text x_quick_Title2=Class: Mammalia~Order: Artiodactyla~Family: Cervidae~(Rangifer tarandus caribou)
text x_quick=Where In the World~` There may be less than 100 woodland caribou in the lower 48 states. In Alaska and Canada, their numbers are well into the thousands.~` Woodland caribou are found in good numbers in Alaska and Canada, below the Canadian border however, they're found in the Selkirk Mountains of Idaho and northeastern Washington. (That population sometimes wanders north of the border into British Colombia.)~` In the past, caribou ranged across most of northern North America, from New England to Washington state and north into Canada and Alaska.~ ~Take a Look!~` The largest male woodland caribou can be up to seven feet long and stand over four feet tall at the shoulder. Females are smaller than males.~` Males can weigh up to 600 pounds, while females weigh up to 300 pounds.~` Caribou are the only members of the greater deer family where both males and females have horns. The male's horns can be four feet long, unlike the females' which are much shorter at about a foot and a half.~` Woodland caribou have broad, splayed feet which help them walk on top of snow or through marshy lowlands.~` The males develop a shaggy white mane below their necks. Both males and females are chocolate brown with white patches on their necks and rumps. ~ ~All in the Family~` The woodland caribou is related to the barren ground caribou, and a rare, all-white caribou subspecies found in the arctic islands of Canada. It's wrong to say that caribou are related to reindeer, because caribou are reindeer - they're just called by a different name in North America than they are in Europe and Asia.~ ~Just the Facts~` Woodland caribou are grazing animals. In warm months, they eat the tender new shoots of grasses. In winter, they eat the lichen that grows on conifer trees.~` Female caribou are able to mate when they're about a year and a half old. Once a female has a calf, chances are she will continue to have one calf each year.~` The calves weigh about 20 pounds at birth, can walk after an hour, and can outrun a human when they're just one day old.~` The average life span for a woodland caribou is about four and a half years, although one lived for almost 15 years. In captivity, they can live for 20 years.
;Habitat
text x_hab= Woodland caribou like forested land. Their thick coats protect them from close thickets and branches and they can find the food they need. They are found in isolated wildernesses, almost exclusively in mountains. They eat pine needles, so prefer to live in conifer forests, of pine and spruce trees. With dense, heavy coats to protect them, they spend the winters high in the mountains ( up to about 6,000 feet) and come down lower when spring melts the snows in valleys and lowlands. They eat the new growth, and follow the snowline back up the mountain as it melts and fresh growth appears.~\
There are stable numbers of caribou in Alaska and Canada, both of which have the isolated wilderness lands the woodland caribou needs to survive. In the more densely populated U.S. below the Canadian border, there is less isolation and fewer mountainous pine forests for the caribou. Today, there's a small herd found in the Selkirk Mountains. Their habitat covers land in Idaho, northeast Washington state, and a small way into British Colombia in Canada. As far as anyone can tell, these are the last woodland caribou in the United States outside of Alaska.
;Food
text x_eat= In the winter months, the woodland caribou live high in the mountains. They paw through the snow to find fine twigs and greens. They also munch on the tough, tiny plants called lichen (pronounced "LIKE-en") that grow on tree bark, rocks, almost any surface. When spring comes, the caribou move down the mountains to lower elevations. Spring always comes earlier the lower one goes, so the woodland caribou can literally walk out of winter and into spring in just one day.~\
Once in the spring, the woodland caribou feast on the new growths - tender grasses, new leaves, fresh twigs. To prolong this delicious meal, the caribou follow the melting snowline back up the mountain - they follow spring. Eventually, summer catches up. Then they eat heavier grasses and sedges and the leaves off bushes. In the fall, they munch on evergreen needles and mushrooms.
;Habits and Characteristics
text x_life= Caribou are members of the deer family. They share the same general shape (although they're larger than most deer and smaller than most moose), and they have those impressive antlers. But unlike the deer or the moose or any other member of the deer family, the female caribou grows antlers, too. Hers aren't nearly as big as his are - about a foot and a half long, compared to his four foot long rack. Females don't use their antlers like males do. Females don't fight each other, although in any group, one female will become dominant over the others. Perhaps the size of her antlers helps her declare that she is the leader of the females. Certainly the larger the animal, the longer the rack. ~\
The males certainly do use their antlers to fight. The breeding season takes place in the fall, and the females are attracted to the males that can defend the largest and best territory on the mating grounds. So to become a father, one male must fight off all others who come near. They don't start fighting right away - first they try to intimidate each other. When one male trespasses on another male's territory, the "owner" will challenge the newcomer by galloping up proudly, to see if the new guy will get scared and run away. If that doesn't work, the two walk side by side, up and down, roaring as loudly as they can. It may be that the roars are to frighten the opponent, although the caribou don't ever seem to be frightened. Roaring takes a great deal of energy - it's not something the caribou do casually. So the stronger caribou can keep roaring for longer than a weaker male. If even the roaring contest doesn't establish a winner, then the caribou have a shoving contest. They lock antlers and push each other around. The first to give up is the looser. The antlers are just for pushing, but they have lots of sharp branches, and sometimes wounds happen. If it's very severe, the wounded male will die. During the breeding season, the males grow thick, shaggy manes to protect their throat and chest from an accidental antler prong. ~\
The winner gets to mate with whatever females have wandered onto his territory, impressed with his strength. A strong caribou male can have up to 15 females in a "harem." He tries to keep them inside his territory once they're in, but it isn't easy to watch 15 females all at the same time, and they can pretty much move away whenever they choose. The females are pregnant until the summer months bring warm weather and plenty to eat. The females chose to give birth in the highest, most isolated mountain places they can find. Caribou calves are preyed on by bears. Bears winter up high in a warm den, and descend into valleys in the summer. By going up, where weather and wilderness are unpredictable, she may save her calf from a bear attack. ~\
The newborn is active almost from the moment it is born. It weighs about 20 pounds, and can walk about and follow its mother when it is only one hour old. Within 24 hours, a newborn woodland caribou calf can run - fast enough to outpace a human. The calf nurses for at least a month, and sometimes until the winter. By the time it is grown, it will be able to run almost 50 miles an hour for short bursts, and will have an excellent sense of smell to sniff out food and danger. Woodland caribou live in small herds. Males and females stay apart through most of the year, and only form a combined herd during the fall breeding season. During the rest of the year, the males form bachelor herds and the females travel and eat in small family groups, from three to ten animals.~\
;Threats
text x_threat= Woodland caribou have really had some problems with people. It'
