Winter satellite collar locations

Click on map to enlarge Movements of Satellite collared cow caribou during winter months, December 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005 From December 2004 to March 2005, the majority of the caribou wintered in the Yukon. After a somewhat late fall migration to the wintering ranges in the Yukon, the caribou settled in and moved relatively little during the winter months. For some reason, Rocky’s satellite transmitter stopped sending locations after January 6, 2005. Her collar has only been on the air since March 2004, and we expected at least another year of battery life. Satellite collars do have a VHF radio-transmitter built into the collar and we were able to locate Rocky in March - she is still alive.

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Telemetry relocations

Click on map to zoom to telemetry locations Locations of radio and satellite collared caribou, March 6 to 8, 2005 Between March 6th and 8th, Tara Wertz and Don Carlson with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) conducted telemetry flights and found 74 radio collared caribou. Very few caribou appeared to have wintered in Alaska this year. Only 1 satellite collared cow (Iola), and 1 radio collared caribou were found in Alaska, very close to the Yukon border. East of the Dempster Highway in the Yukon, the caribou were concentrated in the lower Blackstone and Hart Rivers north to the Ogilvie River. West of the Dempster, the caribou were found in the Whitestone, Miner, and Fishing Branch drainages. Some caribou wintered further north along the Eagle River.

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Capture locations

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Locations of caribou captured March 7 to 13 for deployment of radio and satellite collars

Between March 7 and 13, YTG staff Vince Fraser, Dorian Amos and Martin Kienzler captured 17 caribou for deployment of conventional radio collars. 10 radio collars were fitted on 9-month-old females (short yearlings) and 3 were placed on adult females. 5 conventional collars were placed on bulls. This was the 3rd year that we have been collaring short-yearling females. The purpose of this program is to gather information on the survival of yearling caribou. We had planned on recapturing some of the short yearlings that were first collared in 2003, in order to ensure that the collar was fitting well, and that the animal was in good shape. Most of those caribou were in thickly wooded areas, but we were able to recapture 1. 'BO6' has grown into a beautiful healthy cow caribou. With any luck, she will be producing her first calf this year.

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"BO6" as a short-yearling    "BO6" as a 3 year old

This year we had 9 new satellite collars to deploy. 5 of these collars were purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, 1 was purchased by the G'wichin Renewable Resources Board, and 3 were purchased by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

Catherine and Pingo were recaptured and released with brand new collars. Catherine had first been collared in 2002 and her collar would have gone off the air by late summer. Pingo was collared in March 2004, but her satellite transmitter never worked properly. Both Catherine and Pingo were in very good shape.

This year we added a "different kind" of caribou to our program. "Matilda" is from the Central Arctic Caribou Herd, which range to the west of the Porcupine Caribou Herd. She was first collared on the Central Arctic calving grounds as a calf. However, during the winter of 2004, the Central Arctic and Porcupine Caribou overlapped in winter ranges near Arctic Village, Alaska. Then, in the spring of 2004, Matilda moved north with Porcupine Caribou instead of heading back west with other Central Arctic Caribou. It will be interesting to see if she now stays with the Porcupine Caribou Herd, or goes back to the Central Arctic Caribou Herd. In the past, we have documented cases of radio-collared Porcupine Caribou and / or Central Arctic Caribou that have "switched" herds for a number of seasons, but this is the first time where we'll be watching one with a satellite collar.

To view a map showing the ranges of the Central Arctic and Porcupine Caribou Herds, click here.
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Meet our newest caribou

Daphey Petunia In Alaska, Tara Wertz once again coordinated a naming contest with school children in Arctic Village and Kaktovik. In Arctic Village, 7th grader Brittney Hollandsworth was chosen the winner with the name of 'Daphey'. The winnning entry from Kaktovik came from 8th grader Wayne Akootchook. He chose the name 'Petunia' for one of the new satellite collared caribou.

Snowshoe As the Gwich'in Renewable Resources Board (GRRB) had purchased one of the collars, they were offered the opportunity to hold a "Caribou naming contest" in Inuvik. Kathy Bibby and Catherine Lambert with the GRRB organized most of the contest, and wrote: "We received over 68 caribou names from students 7-12 years old. Some of them were really cute and we had a lot of trouble choosing the winner... We finally opted for Snowshoe, which we felt was not only related to caribou, with their well-adapted large hooves, but also to all Gwich'in people when they go out on the land. Justin Woodfine, a grade 4 student of 10 years old from Inuvik, suggested the name. His photo, along with Snowshoe's picture, should shortly appear on our website. Other good names were Tuktu, Pashook, Okpik, Blizzard, and Delta. The choice was hard!"

Kate This year, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is producing an hour-long feature program as part of their "Incredible Journey's" series. Because they needed more locations than what we normally program our satellite transmitters to give, the BBC purchased 3 satellite collars which will give daily locations from March to July 2005. We also benefit from the interesting information provided by daily locations on 3 Porcupine Caribou. A BBC camera crew filmed part of the captures in March, and did more filming out of Old Crow in late April. The names chosen for the BBC caribou by the film crew were Kate, Bertha, and Claudia. Their documentary should be completed some time in 2006.

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Caribou data

Measurements taken from captured caribou When we capture caribou, we do more than fit them with collars for tracking. We also record whether or not they are still accompanied by a calf, how old they are, collect measurements on the body size and condition of the animal, and collect blood samples for contaminants analysis, DNA testing, and with the cows, to see if they are pregnant. This data is collected from all caribou to compare body size and health between herds. The image on the right shows where these measurements are taken from. Below is a table with some of the data we collected from the caribou we collared this spring. Note that all length measurements are in centimeters, and weight of the caribou is recorded in kilograms. Note: In the field when handling live animals, we estimate age by looking at the wear on their teeth. Return to top

Composition count data

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