The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin

Part 1

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THE BARREN GROUND CARIBOU OF KEEWATIN

By Francis Harper

University of Kansas Lawrence · Kansas

University of Kansas Museum of Natural History

Editor: E. Raymond Hall

Miscellaneous Publication No. 6, pp. 1-164, 28 figs., 1 map Published October 21, 1955

Means for publication were supplied by: National Science Foundation Wildlife Management Institute American Committee for International Wildlife Protection

Printed in U.S.A.

THE ALLEN PRESS Lawrence, Kansas 1955

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 5

MIGRATIONS 7 Southern limits of winter range 7 Spring migration in the Churchill region 11 Spring migration in the Nueltin Lake region 12 Summer interlude 18 Fall migration in the Nueltin Lake region 18 Retrograde autumnal movement 32 Fall migration in the Churchill region 38

SUMMATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 39

ECOLOGY 41 Habitats 41 Trails 41 Influence of weather on distribution 43 Influence of food supply on distribution 44 Influence of insects on distribution 45 Effect of combined environmental factors on distribution 46 Relations to man 47 Ethnological material from caribou products 59 Relations to Black Bears 62 Relations to foxes 62 Relations to Wolves 63 Relations to birds of prey 67 Relations to miscellaneous animals 69 Relations to flies 69 Ectoparasites 73 Relations to Reindeer 74

NUMERICAL STATUS 78

GENERAL HABITS 79 Daily periods of activity and rest 79 Organization of herds 81 Disposition 83 Senses 86 Gaits 86 Tracks 87 Swimming 88 Shaking off moisture and insects 95 Signaling 96 Food 98 Scatology 99 Voice 100 Reproduction 101 Fawns 103 Growth 104 Antlers 105 Rubbing trees 108

MORPHOLOGY AND TAXONOMY 108 Pelage and molt 108 Albinism 112 Foot-glands 112 Mastology 113 Fat 113 Body measurements and weights 114 Measurements of skulls 115 Measurements of antlers 115 Measurements of testes 115 Geographical variation 116

LITERATURE CITED 120

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES TO Rangifer arcticus arcticus 134

INDEX 161

INTRODUCTION

Part 2

No other large North American land mammal is of such primary importance as the Barren Ground Caribou (Rangifer arcticus arcticus) as a source of food and clothing for so many primitive Eskimo and Indian tribes; no other performs such extensive and spectacular migrations; no other may be seen in such vast herds; no other exhibits so close an approach to a Garden-of-Eden trustfulness in the presence of man. And perhaps no other is more worthy of being cherished and safeguarded in its natural haunts for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.

The original valid designation, in technical nomenclature, of the Barren Ground Caribou of the Mackenzie-Keewatin region dates back to 1829, when Sir John Richardson described it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana as Cervus tarandus var. arctica. The type locality is Fort Enterprise (about lat. 64° 30´ N., long. 113° W.), on Winter Lake, an expansion of Snare River, Mackenzie. Since the typical subspecies appears to lack a distinguishing common name, it would seem fitting to associate with it the name of its worthy describer; thus, Richardson's Barren Ground Caribou. The author's intimate acquaintance with the animal should have enabled him to draw up a somewhat fuller and more adequate description than he did. Previous travelers in the Barren Grounds, among whom Samuel Hearne (1795) was particularly notable, had contributed accounts of the species, without differentiating it from the Lapland Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) or without giving it a distinctive technical name.

Since Richardson's time the mainland form of western Canada has been discussed by many zoologists and explorers. The most comprehensive account of its life history hitherto published is that by Seton (1929, +3+: 95-135), whose personal experience was gained in the region of Artillery, Clinton-Colden, and Aylmer lakes. Dearth of adequate material (particularly from the type locality or adjacent areas) makes it all but impossible to determine whether there is any significant geographical variation between the herds of central Mackenzie and those of Keewatin.

The foremost objective of an expedition I made in 1947 to Nueltin Lake, in southwestern Keewatin, was a study of the Barren Ground Caribou. The expedition was supported by the Arctic Institute of North America, with funds supplied by the Office of Naval Research. My headquarters were at the little Windy River trading post, at the northwestern extremity of Nueltin Lake (map 1). There, for a period of six months, I enjoyed the fine hospitality of Charles Schweder and Fred Schweder, Jr. They had lived on intimate terms with the Caribou during most of their youthful lives, and they freely shared with me the knowledge they had thus gained concerning the ways of life of these wonderful creatures. They secured nearly all the specimens that went into my collection. The three other residents of the post also deserve my gratitude for their general helpfulness and friendliness; they were 10-year-old Mike Schweder (brother of Charles and Fred), 15-year-old Anoteelik (an Eskimo boy), and the latter's sister, 5-year-old Rita.

In a previous paper (1953) I have endeavored to express to various officials and friends my sincere appreciation of their courtesy and generosity in furthering the work of the expedition; and I can scarcely forbear to repeat here the names of at least a few of them: Dr. A. L. Washburn, at that time executive director of the Arctic Institute of North America; Mr. R. A. Gibson, deputy commissioner of the Administration of the Northwest Territories; and Mr. G. W. Malaher, director of the Game and Fisheries Branch, Manitoba. For the loan of a motion-picture camera, which secured for me some extremely gratifying scenes of the migrant hosts on the Barrens, I am greatly indebted to Mr. William C. Morrow. Dr. Ralph S. Palmer has kindly read, and made helpful comments upon, a preliminary draft of the present report.

Through the courtesy of the American Museum of Natural History, the United States National Museum, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, I have been able to examine important comparative material in their collections.

A grant from the National Science Foundation has enabled me to carry the investigation through to completion.

MIGRATIONS

The Barren Ground Caribou is the outstanding migratory land mammal of North America at the present day. (Some of the bats, though extensively migratory, obviously belong in a category too distinct for comparison.) We know as yet extremely little concerning the movements of individual Caribou; but it is fairly safe to assume that among those reaching the southern limits of the winter range in central Manitoba or northwestern Ontario, there must be many whose summer range is at least 500 or 600 miles to the northward. The latitudinal extent of such wanderings is comparable with, or equivalent to, an annual round trip between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charleston, South Carolina. There is perhaps less information available concerning the migrations of the wild Reindeer of the Old World than concerning the movements of the Barren Ground Caribou of North America (cf. Jacobi, 1931: 191-200).

Southern limits of winter range

In years long past the winter range extended at least occasionally as far south as Fort McMurray in Alberta and Cree Lake and the upper Mudjatick and Foster rivers in Saskatchewan, and rather regularly to Reindeer Lake (Preble, 1908: 137); and "on rare occasions as far south as Cumberland House on the Saskatchewan River" (Buchanan, 1920: 105). At an early date Richardson believed (1829: 243) that "none" of these Caribou "go to the southward of Churchill."

There are, however, records of long ago that deal with mass occurrences of Caribou on the lower courses of the Nelson, Hayes, and Severn rivers, emptying on the west coast of Hudson Bay. The records are very puzzling in several respects. Most of them do not definitely differentiate the species involved from the Barren Ground Caribou, but some of them (by Hearne, Richardson, and Preble) indicate that it is the Woodland Caribou. The direction of the migrations, as reported in some instances, is just the reverse of that taken at the present time by the Barren Ground species during its normal movements at corresponding seasons. Finally, it is all but impossible to reconcile the numbers reported with such knowledge as we have of the status of the Woodland Caribou at any other period or in any other region.

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