Here are the latest caribou coordinates sent by teacher Orin Durey of Baker Lake, Northwest Territories. Scientist Dave Abernathy at NWT Renewable Resources faxes this information to Orin, who then types them up and shares them with us.
One of the most interesting questions about these cows concerns their destination this spring for calving. Do cows really return to the same calving grounds year after year, as has always been presumed? Is it possible that cows from separate herds might winter together and also mix on the calving grounds? How loyal are cows to calving grounds from year to year? Last year's mysterious decline in the Beverly herd might be explained this way. Perhaps the 100,000 missing cows had not really died but had traveled to the Qamanirjuaq calving ground and missed the head count.
In our last report we asked you to look carefully at each cow's locations. Did you notice that cow # 79's position didn't change in 18 days? Has she also been killed by wolves as two of the five satellite tracked cow have? Look carefully at today's data and see what you think.
From Orin: "Dave says he's missing the coordinates for March 10 and will forward them later. There still doesn't seem to be a lot of movement, but at least cow #79 is alive and kicking. The cows should be starting north pretty soon. They still seem to be milling around down by the Manitoba border, maybe slowly drifting northwest. No sign yet of any decisive start to the migration.
"I'm surprised how much time the caribou have spent below the Manitoba border, given the huge fires down there during the '94 season. Speculation was that the huge burns would prevent the caribou from migrating into Manitoba. The winter of '93-'94, you'll recall, they didn't spend much time in that area at all."
Seeya, ...Orin orin.durey@canrem.com Baker Lake, NWT, Canada
76 Mar 14 60 03 N 103 08 W 77 Mar 14 59 41 N 97 42 W 79 Mar 14 58 03 N 99 22 W
76 Mar 18 60 04 N 103 04 W 77 Mar 18 59 38 N 97 51 W 79 Mar 18 58 05 N 99 30 W
76 Mar 22 60 04 N 103 19 W 77 Mar 22 59 41 N 97 42 W 79 Mar 22 58 02 N 99 19 W
76 Mar 26 60 07 N 103 09 W 77 Mar 26 59 35 N 97 39 W 79 Mar 26 58 06 N 99 17 W
76 Mar 30 60 04 N 103 07 W 77 Mar 30 59 42 N 97 49 W 79 Mar 30 58 07 N 99 24 W
CARIBOU QUESTIONS FROM STUDENTS: From MASSACHUSETTS: Dear Caribou expert, My name is Alexandra and I am studying the caribou at school but there is one thing I can't figure out. What is the life span of the caribou? Please write me back as soon as you can.
Dear Caribou expert, Hi my name is Greg and I am also studying the caribou and I was wondering why can't caribou live in warm weather like Florida or where we live, Massachusetts?
Dear Mr.Expert or Mrs. Expert , I was wundering what is a Carbiou exactly? Well got to go. love Ben