Caribou Struggles.

Source Big game species like ungulates have captured the imaginations of humans for tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of years. From the artists of the Lascaux Caves to modern hunters and naturalists, humans are drawn to their beauty, spectacle, and thrill of the chase. In North America, caribou stand apart as one of the continent’s most charismatic yet underappreciated ungulates—one that is uniquely suited for extremes. From the mountains of the Canadian Rockies in the south to the furthest northern reaches of the Arctic Archipelago, caribou (which are North American counterparts to Eurasia’s reindeer; both are subspecies of Rangifer tarandus) make their living in some of the most extreme resource-poor habitat, especially migratory barren-ground and island-dwelling subspecies. Herds of barren-ground caribou withstand long winters with temperatures routinely as low as -70 degrees Celsius. Their seasonal migrations amount to more than 1000 km each year. Caribou migrations across the…