![]() The color of their fur depends on the habitat they are born in and It changes in different seasons. The coat of the Elk which consists of long waterproof hair becomes thicker as the winter approaches to protect them from the cold.Įlks are born with spots on their bodies that disappear during the summer. The male Elks grow antlers in the spring season which are shed in the winter. The Elk is a large animal that has a short tail and a patch on its rump. The Elk is the largest and most advanced species of red reindeer. The word Elk comes from the German root word meaning “stag” or “heart and in Europe, it is the most common name for the Moose. The Difference Between Elk Reindeer And Caribou.Endangered woodland caribou in British Columbia and Alberta are protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act. ![]() Russia’s overall reindeer population fell by 21 percent between 19, while the last wild caribou population in the contiguous United States became functionally extinct in the late 2010s. Harding wrote that proper classification of the reindeer/caribou species would aid their conservation. Not all taxonomic organizations have signed on to the reclassification, however some still consider these groups subspecies of R. platyrhynchus), and Eurasian tundra reindeer ( R. He suggested splitting the Rangifer genus into five species: Arctic caribou ( R. For example, naturalists have known that “woodland caribou,” a subset of North American caribou, have darker hair than their cousins, “Arctic caribou.” These populations “almost never breed with one another, even where their rutting ranges overlap or if they do, their calves do not survive,” he wrote in Canadian Geographic. Harding looked at the differences in genetics, anatomy, and behavior among wild Rangifer populations. A Species, Divided?Ī caribou herd in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska / Mint Images/ Art Wolfe/Mint Images RF/Getty Images Lee Harding, a Canadian mammologist, argued that these subspecies are so different from each other that they actually deserve their own species designation. Then, a 2022 study in the journal ZooKeys by Dr. Individuals of these subspecies bore meaningful physical, behavioral, and geographic differences. tarandus populations in Canada and Europe suggested that the species was split into several distinct subspecies. ![]() In North America, the animals are called caribou if they are wild and reindeer if they are domesticated,” the FDA explains.Īs genomic technology grew more advanced, new analyses of R. Depending on where you lived, you would call this species caribou or reindeer. They’re found across a wide geographic range, including parts of Russia, Mongolia, Norway, Finland, Canada, and Alaska.įor decades, taxonomists identified only one living species in this genus, Rangifer tarandus. Reindeer Versus CaribouĪ reindeer herd in Svalbard, Norway / Paul Souders/Moment/Getty ImagesĬaribou and reindeer belong to the same genus, Rangifer. Caribou and reindeer shed and replace their antlers every year: males start growing a new pair in February and discard in November, and females won’t start developing fresh antlers until May or June. Males’ antlers can measure up to 51 inches long, while females’ are smaller. In most species, only the males grow them among reindeer and caribou, both sexes sport antlers. One feature that sets cervids apart is their antlers, comprised of bone as well as nerves, tissues, and blood vessels. Anecdotal evidence claims reindeer have been known to gobble up the occasional lemming as well. Members of this family are largely herbivorous, relying on grasses, shrubs, or other plants for nutrition. They roam every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Like cows and pigs, cervids are hoofed animals with an even number of toes on each foot. Reindeer and caribou are in the family Cervidae, along with white-tailed deer, moose, and elk. A caribou in Denali National Park, Alaska / Stan Tekiela Author / Naturalist / Wildlife Photographer/Moment/Getty Images
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