, with light-colored saddle and legs; varying geographically, there is some white in the forehead and about the head, more pronounced in the females and young; the color of the horns is dark brown to creamy white.
The adult male totals 96 inches in length; tail 4 inches; hind foot, 19 inches; height at shoulder, 59 inches; and horns on outside curve up to 29 inches in length. The males weigh up to 900 pounds; the females are somewhat smaller. The northern animals are somewhat smaller than the more southern.
The calf is covered with short, dark-brown, curly hair. A new-born calf is recorded as weighing 16 pounds. The first trace of a horn core appears at 6 months. Adult size and well-grown horns are reached at about 6 years of age.
Three subspecies are recognized, owing to differences in size and color.
The Ovibos moschatus moschatus , the “barren-ground musk ox,” is a large brownish subspecies with dark-colored horns and no white in the forehead, occurring on the Canadian arctic mainland.
The Ovibos moschatus niphoecus , the “Hudson Bay musk ox,” is a black subspecies, smaller than the subspecies O. moschatus moschatus . Their horns are light-colored; the females are white about the head. They occur to the northwest of Hudson Bay.
The Ovibos moschatus wardi , the “white-faced musk ox,” is a grayer race. Their horns are of a creamy-white color. Both o the male and the female have whiter faces, and they are longer and more slender than the

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

subspecies O. moschatus niphoecus . They occur in Greenland and the Canadian Arctic Islands.
Range
The present range is mainland Arctic Canada between Hudson Bay and Horton River, the Canadian Arctic Islands to the north (but not Banks, Baffin, or Southampton islands), to northern Ellesmere Island; also in northern and northeastern Greenland.
As said, ovibos disappeared from Eurasia before historic times , ^ ; ^ in America a much wider range than at present occupied is indicated by fossil remains of Ovibos from the central United States (perhaps correlated with the ice age) and from the Yukon Valley. Within historic times the ovibos was known from the arctic coast of Alaska, where it probably became extinct about 1860 or 1870. The southern limits of the historic range in Canada originally coincided with the northern edge of the forest west of Hudson Bay. Minor withdrawals have occurred and the animals no longer range west of the longitude of western Great Bear Lake. The records from northern Manitoba are all old. Parts of this area from Hudson Bay to Horton River are still occupied by ovibos. In Banks Island, the last were killed by Victoria Island Eskimos around 1912.
In the early part of the twentieth century it seemed as if the ovibos might be exterminated; but extinction no longer seems to be threatened. A population ^ estimate ^ made in 1930 gave the following figures: Canadian mainland, 500 animals; Canadian Arctic Islands, 12,420; North and East Greenland, 1,500; total, 14,420 animals. However, the Greenland estimate has been questioned as too small, and estimates as high as 10,000 animals have been made for the northern east coast alone for about the same period. Though ovibos ha s ^ d ^ been reduced perhaps 1% of their primitive number by 1930, the animals on the

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

Canadian mainland had doubled in number by 1940, and the reports from farther north indicate s that protective laws have been successful in conserving the species.
Habits
Though ranging the northern forest in early historic time, as the wood bison still does, ovibos is like bison in being essentially a prairie animal, frequenting the marshes, plains, and lower, wetter country in the summer. In the southern part of its present range where there are willow thickets, as in the Thelon Game Sanctuary, these are also favored. In winter they tend to frequent higher, drier and more exposed ground, presumably where the wind will sweep away the snow. The favored foods are sedges and grasses; willow twigs and herbaceous plants are also eaten. There is not the pronounced change from summer food of grass to winter food of lichens as with the caribou , ^ ; ^ some lichens (reindeer moss) are eaten, probably mostly in winter. When the food is covered with snow, the ovibos digs through with its forepaws, and pushes aside the snow with its no c ^ s ^ e and head. With hoofs and nose the animal may work through four feet of snow, but it does not seem to resemble the caribou in actually preferring to dig for food under snowbanks.
Although there may be slight seasonal changes in the habitat occupied, the ovibos is, in general, an inactive animal. If a herd is seen in one area one year, the chances are that it will be there the next. Individuals appear to move about but little. Old bulls have been recorded as not moving a half mile all summer; a band stayed in sight of one camp for five days.
Ovibos are placid animals, usually found in small herds or medium-sized bands, apparently spending their time grazing and resting during the day. During

