Caribou Caribou
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Caribou Migration Update: March 12, 2003

Today's Report Includes:

Comparing Caribou Range
This week we are offering you the current map of Porcupine caribou locations plus a look at their winter locations almost exactly a year ago. It is interesting to study and compare the two maps. Can you see which of our caribou have gone to the same location? Many have decided to travel to different wintering grounds. Do you think there are any caribou near Arctic Village this year?

Caribou Migration Map 2003
Click on Map to Enlarge

Caribou Migration Map 2002
Click on Map to Enlarge









Capture and Collar: All in a Day’s Work
caribou3jg1514
One type of collar
Releasing caribou after netting and collaring
Last week and this week the biologists are out in the field locating and bringing our satellite-collared caribou new, high powered neck-ware. Biologists use 2 kinds of transmitters to help them with these tasks. Why do we need VHF radio transmitters? In what ways are satellite collars better for locating caribou than the less expensive radio transmitters? How do the satellites pick up the caribou locations?
Tracking the Porcupine caribou over the last 20 years has enabled researchers to study the herd in ways never thought possible.
Learn more about collars and how caribou are captured:

 

Two Humans Join Caribou Migration for 7 Months: “Being” Caribou
Have you ever really wondered what it might be like to live in the wilderness like a caribou? This is one of the motivating factors that are leading 2 Canadian adventurers to follow the Porcupine caribou migration this year. Karsten Heuer and Leanne Allison will be leaving on skis in April to try and migrate with the herd as they move from winter range to calving grounds and back to winter range over the course of 6-7 months.
Karsten Heuer
Leanne Allison

Karsten’s main motivation to “be” caribou is to immerse himself in the rhythms of an animal’s life for month after month without the disruptions of modern civilization. “Some people have said we’re likely to see things no person has ever seen before,” says Heuer of the upcoming

caribou_rangemap
Range of the Porcupine caribou

trip. “For me, that’s reason enough to put our lives on hold for the next 7 months.”
Karsten has lived and worked in the Arctic where he has been a park warden in Ivvavik National Park (adjacent to ANWR). Prior to that he completed a 3,400km trek from Yellowstone to the Yukon in order to highlight the need for wildlife corridors in the Rocky Mountains.
Leanne has worked studying glaciers in Antarctica, done research in the Cariboo Mountains of British Columbia and climbed the highest peak in Canada. A filmmaker, Leanne produced the film ‘Vadzaih’(means caribou in Gwich’in), which toured hundreds of American towns and cities with the Caribou Commons ‘Walk to Washington Tour’ in the fall of 2002. Like Karsten, she sees the urgency in telling the caribou’s story before it’s too late. With this adventure they want to attract attention to the pressing issue of oil and gas development in the Porcupine caribou herd's calving grounds

The caribou have their winter supply of lichens to supply them with the carbohydrates they need to make it through the long winter migration. What would people eat on such a journey? With no stores to buy food, and the responsibility of carrying all that you will need, how would you plan the food for a 7-month migration? Read on to find out how Karsten and Leanne plan for this adventure.

Then answer this!

Challenge Question #8:
“Karsten and Leanne have made and dehydrated 6 different dinner menus. Since they are planning to be out on the migration trail for 210 days, how many times will they eat the same dinner? Would you like to eat these menu items for 7 months?"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

How would you pack for the trip? Starting with their feet and moving up to the top of their heads Karsten and Leanne describe the clothing, equipment and technology they will pack in their backpacks. Stay tuned for more!

Winter’s Dining Selections: Lichens
Lichen-Winter caribou food
Photo courtesy USGS
Caribou are herbivores, or plant-eating animals. Caribou eat different kinds of plants throughout the year, but they have one main menu item during the cold winter months: Lichens- up to 2 garbage bags full every day! For simplicity we will call lichens a kind of plant, but they are really more complicated than that. Lichens are a combination of a plant (algae) and a fungi growing together in a symbiotic relationship.
Did you know that caribou have a special kind of 4-chambered stomach so they can eat lichens? Or that lichens are very sensitive to pollution in the air?

