wunder · Library

Part 40

The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin · Francis Harper — chapter 40 of 42 · ~1,779 words · public domain

Read in the Wunder reader — free

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Birket-Smith, 1936: 90 (importance to Eskimos); 91 (migration; snow pitfalls, baited with urine; hunting with spears, rows of stone cairns, snares, and bows); 110 (dependence of Caribou Eskimos on Caribou); 111 (frequent famine and cannibalism among them for lack of Caribou; lookout knolls for Caribou); 112 (sexual segregation in herds); 115-116 (clothing of caribou skin).

"Caribou": Soper, 1936: 429 (resorting to Grinnell Glacier, Baffin Island, to escape mosquitoes).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): R. M. Anderson, 1937: 103 (lower Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay; use of skin and meat; scarce on coast W. of Bathurst Inlet; concentration between Bathurst Inlet, Great Slave Lake, and Baker Lake; S. into Wood Buffalo Park; use of rifles by Central Eskimos resulting in decrease; apparent intergradation with R. a. pearyi in northern islands).

"Caribou": Godsell, 1937: 288 (caribou migrating between mainland and Arctic islands exterminated by Eskimos with ammunition supplied by traders); 289 (reindeer imported to mouth of Mackenzie to replace vanished caribou).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Henriksen, 1937: 25 (larvae of Cephenomyia trompe L. from nasal passage, Baker Lake, May 2); 26 (larvae of Oedemagena tarandi collected from caribou in May, Gore Bay, Lyon Inlet, and Melville Peninsula).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus. . .: R. M. Anderson, 1938: 400 (perhaps no great reduction in numbers, but some shifting of range from human encroachments and fire; wintering S. to n. Manitoba and Saskatchewan and ne. Alberta; estimate of 3,000,000).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: Hamilton, 1939: 109 (hoofs; function of fat); 244-247 (migrations); 246, 352, 359 (importance to Indians and Eskimos); 247 (influence of mosquitoes on movements; sexual segregation); 301 (distribution determined by insect pests); 359 (immense herd in ne. Saskatchewan).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus Richardson: Murie, 1939: 239 (Mackenzie River to Hudson Bay and Baffin Island, including some of the Arctic islands; diagnosis); 244 (antlers; pelage; migration; rut in September and October); 245 (food; ankle click; voice; gait; senses; insect pests; Wolves and other predators); 245-246 (danger from introduction of Reindeer); 246 (adaptation to environment).

Rangifer arcticus (Richardson): Clarke, 1940: 5, 7 (dependence of Indians and Eskimos on caribou); 8-9 (Rum Lake country a wintering ground; Eskimos from Back's River to Wager Inlet and Baker Lake dependent on winter caribou; likewise those at Beverly, Aberdeen, and Schultz lakes); 11 (great winter herd S. and W. of Bathurst Inlet); 65 (fluctuations; current abundance in Hanbury-Thelon region and scarcity at Baker Lake); 70 (parasites; diseases); 84 (economic importance); 85-86 (migrating southward in late July in Thelon Game Sanctuary and at Tourgis Lake, in early August at Hanbury, Artillery, Clinton-Colden, and Aylmer lakes, and from early August to late September at Taltson River and Thekulthili and Nonacho lakes; in autumn near Lac de Gras and on upper Back's River; in autumn and winter at Reliance and Snowdrift); 87-90 (at least 100,000 migrating N. in early July at Hanbury and Thelon rivers, including does with month-old fawns); 89, 90 (molt); 91 (previous records in Thelon Sanctuary region); 92-93 (near Lake Athabaska and Slave River and at Hill Island Lake in early August; Wood Buffalo Park in winter; the various groups and their movements defined); 93-95 (early ideas of migrations); 95 (fallacies; sexual segregation; antlers; influence of flies); 96-97 (details of migratory movements; retrograde autumnal movement); 98 (extermination of bands formerly migrating from mainland to Victoria and King William islands); 98-100 (irregular migrations; influences--such as wide open waters, overgrazing, and fires--affecting migrations); 101-104 (carrying capacity of range; numbers estimated at 3,000,000; increase and decrease); 104-106 (accidents); 106-107 (effects of fire and overgrazing; food); 107-110 (wolves and other predators); 110 (hunting and its effects); 112 (importance to natives).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): G. M. Allen, 1942: 297 (mainstay of Eskimos and Indians); 297-298 (description); 298-299 (Hudson Bay to Mackenzie River, N. to Banks and Victoria Islands, Boothia, Southampton and Baffin Islands, S. to Churchill River, Reindeer Lake, and ne. Alberta; migratory habit; shift of range due to human crowding and destruction of winter forage by fire); 299 (increased slaughter in winter range; reduction on Southampton Island).

