Rangifer tarandus caribou

The Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) are threatened by habitat encroachment in Alberta and British Columia. They are not considered "endangered" because the species, Rangifer tarandus, is still widespread throughout the northern Holartic. But woodland and mountain caribou do not migrate over vast distances the way their northern cousins do, which makes them particularly dependent on their regional habitat. (See raysweb.net.)

"Mountain caribou are an 'ecotype' of woodland caribou that inhabit the deep snowbelt regions of the interior rainforest of British Columbia and parts of three US states. Their large hooves act as snowshoes that allow them to spend winters high in the subalpine and alpine forests, where snowpacks can reach depths up to four meters. The deep snows act as a barrier to predators, and as a platform that allows the caribou to reach their winter food source, lichens that grow on old-growth trees. Mountain caribou are the only member of the deer family to move to higher elevations in winter." mountaincaribou.org

"The main threats to caribou are habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. Industrial logging has removed much of the critical old-growth forest that caribou need for food and for cover from predators like wolves and cougars. After old forests are logged, young shrubs and trees grow. Moose, deer and elk move in, attracted by the new growth. Their presence in turn supports more predators which incidentally and unsustainably prey on caribou. Before their habitat was fragmented by logging and other developments caribou were largely able to avoid predation through their unusual seasonal movements and by spreading themselves throughout extensive old-growth forests."

Caribou are unique in the deer family in that both females and males grow antlers. Caribou are larger than deer and smaller than elk, with males weighing approximately 175 kg (350-400 lb). Their hollow fur insulates them through the long mountain winters.