Learn more about this unusual food supply and how the caribou has adapted to live off it:

Arctic Trekking with Scott Hed: Part 2 On the River
caribou_Hed04
Packing the rafts
Credit Scott Hed
Scott Hed’s job with the Alaska Coalition is to help educate the public about Alaska public land issues in the Midwestern U.S. We met up with Scott at one of his lectures about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). After his incredible experience visiting ANWR, in the land where the Porcupine caribou live he offered to share some of his adventure with Journey North.
This week Scott describes his trip up the Kongakut River to the Arctic Ocean. Read his notes, view the pictures and find out why he is so dedicated to protecting ANWR from oil development.
Oil Drilling in the US Arctic Region: Informed Decision Making
Prudhoe Bay installation
Credit Pam Miller
The controversy is stirring. Would the potential oil recovery outweigh the effects that an oil drilling operation would have on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) environment and the heart of the caribou calving area?

The issue is big. Which side do you support? Are you pro or con: proponent or opponent? How do you form an opinion? Current US energy legislation protects the caribou calving area (1002 Area) from any drilling, but President Bush wants to amend that legislation. The current US administration proposes to expand North Slope oil and gas drilling operations into the heart of the calving area insisting that drilling for domestic oil and gas reserves would reduce reliance on foreign oil.

Take some time in your classrooms to discuss this important issue. Collect articles from newspapers and magazines. Browse the internet for information. Interview your parents and grandparents, your teachers and elected officials.

Learn how to make an informed decision. Collect and review information including this fact sheet:

Then with your classmates, look at the issue critically using this cognitive organizing tool called a PMI chart:

After this exercise try this challenge:

Challenge Question #9:
""Where do you stand on the subject of the US drilling for oil in ANWR now?
1. Complete this thought: In my opinion I support______________ because ____________."
2. Then answer this: Is there any action that could come as a result of my stand on this issue? What could I do?"

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Name the Caribou, CQ #6: Contest Closes March 24
As you are reading this the capture and recollar team is out in the field patrolling for Cupid, Lupine and Donner who will be fitted with new satellite collars. They are also selecting 3 cows for new collars. Journey North has the honor of naming 2 of these. Last Update’s challenge to name the new caribou has brought a very creative collection of caribou names rolling in. As we await the news (and pictures, we hope) of the new caribou, nominations can still be submitted to Journey North until March 24.
Remember, judges will chose names that meet the following criteria:
  • Descriptive names
  • Clever names
  • Names that reflect something in the habitat or biology of the caribou
  • Names from literature

Challenge Question #6:
“I think one of the new caribou cows should be named __________. Here is why I think this is a name fit for a satellite collared caribou: ___________________.”

With each name submitted, be sure to include your name, school and grade level.

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Costly Collars: Discussion of Challenge Question #5
The news last update included details about the cost of purchasing satellite collars. Students everywhere proved multiplication skills and submitted answers like this one from students Alex S., Alex F., Kristen, and Derrick from Grade 7A at Iselin Middle School, “We believe the 6 collars will cost $16,284.00. We got the price of one collar, $2714.00, and multiplied it by 6.”

Thanks also to Jameel, Michael, Lashawn, Joel, Danny, Brian, Staffi, Frank, Ashley, and Mike at Iselin Middle School/grade 7A, and Anthony and Ryan from Mrs. Erdmann's class at South O'Brien Middle School, and from Rachael.

Cupid Cutting Her Course: How Far Did She Go?
Challenge Question #7 asked, “How far did Cupid travel between 01/26/03 and 02/09/03? How did you calculate the distance?”
Many of you took this challenge. Rachael gave us a great description of her steps and she calculated correctly! Cupid traveled 39 miles. Here is what Rachael wrote: “The distance between 65:22:00N 138:42:00E and 65:55:00N 138:27:00E, as the crow flies = 39 miles (62 km) (34 nautical miles). I calculated this problem by using the steps that were on the web site. I changed the Degrees Decimal into Degrees Minutes. Then I plugged those numbers into the website that was offered to calculate the distance. Cupid traveled 39 miles. Rachel”
“We believe Cupid has traveled 38 miles. We hope we're right,” wrote Corey Corson, Ben Hollabaugh, Aaron Knight, and Ashley Ramey of Pymatuning Valley Middle School in Andover, Ohio.

How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:

IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message.

1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-caribou@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question # 6 (or #8 or #9).
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions above.

The Next Caribou Migration Update Will Be Posted on

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