Description

Peary caribou are smaller than barren-ground caribou. They have shorter faces and legs and are lighter in colour.  In winter, Peary caribou have a mostly white coat.  Their summer coat is slate-gray with white legs and underparts. Both males and females have antlers.  Antlers on adult males are larger than those on females and juvenile males.  The velvet covering the antlers is gray, unlike the dark brown velvet of barren-ground caribou. 

The Arctic Archipelago provides a harsh, treeless environment.  Ice fields and bare rock reduce the area where forage is available for caribou.  In summer, Peary caribou forage in moist areas such as river valley slopes and upland plains. These areas provide sedges, willows, grasses, and herbs.  In winter, the caribou forage in more exposed areas such as hilltops and raised beach ridges where the thinner snow layer makes foraging easier.

Historical information on Peary caribou populations is lacking.  Population studies have been conducted during the past 30-40 years but they have been limited to certain parts of the range and there have often been long periods of time between surveys.  Caribou numbers have increased and decreased on different islands since the first surveys in the early 1960s.  However, the overall population of Peary and arctic-island caribou has declined across the NWT since the 1960s.

On Banks Island, the most extensively surveyed area, caribou numbers dropped from about 12,000 in 1972 to 1018 in 1992, then appeared low but stable with 1196 caribou in 2002. 

Caribou on Northwest Victoria Island (Minto Inlet population) declined from about 4500 in 1980 to about 100 in 1993, but by 1998 may have increased to about 500. 

Caribou on Western Queen Elizabeth Islands (Melville, Prince Patrick, Bathurst and other islands) have been surveyed sporadically since 1961. The last survey in 1997 estimated the lowest numbers (1080) recorded for these Islands since 1961 (19 400).  This represents a 94% decline over 36 years. Evidence points to harsh winter as the cause of this decline.  Caribou have died during consecutive unusually severe winters and springs in the late 1990s and probably earlier as well. 

Females are capable of calving annually, however this depends upon whether or not they can build up adequate fat reserves over the summer to breed in mid-October.  Most calves are born in the last two weeks of June.  During summer, willow is an important food for Peary caribou.  They also feed on various forbs, herbs, sedges and grasses.  During winter, forbs, especially legumes and avens, are important foods.  Unlike other caribou, Peary caribou eat very little lichen because very little lichen is available to them.  Peary caribou are found in small groups throughout the year and graze while on the move.  These are adaptations to the sparse vegetation cover and patchy distribution of high quality food plants that caribou selectively feed on.

Peary and arctic-island caribou live in a very harsh environment.  In some winters, ice layers prevent caribou from reaching their food.  If ice covers a large enough area of the winter range, animals may starve.  Harsh winters and/or summers may prevent females from having adequate fat reserves for reproduction.  Wolves prey upon caribou, but the impact of wolf predation is unknown.  There is little information on wolf numbers, however the number of wolves may be increasing on both Banks and Victoria Islands.  Competition between muskoxen and caribou for food may affect population size.  In some areas, caribou are harvested for food.  Harvesting, in combination with other factors, may have contributed to the decline of caribou population on Banks and Northwest Victoria Islands.  Industrial development, especially in calving grounds, could also affect caribou populations.

In 2004, COSEWIC designated the Peary caribou in Canada as Endangered because their populations continued to decline to critically low levels. The Dolphin-Union caribou population (Victoria Island- mainland) was designated as Special Concern because of possible pressure from hunting, development, and climate change.  Banks Island caribou are protected by a quota system. Thirty-six tags, for male only caribou, are available to hunters of Sachs Harbour, NWT each year.  In 1993, hunters from Holman, NWT implemented a voluntary five-year moratorium on hunting caribou on Northwest Victoria Island.  That moratorium ended in 1998 and is now reviewed annually.  Since 1993, Holman hunters have only harvested caribou from the Dolphin-Union caribou population.

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       Site last updated Tuesday, February 19, 2008