Barren-ground caribou | |
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Barren-ground caribou herd near the Thelon River | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Cervidae |
Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
Genus: | Rangifer |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | R. t. groenlandicus
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Trinomial name | |
Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus (Borowski, 1780)
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Approximate range of barren-ground caribou. Overlap with other subspecies of caribou is possible for contiguous range. 1.Rangifer tarandus caribou, which is subdivided into ecotypes: boreal woodland, migratory woodland and mountain woodland; 2. R. t. dawsoni (extinct 1908); 3. R. t. arcticus; 4. R. t. groenlandicus; 5. R. t. groenlandicus; 6. R. t. pearyi |
The barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, in northern Alaska and in south-western Greenland. It includes the Porcupine caribou of Yukon and Alaska.[2][3] The barren-ground caribou is a medium-sized caribou, smaller and lighter-colored[4] than the boreal woodland caribou, with the females weighing around 90 kg (200 lb) and the males around 150 kg (330 lb). However, on some of the smaller islands, the average weight may be less. The large migratory herds of barren-ground caribou take their names from the traditional calving grounds, such as the Ahiak herd, the Baffin Island herds, the Bathurst herd, the Beverly herd (Beverly Lake in western Nunavut),[5] the Bluenose East herd (southwest of Kugluktuk),[6] the Bluenose West herd, the Porcupine herd and the Qamanirjuaq herd.[7]
[Not all herds are barren-ground] "Ahiak Herd, Baffin Island herds, Bathurst Herd, Beverly Herd, Bluenose-East Herd, Bluenose-West Herd, Cape Bathurst Herd, Dolphin and Union Herd, George River Herd, Leaf River Herd, Lorillard and Wager Bay herds, Peary caribou, Pen Islands and Cape Churchill herds, Porcupine Herd, Qamanirjuaq Herd, Southampton Island Herd, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula Herd"