Caribou. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada lists the Peary herd as “at imminent risk of extinction” due to climate change. The Peary caribou, called tuktu in Inuinnaqtun/Inuktitut, and written as ᕐᑯᑦᓯᑦᑐᒥ ᑐᒃᑐ in Inuktitut syllabics, is a major food source for the Inuit and was named after Robert Peary. Fish and Wildlife Service). We further acknowledge and recognize that our work reaches across all of the distinct First Nations, Métis Homelands and Inuit Nunangat, and for this we are grateful.Â. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Rather than setting limits on habitat disturbance within imperilled caribou ranges, governments continue to rely on largely ineffectual project-by-project impact mitigation.Â. Climate change is altering the habitat of Arctic caribou, increasing the presence of biting flies in the summer, and creating irregular icing events in … Similarly, Vors says warmer summer temperatures mean more biting and parasitic insects, which distract caribou from feeding. What these numbers tell us is that we have watched, measured and talked while caribou declined instead of taking action to save a species that has already lost half its range in North America. As someone who has spent countless hours quantifying this attrition of caribou populations and their habitat, I find it disheartening that governments — federal, provincial and territorial — continue to drag their feet while the problem only gets worse. Â. Caribou are a symbol of Canada's North, highly adapted to living for months in ice and snow. Approximately 25,000 km was flown along pre-determined Type A transect lines (Figure 1). Over 20 percent of Alberta’s boreal forest has been destroyed. In some areas, the caribou also faces threats from poaching. They are the smallest caribou in Canada and are found in the Arctic Islands of Canada. Why is the Peary Caribou endangered? For both Dolphin and Union and Peary caribou, moving across sea ice is a constant in their annual travels, but now these movements could be disrupted by both weaker ice and increased ship traffic. 124 pp. The report also says there could have been too much hunting during harsh winters when the caribou are weak. Because people killed them with guns. Caribou movements have adapted over time to coincide with “green-up,” says University of Alberta researcher Liv Vors. as Threatened in 2015. Miller, F.L. The situation is further complicated by the well-understood phenomenon — long noted by Indigenous peoples — of cycles or fluctuations in caribou populations, sometimes in a fairly regular pattern. Another contributing factor is the upswing of Inuit hunting and artic wolves. When Miller was first introduced to the world of the Peary caribou in 1972-74, he had every reason to believe his research would be routine and relatively uneventful. Caribou are unique among members of the deer family in that both females and males have antlers. Canadian Geographic is a magazine of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Barren ground caribou grazing in autumn. Update COSEWIC status report on the Peary caribou Rangifer tarandus pearyi In Canada. These types are sub-classified by eco-type, based on where they live and how they behave. Unsurprisingly, it is part of the group known as Tundra reindeer. The herd subsequently concentrated in Alaska. And each different type of caribou has different needs, meaning we cannot apply one-size-fits all solutions to ensuring their survival. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is dedicated to making Canada better known to Canadians, and the world. They range in size depending on the subspecies, with males weighing between 125–275 kg, females 90 kg–139 kg and new-born calves 5–9 kg. Adult males have tall antlers with flat, hand-like projections, while females have smaller versions. Recent large declines in the numbers of caribou have caused severe hardship for people across the north. The Peary caribou is a relatively small and pale subspecies found in the tundra of far northern North America. Indigenous Peoples have long recognized caribou types, some migrating up and down mountains, others spending all year in lowland boreal forests, while the famous barrenground herds migrate hundreds of kilometres between coastal Arctic tundra (where they give birth to their young) and boreal forest (where they scatter into small groups to spend the winter beneath the tree canopy). L. David Mech The population of the Peary caribou subspecies, endemic to Canada’s High Arctic Archipelago, was estimated at 700 in 2009, down from 24,000 in 1961. The differing ecology of the various kinds of caribou demand different survey techniques and present different challenges. The Woodland and Peary caribou have been with us since before the Pleistocene epoch, or Great Ice Age. For each report, it took two to three years to assemble the data (including Indigenous knowledge), then compile them into a comprehensive report, subject the report to robust review, before finally delivering the results to the COSEWIC table for a vote on status.Â, While numbers tell the story, they are often hard and expensive to come by. Actions must include a mix of incentives, innovation in resource extraction, restoring habitat and acting as if failure is not an option, instead of waiting for legal challenges over inaction to spur last-gasp efforts. The Porcupine caribou herd, whose range extends from Yukon through Alaska, is known for its unfortunate choice of calving grounds: Alaska’s hydrocarbon-rich Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where oil development could greatly affect the herd. What are facts about the caribou?