"Caribou": Manning, 1942: 28 (rapidly reduced on Southampton Island after establishment of a post in 1924); 29 (insufficient skins for Eskimo clothing); 29 (wolves, for lack of caribou, became extinct on Southampton by 1937).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Soper, 1942: 143 (in 1932-33, E. of Fort Smith, S. to 30th base line; along N. shore of Lake Athabaska to Fond du Lac; W. of Slave River, between Lobstick Creek and Grand Detour and into Wood Buffalo Park; Tethul River to Tsu Lake and Taltson River; in 1933-34, crossing Slave River from E. in vicinity of Caribou and Stony Islands and Buffalo Landing, and feeding on goose grass [= Equisetum, fide Raup, 1933: 39]).

"Caribou": Downes, 1943: 203 (Windy Lake, late July); 215 (1925-26 and 1938-39 bad years for caribou on upper Kazan River; consequent mortality among Eskimos); 221 (Red River, July 28); 224, 249, 250 (Simons' Lake); 226 (grunting; shaking heads on account of flies; buck with winter pelage); 227 (butchering operation); 228 (use of antlers and hoofs; feeding on dwarf birch; protecting carcasses from gulls); 236-237 (antics of a buck); 253 (Red River); 255 (warble and nostril flies); 256 (does beginning to appear; swimming ability); 256-257 (snuffing, snorting, and coughing); 258-260 (estimates of numbers); 260 (change of migration routes through human activities and forest fires); 261-262 (effect of natives and wolves); pl. following p. 296 (Kasmere River).

Rangifer arcticus (Richardson): Manning, 1943a: 47 (recent depletion by Eskimos); 49-52 (w. Baffin Island; Koukdjuak and Hantzsch rivers; Bowman, Taverner, Wordie, and Harbour bays; Tweedsmuir Islands; Baird Peninsula; Lake Nettilling; Cumberland Sound; Fury and Hecla Strait); 50 (summer and winter droppings; exterminated from most of Foxe Peninsula); 51 (estimated population in central western Baffin Island 10,000); 51-52 (migratory movements); 52 (sexual segregation and herding; females bearing young at end of second year); 52-53 (antler growth and shedding); 53 (molt; development of warble flies, and their scarcity in fawns; accumulation of fat); 55 (annual kill by wolves on w. Baffin Island estimated at 2,000 animals over one year of age).

"Caribou": Manning, 1943b: 103 (former migration--now ceased--from the S. to Melville Peninsula, where the animals are now scarce; still numerous on Baffin Island N. of Fury and Hecla Strait; fairly numerous, Repulse Bay to Chesterfield Inlet; dearth of skins for Eskimo clothing; numerous herds about Piling, Baffin Island).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus. . .: Porsild, 1943: 383 (food); 386 (warble and nostril flies "apparently do not travel very far"; sparsely covered grazing areas suitable for caribou but not for reindeer); 389 (migration affected by rotational grazing and seasonal and local abundance of mosquitoes or flies; wariness varying with size of herd; caribou disappear before expanding reindeer culture).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Soper, 1944: 274-250 (great reduction in southern coastal region of Baffin Island; few left on Foxe Peninsula; Hantzsch and Soper rivers; Bowman, Amadjuak, and Frobisher bays; Lake Harbour; Nettilling Lake; Big Island; Grinnell Glacier; Cockburn Land); 248 (measurements); 248-249 (migrations); 248-250 (utilization by Eskimos).

"Caribou": [U.S.] War Department, 1944: 40 (Canadian mainland and Arctic islands); 77 (importance as food).

