There are three subspecies of caribou in Canada:
- Peary Caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi), the smallest, lightest-coloured, and least understood of the three races, are found only on the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
- Barren-ground Caribou (Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus), slightly larger and darker, are found for much or all of the year on the tundra from Alaska to Baffin Island. They are by far the most abundant caribou; some herds in northern Canada number in the hundreds of thousands. They migrate seasonally, often along predictable routes, to the sparsely treed northern coniferous forests.
- Woodland Caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), the largest and darkest-coloured, are irregularly distributed throughout our boreal forest and mountains from the island of Newfoundland to British Columbia. They are not migratory, but some herds, especially those in mountainous regions, move to different elevations with the seasons. In British Columbia three ecotypes of woodland caribou have been identified:
a) Northern Caribou (15,000 individuals*) - feed primarily on ground lichens and occupy low elevation, lodgepole-pine dominated forests for much of the year. Occur in central and northern regions of the province
b) Mountain Caribou (1900 individuals*) - feed primarily on arboreal (tree) lichens and occupy old-growth forests and high-elevation subalpine habitats. Occur in the mountainous regions of the south-easter half of the province.
c) Boreal Caribou (1500 individuals*) - feed primarily on ground lichens in the boreal forests of the north-eastern part of the province.
*Note: Citation for number of individuals: http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/sarco/mc/Mountain%20Caribou%20presentation.pdf
Woodland caribou are threatened in the Southern Mountains National Ecological Area (SMNEA) in Canada, which covers the south-eastern portion of British Columbia, slightly overlapping into Alberta. Population declines in many herds and reduction in the range of caribou since the early 1900’s have contributed to their current threatened status. Because BC is a signatory on the National Accord for the Protection of Species at Risk, the threatened status of caribou is a significant conservation issue in BC. For further details, visit Environment Canada’s Species at Risk Act Public Registry, or the National Recovery Program (RENEW) websites.
For additional background information about caribou, please view the report published by the provincial Ministry of Environment: Caribou in British Columbia: Ecology, Conservation, and Management.
