caribou (redirected from Greenland caribou)

Caribou, town, United States

Caribou (kâr`ĭb), town (1990 pop. 9,415), Aroostook co., NE Maine, on the Aroostook River; inc. 1859. A processing and shipping hub for a potato-growing region, it is also a winter sports center. Nearby Loring Air Force Base, once important to the local economy, is now closed.

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caribou, in zoology

caribou, name in North America for the genus (Rangifer) of deer from which the Old World reindeer was originally domesticated. Caribou are found in arctic and subarctic regions. They are the only deer in which both sexes have antlers. The broad hooves support the animal (males may weigh over 300 lb/130 kg) on boggy land or snow and have sharp edges that enable it to traverse rocky or frozen surfaces and to dig down to the grass and lichens on which it sometimes feeds. In North America there are two main types: the woodland caribou of the bogs and coniferous forests from Newfoundland to British Columbia, with palmate antlers up to 4 ft (120 cm) wide; and the barren-ground caribou of the tundra of Alaska and N Canada, which has many-branched, slender antlers and which may undertake mass migrations in search of food. Caribou are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Mammalia, order Artiodactyla, family Cervidae.

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caribou

Arctic deer (Rangifer tarandus) of the tundra, taiga, and forests, native to North America and northern Eurasia from Scandinavia to eastern Siberia. Both sexes have antlers. Caribou stand 2.3–4.6 ft (0.7–1.4 m) tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 660 lbs (300 kg); domesticated races are about the size of donkeys. They are usually grayish or brownish with lighter underparts but may be whitish or nearly black. Their herds are famous for their seasonal migration between summer and winter ranges. Their staple winter food is a lichen, popularly called reindeer moss, which they reach by scraping the snow away with their feet. In summer they also eat grasses and saplings. See also reindeer.