Journey North Caribou Spring 2003

Caribou Migration Update: May 7, 2003

Today's Report Includes:

Who is Moving and Who is Not?
Following the Trail of the Caribou
Gnarlie Skiers Take Note: Challenge Question #19
Try This! Descriptive Reading Makes Creative Writers
Caribou People and the Gwich'in or Tukudh Language
Locating Bonnet Lake: Discussion of Challenge Question #16
Stuck in a Rut: discussion of Challenge Questions #17 and #18
Fact for the Day
Quote for the Day
Year-end Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!

Who is Moving and Who is Not?

Caribou Migration Map
Click on Map to Enlarge

The map tells a story. Biologist Martin Kienzler confirms it with his short message this week, “The caribou are really starting to move north.” Catherine and Lucky are in the lead and it appears that they (and the herd they are traveling with) will be the first to arrive at the calving grounds. But what about Lupine and Donner? They still have a great distance to go. Can you calculate how many miles they will need to travel over the next 3 weeks to make it to the calving grounds in time?

Today's Data

Following the Trail of the Caribou
What would it be like to live like a caribou on their migration trail through mountain ridges and valleys? In the first of 7 reports by Karsten and Leanne written from their makeshift camps along the trail we learn first-hand about the incredible journey these magnificent animals take each and every year of their lives.

Credit S. Kalinowski

“...Once we started on one trail, we had to stick with it, we soon realized. If it hadn’t been packed by a hundred hooves, then the snow had no strength to support us. Not even on skis. All the literal ways we had to describe the trip following in the footsteps of the caribou, being pulled across the landscape by the herd, of being at the whim of wild animals, were truer than we imagined...”

Read the entire journal entry to feel and imagine what Karsten and Leanne are experiencing. And remember that right now, at this very minute they are out on the migration trail following the caribou to their calving grounds!

“Being Caribou” Update April 21, 2003

Gnarlie Skiers Take Note: Writers Try This!

Credit S. Kalinowski

In the latest report from the expedition, Karsten and Leanne write,
“The Porcupine Caribou Herd are members of what people call ‘barren-ground’ caribou, but judging by what we saw, ‘mountain’ caribou would be more appropriate: or goats. We were astounded by some of the lines they were taking across mountain faces, up and down scree slopes and rock bands that we negotiated on all fours; lines that would put the gnarliest extreme skier to shame.”

What is Karsten trying to tell us about the caribous’ ability to travel across the landscape? He doesn’t just say that they are good on their feet. His choice of words allows the reader to imagine the mountain slopes and the difficulty of the trails. How does he compare the caribou with a skier?

Challenge Question #19:
“Research terms that are related to mountains and climbing. Make a list of these terms (example, ‘scree’). What are some new words that you learned?”

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

Try This! Descriptive Reading Makes Creative Writers
“.... Streams of animals pouring like some liquid over the hilltops, expanding, contracting, spreading across ridge crests and passes...” Study more descriptive journal entries from “Being Caribou,” the team of adventurers following the caribou migration. Use their sensual writing as a springboard to your own experiences and try your hand at some creative writing.

Descriptive Writers Create Imagery

Caribou People and the Gwich'in or Tukudh Language

Old Crow, Yukon
Credit Old Crow Web site

The Gwich'in Athapaskan language is used in Northern Yukon, Northeast Alaska and Northeast N.W.T. The Gwich'in language has been taught in the Old Crow high school since the early 1080's. The first writing system for the Gwich'in or Tukudh language was created between 1829-1913 by a church of England missionary who began working with the Gwich'in people in the 1860's. Today young people can rely on a modern writing system that reflects more accurately and consistently that which was developed by Richard Mueller, a linguist and Bible translator.
The Old Crow, Yukon, Web site is full of interesting information about life and culture in a small town in the Porcupine caribou migration range. Visit them to learn more:

Old Crow, Yukon: Home of the Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation

One of the fascinating pages on their site is dedicated to the Gwich’in language. Copied below are some common phrases in English and in Gwich’in. Can you try pronouncing them?

How are You?.......Neenjit dagoonch’uu?
I am fine.................Sheenjit gwiinzii
How about you?.....Nanh yu’?
I'm fine...................Shint’eh sheenjit gwiinzii
How is he/she?.......Veenjit dagoonch’uu
He/she is fine.........Veenjit gwiinzii

I live in Old Crow.....Old Crow gwihch’ii
Who is this?...............Jii juu t’iinch’uu?
This is my mother.....Jii shihanh t’iinch’uu
This is my father........Jii shiti t’iinch’uu
This is my grandmother..Jii shitsuu t’iinch’uu
This is my grandfather....Jii shitsii t’iinch’uu

Now listen while a native speaker uses these phrases. Pick a partner and have a little conversation, in Gwich’in!

Locating Bonnet Lake: Discussion of Challenge Question #16
On Easter day, 4/20 Karsten reports, “...We’re at a place called Bonnet Lake at N 68 degrees, 11.344 minutes, W137 degrees, 52.63 minutes.
Challenge Question #16: “Using geographic terms that include compass directions and geographic landmarks, describe the location of Bonnet Lake. Why do you think the Porcupine caribou travel through this region on their way to the calving grounds?”

If you located the position you would have found a group of lakes that appear to have rivers running through them. They are located at the foot, just west of the northern Richardson Mountains. These rivers and lakes are filled with water freshly supplied by mountain snow melt. This is how Karsten describes the lake:
“We are camped at Bonnet Lake now, getting educated as to why the head of the drainage it’s located at is called the Blow River. The wind’s cold; and tireless.”

Stuck in a Rut: discussion of Challenge Questions #17 and #18
In our last update, caribou biologist Doug Urquart described the seasonal differences between the antlers of males and females. By looking at when antlers are shed we can see some of the interesting ways that the pregnant females have adapted.

Challenge Question #17: "For what reasons might female caribou keep their antlers during the winter, while males drop theirs in the fall?
Shedding antlers after calving allows: Pregnant females use their antlers to defend their feeding craters (craters in the snow) from antler-less males.
And Challenge Question #18: "Why might the female’s antlers begin to develop after calving?"
Energy needed to build developing antlers is expended after calves are born, reserving energy earlier for calf fetus development.

Jayanthi Rangan is absolutely right. He wrote, “I think the female Caribou must be using the antler not for fighting but for finding Lichens during winter and not starving to death. She has to eat for two.”

Fact for the Day
Average distance traveled by a Porcupine caribou per day: Between 15 and 20 km (in July) and between 2-3 km per day in winter.

Credit S. Kalinowski

Quote for the Day
“To me, the Arctic Refuge represents everything spectacular and everything endangered about America’s natural heritage.” – Robert Redford

Year-End Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!
Please take a few minutes to share your suggestions and comments in our Year-End Evaluation Form below. The information you provide at the end of each year is the single most important tool used to guide our planning.

Journey North
Year End Evaluation
Please share your thoughts

Thank You!

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 #19
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 May 21, 2003.