133 



ORDEES OF MAMMALS— HOOPED ANIMALS 



resemblance to the domestic reindeer of Europe. 

 Its antlers are long, branching, partly round and 

 partly palmated. Considered as a whole, cari- 

 bou occupy the upper half of the continent of 

 North America, over which they are widely scat- 

 tered above the 45th parallel of Latitude. 



Next to the musk-ox, the caribou is the most 

 northerly of all hoofed animals. It is not only 

 at home on the vast arctic waste above Great 

 Slave Lake, known as the Barren Grounds, but 

 it ranges on northeastward through Ellesmere 

 Land, crosses to the west coast of Greenland, 

 swings around the northern rim of that island, 

 along the edge of the great ice cap, and -down 

 the eastern coast, at least as far as Liverpool 

 Bay, Latitude 70°. Doubtless it inhabits the 

 whole poast of Greenland, wherever the naked 

 ridges and valleys of the terminal moraines yield 

 a supply of food: but there is no evidence that 

 it wanders over the vast sheet of lifeless inland 

 ice which covers the interior of Greenland. 



At all times, a caribou is an odd-looking creat- 

 ure. Even a very brief inspection is sufficient 

 to reveal the special provisions which Nature 

 has made to enable it to brave the terrors of an 

 arctic climate. The legs are thick and strong, 

 and the hoof is expanded and flattened until it 

 forms a very good snow-shoe. The caribou 

 walks over snow-fields and quaking muskegs, 

 when the moose sinks in and ploughs through 

 them. 



Its pelage consists of a thick, closely-matted 

 coat of fine, wool-like, hair, through which grows 

 the coarse hair of the rain-coat. ' It is the warmest 

 covering to be found on any hoofed animal ex- 

 cept the musk-ox, or on any animal of the Deer 

 Family. To the touch, the new coat of a cari- 

 bou feels like a thick felt mat. 



The natural food of the caribou is moss and 

 lichens, and in captivity very few survive many 

 months without the former. The supply of 

 moss for the caribou and reindeer of the New 

 York Zoological Park comes from Maine, and 

 costs in that state seventy-five cents per hundred 

 pounds. A full-grown woodland caribou con- 

 sumes about seven pounds daily. 



Although up to this date nine species of cari- 

 bou have been described, there are but two well- 

 defined groups, the woodland and Barren 

 Ground. In each of these, several species have 

 been described, but it must be admitted that so 



effectually do they run together it is not always 

 an easy matter to distinguish them. 



In common with many members of the Deer 

 Family, caribou are distinguished chiefly by 

 their antlers. But even here, great difficulties 

 are encountered. With their many tines and 

 points, varying size and forms of palmation, 

 their antlers are subject to thousands of varia- 

 tions. As a result, no two pairs ever are found 

 exactly alike. Between the very long, few- 

 pointed and scarcely palmated antlers of the 

 Greenland caribou, and the short, many-pointed 

 and widely palmated antlers of the mountain 

 caribou, every conceivable form may be found. 



If ten pairs of adult antlers of each so-called 

 species were collected in its type locality, and 

 the whole ninety mixed in one heap, the utmost 

 that even an expert could hope to accomplish 

 without a heavy percentage of error would be 

 to separate the collection into two groups, one 

 containing the four species of Barren Ground 

 caribou, the other the five woodland species. 



It is useless to enter here into details regard- 

 ing each of these nine tentative species. 

 Without a very large collection of specimens, 

 and prolonged study of them, it is impossible 

 to define the boundaries between the various 

 species that have been proposed. Let it suffice 

 to present a brief outline of the two great groups 

 into which all our caribou seem to be rationally 

 divisible. 



The Woodland, Caribou Group. 



Roaming through the pine and spruce forests, 

 and also the prairies of Newfoundland, Nova 

 Scotia, New Brunswick, northern Maine, Quebec, 

 Ontario and Manitoba, are the caribou longest 

 and best known to us. A typical specimen' living 

 in the Zoological Park is a strong lusty animal, 

 48 inches high at the shoulders, weighing 280 

 pounds, and endowed with sufficient energy to 

 vanquish the strongest man in about one minute. 

 Its shoulders are high and sharp, its head is 

 held low and thrust straight forward, and as 

 it walks on hard ground its dew-claws and hoofs 

 click like castanets. Its head is long and cow- 

 like, and its muzzle is too large for beauty; but 

 the large, liquid, dark brown eyes appeal suc- 

 cessfully against all adverse decisions on ques- 

 tions of beauty. 



' Ran'gi-fer car'i-bou, from Maine. 