-Some caribou migrate over 3000 miles a year. This as a result of some evidence of population recovery as warmer summers boosted forage growth after severe population die offs from weather events during the 1990s. Reindeer – also called caribou – are ubiquitous in the world’s northern latitudes, but the populations closest to the North Pole are dwindling because of climate change. Removing industrial waste in Qausuittuq National Park will restore habitat for the endangered Peary caribou. The decline of Peary caribou appears to have been caused by autumn rains that iced the winter food supply and crusted the snow cover, limiting access to forage. The efforts paid off: in late 2002, some 30,000 caribou migrated back into the Yukon for the first time in 50 years. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society family of sites: Caribou numbers in Canada are dropping drastically — and quickly — leaving the iconic land mammal on the brink of extinction, Slide back and forth to compare the status of caribou in Canada as assessed by COSEWIC in 2004 and 2017. Migratory caribou have a narrow window to fuel up each spring, when Arctic plants yield the most protein. The biggest threat and limiting factor towards the growth and decline of the Peary Caribou population is the annual variability in the severity of winter, which can cause an entire herd to starve if too many harsh winters occur in a row. COSEWIC designated Peary caribou of the Queen Elizabeth Islands (the “High Arctic”) population and Banks Island as endangered, and the Prince of Wales-Somerset, Boothia and Dolphin and Union (collectively, “Low Arctic”) populations as threatened in 1991. It all adds up to a shortage of nutrients and a lower survival rate for both adults and calves. Value of the Peary Caribou in the High Arctic The Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) is an “Endangered” form of wildlife in Canada, based on Environment Canada‟s Peary Caribou Status Report (Miller 1990, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada 1991). It was assigned a status of threatened in April 1979. Reasons for caribou’s poor prospects vary, but the common thread is the glacial pace of any actions to address well-identified threats or common concerns. For boreal and mountain caribou, it is all about destruction of habitats by oil and gas, logging and other industries leading to heightened levels of predation (which is further exacerbated by recreational activities in some places). And in many ranges across these four DUs, resource development has been allowed to continue, largely unabated. And right now, we have plenty of reason to worry about where things are headed. Our vast northern lands still contain globally important intact areas — the kind of wild spaces species such as caribou depend on for their survival.  But these largely undisturbed areas don’t exist due to good planning or political foresight. They are simply remote enough to have not been exploited — yet. Jeff Flocken, the DC Office Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, tells host Bruce Gellerman what’s at stake. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society family of sites: The caribou faces environmental challenges in the struggle to survive, Canadian Geographic student geography challenge, Help designate an official bird for Canada, Grade 8 students exploring Parks Canada sites, Compare countries' statistics and explore our changing world, Innovative projects in the developing world, The revolution of mapping in the First World War, Canadian pilots heroically earn their wings, Canadian Geographic magazine in french: Géographica, Accessibility Standard for Customer Service Plan. The committee did this through the production of six status assessment reports during the period from 2012 to 2017, which involved the collective efforts of hundreds of people. Caribou are also important to the … The collective picture that continues to emerge is both distressing and discouraging. In May 2004 all three population designations were de-activated, and the Peary Caribou, Rangifer tarandus pearyi, was assessed separately from the Dolphin and Union Caribou, Rangifer tarandus. Theories about the sudden shift abound, including harassment from aerial mining surveys and increasing wolf populations. Canadian Geographic is a magazine of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. (Maps: Chris Brackley/Can Geo), Canadian Geographic student geography challenge, Help designate an official bird for Canada, Grade 8 students exploring Parks Canada sites, Compare countries' statistics and explore our changing world, Innovative projects in the developing world, The revolution of mapping in the First World War, Canadian pilots heroically earn their wings, Canadian Geographic magazine in french: Géographica, Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, Accessibility Standard for Customer Service Plan. Also known as reindeer, caribou have roamed North America for some 1.8 million years. One of the most difficult is the examination of socio-economic factors that might arise from protection measures and long drawn-out consultations on these. For example, despite being first assessed as endangered in 2004, Peary caribou were not formally listed for protection under the Species at Risk Act until 2011 and recovery planning only began in 2014, just when COSEWIC embarked on its 10-year re-assessment. The famous George River herd of Quebec and Labrador, which once numbered close to one million individuals in the early 1990s, now has just 5,500. Many