Barren-ground caribou

Barren-ground caribou
Barren-ground caribou herd near the Thelon River

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Rangifer
Species:
R. tarandus
Subspecies:
R. t. groenlandicus
Trinomial name
Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus
(Borowski, 1780)
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]

  1. ^ "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org. Retrieved 30 March 2022.
  2. ^ Grubb, P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  3. ^ Cronin, M. A., M. D. Macneil, and J. C. Patton (2005). Variation in Mitochondrial DNA and Microsatellite DNA in caribou (Rangifer tarandus) in North America. Journal of Mammalogy 86(3): 495–505.
  4. ^ Kavanagh, Maureen, ed. (2005) [1985], "Hinterland Who's Who", Canadian Wildlife Service/EC, ISBN 978-0-662-39659-8, archived from the original on 24 December 2013, retrieved 21 December 2013
  5. ^ The Beverly Caribou Herd’s headlong rush to extinction Archived 2020-12-19 at the Wayback Machine February 22, 2016 Don Jaque
  6. ^ Sara Minogue. Mining exploration on Nunavut's Bluenose East caribou calving grounds allowed by board: Nunavut, N.W.T. governments opposed project, but it went ahead. CBC News Mar 04, 2016
  7. ^ Technical Thematic Report No. 10. - Northern caribou population trends in Canada, Biodiversity Canada, 2010, archived from the original on August 7, 2018, retrieved October 30, 2017, [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"