"Barren ground caribou": Wright, 1944: 185 (late summer skins for clothing; high value of the meat; reduction in numbers); 186 (migration routes changed by overgrazing, fires, and excessive hunting; numbers); 187 (annual consumption in Keewatin not less than 22,000; decrease on Boothia and Melville peninsulas; locally plentiful in w. Baffin Island; scarce on King William Island; none on Adelaide Peninsula; great decrease on Southampton Island); 188 (small herds on Coats Island; varying numbers on Baffin Island, where skins are imported for clothing; a herd on Bylot Island); 189 (scarce at Arctic Bay and on Brodeur Peninsula); 190 (migration on Baffin Island); 191 (Baffin population estimated at 25,000); 193 (tables of numbers taken annually on Baffin Island and in Keewatin); 195 (smaller caribou on Boothia Peninsula and on Somerset and Prince of Wales islands).

"Caribou": Young, 1944: 236-238, 243 (predation by wolves in the Barren Grounds, including Southampton Island and Artillery Lake).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): Gavin, 1945: 227-228 (recent increase at Perry River and Bathurst Inlet; partly resident on mainland but also migratory, a few crossing to Victoria Island); 228 (many fawning on small coastal islands and Kent Peninsula; many succumbing to mosquitoes; damage by larvae of warble fly).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus (Richardson): R. M. Anderson, 1947: 178 (type locality; Mackenzie and Keewatin, from Hudson Bay and Melville Peninsula W. to lower Mackenzie Valley, and N. to s. fringe of islands N. of the mainland Arctic coast; migrating S. to Churchill River or beyond, Reindeer Lake, Lake Athabaska, and occasionally the Wood Buffalo Park in ne. Alberta).

Rangifer arcticus. . .: R. M. Anderson, 1948: 15 (decrease; shift of range attributed to fire or overgrazing; need of protection; killing from planes; Northwest Territories; northern Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta).

Rangifer arcticus (Richardson): Manning, 1948: 26-28 (Eyrie, Big Sand, Neck, Sandhill, Malaher, Boundary, Boulder, South Henik, Camp, Carr, Alder, Victory, Ninety-seven, Twin, and Baker lakes; Tha-anne and Kazan rivers; W. of Padlei; Christopher Island; Chesterfield Inlet; Tavani; most numerous in the more southerly and westerly of these localities in Manitoba and Keewatin; heavy grazing on lichens where the caribou had been numerous; migration; trails).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus Richardson: Rand, 1948a: 211-212 (diagnosis); 212 (Northwest Territories, wandering southward in winter as far as Fort McMurray (formerly) and Wood Buffalo Park; food; habitat).

Rangifer arcticus Richardson: Rand, 1948b: 149 (numerous at Burnt Wood River, W. of Nelson House, winter of 1944-45, and in Herb Lake area, Manitoba, winters of 1944-45 and 1945-46; hundreds killed by Indians).

"Caribou": Yule, 1948: 287 (a losing battle for survival; not half as many as a few years previously); 288 (considerable herds between Churchill and Gillam, but fewer to the westward; excessive kill; consumption by dogs and wolves; disaster confronting Indians and Eskimos through diminishing supply of caribou).

Rangifer arcticus arcticus. . .: Banfield, 1949: 477 (economy); 478 (Mackenzie and Keewatin; numbers less than previous estimate of 3,000,000; S. in winter to nw. Ontario, central Manitoba, n. Saskatchewan, ne. Alberta, Wood Buffalo Park, and Norman Wells; small bands remaining on Boothia and Adelaide peninsulas, S. of Pelly Bay, on Somerset, Prince of Wales, and Russell islands, and at Daly Bay; believed extirpated on King William Island; Melville Peninsula); 481 (near Wager Bay; fairly plentiful along Arctic coast from Back's River to Horton River, in Perry River district, and on Kent Peninsula, where a few cross to Victoria Island; population on Southampton Island estimated at 300, on Coats Island at 1,000 and on Baffin Island at 25,000; apparently extirpated on Bylot Island in 1941; Eskimo pressure on Baffin Island herds). (Fig. 1 suggests n. limit at s. Victoria Island and Prince of Wales and Somerset islands.)

← Previous chapterAll chaptersNext chapter →

The Barren Ground Caribou of Keewatin · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.

© 2026 Wunder Learning LLC · Terms & Privacy