Latin name: Ceruidae

Caribou are well adapted for living in cold climates. Their large, concave, cloven, feet are good for digging in snow to uncover buried food (catering), and for traveling on land surfaces that range from rocky to spongy. Their thick winter coat insulates their body from the cold, and the hollow guardhairs of their coat help these excellent swimmers to stay afloat. The caribou has a blunt muzzle protected by thick fur, which stays warm while nuzzling in the snow for food.

Caribou are the most numerous large mammals in the Arctic Refuge. Two herds occur there: the Porcupine Herd (named after the Porcupine River) and the Central Arctic Herd. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is within the main range of the Porcupine Herd, which numbers approximately 152,000 animals, and on the periphery of the range of the smaller Central Arctic Herd with 23,400 animals. The Arctic Refuge is in Northeastern Alaska.

In Alaska's western Arctic, one of the world's largest caribou herds—almost half a million strong—carries out its relentless migration, even as strip mining and other threats cast shadows over the tundra.

Family: mammal

http://www.alaskawild.org/cards/caribou.jpeg

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