Wildlife
Caribou (Rangifer tarandus):
 Caribou are the only member of the deer family in which both sexes grow antlers. Adult males, or bulls, weigh from 350 - 400 pounds while adult females, or cows, weigh 175 - 225 pounds. At birth, calves average 13 pounds and grow very quickly. In late fall, caribou are clove-brown with a white neck, rump, and feet and often have a white flank stripe. The hair of newborn calves is generally reddish-brown. Caribou have large, concave hooves that help support the animal in snow and soft tundra. Caribou are part of a herd (or population) and are identified from other herds by the area they use for calving.
Caribou are herbivorous. During fall and winter, they consume lichens (reindeer moss), dried sedges and small shrubs. During summer, caribou eat the leaves of willows, sedges, flowering tundra plants, and mushrooms. Large caribou herds must keep moving to find adequate food and may migrate hundreds of miles between summer and winter ranges. Small herds may not migrate at all.
Caribou breed in the fall, with the peak of the "rut" occurring in late September and early October. Cow caribou generally breed first when they are 28 months old, however, some may breed as young as 16 months. Cows give birth to one calf during late May to early June. After calving, caribou collect in large "postcalving aggregations" to avoid predators and escape mosquitos and warble flies.
Predators of caribou include wolves and brown bears. Local hunters rely on caribou as an important source of food.
When the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1980, very few caribou were present. In 1988, 146 caribou were reintroduced on the Nushagak Peninsula, fared well, and numbered more than 1,200 in 2000. To learn more about the reintroduction and ongoing monitoring of the Nushagak Peninsula Caribou Herd, click here. The Mulchatna Caribou Herd reached a peak of more than 200,000 animals in 1996. The Mulchatna herd's range encompasses most of southwest Alaska, including seasonal use of Togiak National Wildlife Refuge habitats.
For more information on caribou, see the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's Wildlife Notebook.
Last updated: July 24, 2008
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