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

the hot, bright arctic summer they may prefer to feed during the night. The belief, expressed by some writers, that ovibos take shelter in valleys, or behind boulders, from the blizzards of winter, is doubted by some observers.
Ovibos bands seem typically to consist of about 10 to 15 animals, although smaller groups of 5 or 6, as well as lone bulls, are often reported. Where the animals are common, herds of as many as 200 have been reported. The social organization of these herds is imperfectly known. There seems to be some seasonal change, the herds tending to be larger in winter. In spring herds of bulls only may be found, but x during much of the year more than one bull may be found in one herd. The proportion of calves in the herds is always low, compared with many other hoofed animals. This is correlated by some with a deduced slow rate of reproduction.
The late summer or early fall is the time of breeding. The ovibos is polygamous and old males fight fiercely, bellowing challenge d ^ s ^ , pawing the ground, and rushing at each other and meeting head on with a tremendous crash. They also rip each other with their sharp, hooked horns, sometimes breaking their horns in th o ^ e ^ se fights. Apparently bulls sometimes kill each other, for skulls spilt open, presumably by the force of fighting heads meeting, have been found. Not all fighting is connected with the rut, as bulls sometimes fight and then later consort amicably in the herd.
According to present information, reproduction is slow, presumably adapted to the relative immunity of the species to wolf predation. It is believed that the females do not breed until 3 or 4 years old, and that ordinarily they bear young only every other year. The usual number of young at a birth is one, born in April, May, or perhaps June. Victoria Island Eskimos told Stefansson that calves born early in the season, in April when temperatures

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

may drop to −50°F., often f e ^ r ^ eeze to death while still wet, immediately after birth. The variation in the size of calves [: ] ^ seen ^ with the herds indicates a long breeding and calving season. The cows may retire from the herd at the calving season; some herds for a time appear to consist solely of cows and calves. The calves are active from birth, or shortly thereafter, and follow the mothers. They suckle to some extent until August at least.
The defense behavior of ovibos is very effective against wolves. The band prefers to take a stand and fight on high ground. The animals range themselves in close formation in more or less of a circle, heads out; they may rub their noses and horns on their forelags, and paw the ground, perhaps to intimidate attackers. If calves are in the herd, they may be in the d ^ c ^ enter of the formation or they too may face out. The bulls do most of the fighting, but all adults and even yearlings may take part. As the wolf or dog approaches, a bull rushes out 10 to 15 yards, trying to catch the enemy on its horns, then wheels about and returns, backing into place in line. The number of animals that dash out depends on the number of attackers; sometimes all the bulls may be out of line at one time. Dogs, when caught by the horns in this way, have been severely injured, partly through being tossed high in the air. A lone ovibos at the approach of danger may run to a cliff or a rock against which it puts its back, ready to fight.
This defense of the ovibos, while adequate against wolves and dogs, is the weakness of the animal when it encounters man. At the approach of hunters, especially if they have dogs, the ovibos do not flee but adopt their d ^ c ^ ustomary formation, in which the dogs can hold them indefinitely. Hunters can then kill them at leisure with rifles, or tease them with arrows until they charge, and then kill them with spears.

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

Ovibos have been introduced into Norway and Sp t ^ i ^ tsbergen, apparently with some success. In Alaska, the United States introduced 34 animals in 1930, with the object of restocking suitable areas; this work is still in the experimental stage.
Utilization
The hide of ovibos is too thick and hard for general use as clothing, although it has sometimes been used for boot soles. The woolly character of the fur, which makes it hard to clean, is another drawback to its domestic use. Although lacking the qualities that appeal to ordinary fur markets, there did develop for a while in the nineteenth century such a demand for ovibos skins that Indians of the northern Canadian forest made numerous excursions to “no man’s land” beyond the tree line to secure skins for sale to the Hudson’s Bay Company; some Eskimos also came south into this region (usually avoided because of mutual Eskimo-Indian dread of each other and therefore previously a sanctuary to ovibos), and a few of the resulting skins got into the hands of traders.
Most of the skins sold in London were sent to the United States and Canada where they were prized for sleigh robes. This trade flourished from about 1870 to 1900, and was important to certain groups of Indians who depended on these hides for credit with the posts. The Company’s average annual sale for the 20-year period preceding 1902 was 200 to 250 pelts, although, in 1891, 1,358 pelts were sold in London.
The leisurely habits of the animals and the ease with which they are killed have made them dependable sources of food, but these very features make it impossible for them to survive, while left to their own resources.

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where many men live. So long as they are in a wild state, it would seem we must be content to have them survive in the remote, unsettled arctic islands, and in sanctuaries on the mainland where they seem to be prospering at the present time after years in which their existence was in jeopardy.

EA-Zoo. Rand and Stefansson: Biology of Ovibos

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Allen, J. A. “Ontogenic and other variations in muskoxen, with a systematic review of the muskox group, recent and extinct,” Amer.Mus.Nat.Hist., Mem . n.s. vol.1, pt.4, 1913.

