It is estimated that over 95,000 caribou make Alaska their home, so it wasn't surprising that we saw a few of them. They are an important part of Alaska's history and culture.
Archeological evidence shows that ten thousand years ago, nomadic hunters –descended from the people who first crossed the Bering Sea land bridge – followed caribou trails into what is now Denali National Park. The animals were hunted for their meat and fur. Their hollow hairs are a natural insulator against the cold weather.
Today, the caribou population is managed by controlled hunts as well as by predators (they are the center of the food chain). Many Native Alaskans still depend on them for food and some areas along migration routes (as they travel from summer to winter grazing areas) are set aside for subsistance hunting.
We saw a herd of several hundred on the Dalton Highway (past the Arctic Circle) and that was amazing. (The picture above, part of a much smaller herd of females and young, was taken in Denali Park.) In the summer time, the herds mostly consist of females and young with the males more often spotted alone.
Both male and female grow antlers during the summer. Bulls drop theirs after the Autumn mating season, while cows carry theirs until mid-winter or even later.
Caribou and reindeer are pretty much the same animal. In Alaska, reindeer simply means domesticated caribou. (According to the story told by one of our Denali drivers this means that the reindeer pictured pulling Santa's sleigh are all females, since at Christmas time males would be antler-less.)
When the Alyeska Pipeline was being planned in the 1970s, there was worry that it would disrupt the caribou population (and, therefore, the entire ecosystem). In places where it was known that the pipeline would cross the migratory paths, the pipeline was buried to allow them to proceed unimpeded. But it turned out that step was not necessary; the caribou simply ignore the pipeline, treating it as if it isn't even there. They slide under the pipe wherever and whenever they want.
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