other herds across Canada have declined by more than 90 per cent in less than 30 years, and as many as 15 herds in the mountains of southern British Columbia and Alberta today have fewer than 25 individuals. They are the smallest caribou in Canada and are found in the Arctic Islands of Canada. The Peary Caribou is currently a threatened species in Canada and the population is continuing to decrease. These strategies are thrown off, however, by the early arrival of spring — a regular occurrence in recent years. In early June, nutritionally deprived females give birth to calves near the Beaufort Sea and spend a month foraging and feeding their newborn young in a relatively predator-free idyll. Woodland caribou live in the boreal forest region. Inuit traditional knowledge was collected in a “fair and balanced way” for the report used to recommend Peary caribou be treated as an endangered species, according to its author. Caribou herds can be found from the High Arctic region south to the boreal forest and Rocky Mountains and from the east to the west coasts. The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is dedicated to making Canada better known to Canadians, and the world. During the nine years I served on the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (the body that undertakes assessments of Canada’s wildlife species under the federal Species at Risk Act), the single most challenging task was systematically evaluating the status of these 11 groups of caribou. For caribou, the numbers tell the tale. There are multiple cumulative environmental and human-caused stressors that are contributing to barren-ground caribou decline. In winter, the slate back may turn a dingy brown, and some individuals appear almost entirely white. Sadly, the populations might be most easily tracked where herds have diminished to only a handful of animals, such as in the central and southern mountain groups in Alberta and British Columbia. Since 2004, only one group, Peary caribou, showed improvement, going from endangered to threatened. Each of these units is composed of anywhere from one to 60 separate herds (or individual populations). Peary Caribou are currently listed under Schedule 1 as Endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act (2011) and were listed as Threatened under NWT’s Species at … 7. Since 2004, only one group, Peary caribou, showed improvement, going from endangered to threatened. ' Change means placing clear limits on human activity, doing everything we can to lower our climate impact and fulfilling government obligations under the Species at Risk Act. A good start would be to get Species at Risk listings finished quickly, while also putting recovery plans into action through bold land-use planning decisions. Peary Caribou populations in the NWT declined steeply between the 1960s and the 1990s, likely due to a combination of factors including several years of unusually severe winter and spring weather. Cancel Unsubscribe. COSEWIC status report on the Peary caribou Rangifer tarandus pearyi in Canada. Listing a species under the Species at Risk Act is the first step, but the stages that follow are all too often painfully slow and plodding. Alhough it is endangered, it is not protected by the law. Peary caribou (photo: Morgan Anderson, government of Nunavut) Tidy tundra = healthy herd. Scientists were shocked when a 2006 survey of the Beverly caribou herd, which ranges through Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan, revealed it had virtually disappeared — down from a population of about 276,000 in 1994. Indigenous Peoples' deep knowledge of caribou makes them ideal partners in the work of saving caribou and we must go beyond mere “consultations” in working with the people for whom these creatures are cultural and spiritual touchstones. Peary caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) is listed as Endangered under Canada's Species at Risk Act.Studying rare and endangered species can be particularly challenging due to the constraints posed by incomplete datasets owing to poor weather conditions, lack of technology, organizational deficiencies, and high survey costs in remote areas. Canadian Geographic is a magazine of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, Caribou, like this one in the Northwest Territories, are increasingly threatened across the country. Part of the deer family, caribou are unique because both males and females have antlers. In fact, almost none of the areas where caribou now roam show signs of recovery following population declines. So what happens now? The RCGS is a registered charity. In early June, nutritionally deprived females give birth to calves near the Beaufort Sea and spend a month foraging and feeding their newborn young in a relatively predator-free idyll. Although they belong to only one species, caribou vary in behaviour, ecology, genetics, and even physical appearance because they have been shaped by the diversity of northern habitats and Canada’s vast geography. Ottawa. The reason they are endangered is the short supply of food during the winter months. The High Arctic population of the Peary Caribou was designated Endangered in April 1991. (Photo: Erwin and Peggy Bauer/U.S. All caribou in Canada are now at some risk of extinction, with more than half the DUs meeting the scientific criteria for endangered and the others either threatened or special concern. The RCGS is a registered charity. Click here to learn more. Man raising money to pay mom's rent left speechless Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Subscribe Subscribed Unsubscribe 7.