2. Clark, C.H.D. “A Biological Investigation of the Thelon Game Sanctuary,” Nat.Mis.Can., Bull . no.96, 1940.

3. Hone, E. “The Present Status of the Muskox in Arctic North America and Greenland with Notes on Distribution, Extirpation, Transplanta– tion, Protection, Habits and Life History,” Amer.Comm.Internat. Wild Life Prot., Special Pub l. no.5, 1934.

4. Stefansson, V. “The Domestication of Ovibos,” in The Northward Course of Empire , Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York, 1922.

5. Sverdrup, Otto. New Land. Four Years in the Arctic Regions , Longmans, Green. London, 1904.

A. L. Rand and Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Biology of the Polar Bear

EA-Zoology (A. L. Rand)

BIOLOGY OF THE POLAR BEAR

CONTENTS

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Page
Range 2
Habitat 3
Habits 4
As Object of the Hunt 10
Edibility of the Meat 12
Bibliography 15

EA-Zoology (A. L. Rand)

BIOLOGY OF THE POLAR BEAR
The polar bear, Thalarctos maritimus , of the family Ursidae, is a large bear which inhabits the arctic regions of both the Old and New Worlds, occurring in every part of the Arctic Sea and its margins, occasionally found on adjoin– ing land, but rarely far from sea ice. The scientific name doubly states this fact, being a combination of the Greek words, thalassa , sea, and arktos , bear, to which has been added the Latin word, maritimus , of the sea. It is perhaps the second largest of the bears, next after the Kadiak, the male averaging 8 feet in length, 900 pounds in weight; the female averaging a little more than 6 feet in length, 700 pounds in weight. However, males often attain more than 1,000 pounds, and a record of 1,600 pounds has been claimed. The fur is yellowish white, dense, and hair practically covers the soles of the feet, leaving naked only the black lips and nose tip. Apparently there is one molt a year, during the summer months. Old males develop a sort of ma in ^ ne ^ and noticeably longer fur on shoulders and forelegs (14). The polar bear is distinguished from other bears by its pelage, by its semiaquatic nature, and by structural differences, having a longer neck, narrower skull, and relatively small molar teeth. Subspecies have been described, but are generally thought not sufficiently well characterized to justify recognition ( 2 ^ 1 ^ ).

EA-Zoo. Rand: Polar Bear

Partly owing to the hairy soles of its feet, the polar bear walks sure– footedly over the sea ice (which incidentally is not as slippery as lake ice) and can, when hurried, attain a surprising speed, in spite of its lumbering gallop. It is a powerful swimmer, said nearly to equal the speed of an eight– oared European whaleboat, although readily overtaken by the exceedingly swift Eskimo kayak.
Polar bears are solitary, except at mating time. When two are roving the same locality, they tend to avoid each other. The young sometimes follow the parent female well into the second year. Exceptionally, as many as 50 bears have been reported on a few square miles of land, gathered to the neighborhood by a stranded whale carcass. Also where they are extremely abundant locally (as on St. Matthew Island, where several hundred were sighted within one month on the 22-mile-long island), the younger males may consort in small groups of three or four (6).
Range
The species has been recorded as ranging on land north to Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya (8), to beyond 82° N. latitude on the north coast of Ellesmere Island, and to 83° N. in the Franz Josef Archipelago (6). Records at sea show an even more northerly ordinary range, or they may indicate that occasionally individual bears may wander almost anywhere in the polar area. Among the high– latitude records are the tracks of a bear seen by Peary, March 24, 1909, near 86°30′ N. (11), and a bear with cubs seen by Papanin near 88° N. on August 1, 1937 (10). Both of these were in the Greenland-Ellesmere sector.
The southern limits of the Pacific range are, apparently, near the middle of Bering Sea; bears are common around the St. Lawrence and St. Matthew Islands.

EA-Zoo. Rand: Polar Bear

On the Asiatic coast of Bering Sea they have been observed on drifting ice floes in the vicinity of Plover Bay; on the American coast they have rarely been observed as far south as the mouth of the Yukon River (6). In Atlantic waters the species has been observed on floating ice to the north of Norway, where they reach land once or twice in a century, and on the ice off Iceland, where they come ashore once every ten or twenty years. Occasionally they are reported as far south as Newfoundland, the north shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and in James Bay, the southerly arm of Hudson Bay, at about 55° N. latitude.
Habitat
Sea ice, especially when moving, provides the environment most favorable to the polar bear’s existence, and has earned for him, in some localities, the name “ice bear.” In the pack, he seeks narrow open leads, which provide him most readily with his favorite food, the seal. In winter, the bear wanders over the frozen sea, seeking leads or the edge of the ice and open water. When compelled by ice conditions to do so, he can swim long distances. A polar bear has been reported swimming 20 miles or more from land, out of sight of any sea ice. On the other hand, during the short summer, he occasionally wanders inland, where he may secure some food from vegetation of the grasslands fringing the Arctic Sea.