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National Geographic : 1974 Dec
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under a microscope. The teeth are collected from hunters' kills-considered a good sampling of a herd. "We cut the teeth into sections about 200 microns thick with a rotary diamond-faced saw," he explained. "In ultraviolet light the cementum surrounding the tooth root is seen as a series of contrasting bright and dull bands." I peered into the microscope eyepiece and saw the growth rings, which are counted like the paired annual growth rings of a tree. Caribou over 10 are old. Bulls usually do not breed until at least 2 or 3, but cows may breed at a year and a half. Examining teeth from Nelchina kills, Mr. Lucier determined that the number of females 2 to 5 years old had dropped drastically -from 77 percent of the killed animals in 1968 to only 43 percent in 1971. This meant that the herd had experienced a staggering mortality of young animals, from which, of course, all increase in herd size must come. Most of Alaska's caribou herds have known the boom-and-bust cycle that the Nelchina herd experienced. In the 1930's Alaska had an estimated one million caribou-more than twice as many as today. In the 1950's the number may have dipped below 200,000. Disease, heavy snow conditions, and per haps a dozen other factors play a role. Hunt ing, however, is probably less of a factor in reducing caribou numbers than it was ten or twelve years ago, in part because many vil lagers, like those at Anaktuvuk Pass, have turned to snowmobiles and no longer re quire meat to feed sled dogs. Exhausted Cows Push On Next in size to the Arctic herd is the Porcu pine herd of more than 100,000 animals, shared with Canada. Named for a tributary of the Yukon River, the herd calves largely with in the nine-million-acre Arctic National Wild life Range, largest animal refuge in the U. S. It was a calf of the Porcupine herd that Don Frickie and I had observed immediately after its birth that June day. On that trip, hoping to witness the spring migration, I had waited for several days beside the Kongakut River with Don, assistant refuge manager, and Averill Thayer, the manager. We scanned mountain and valley with bin oculars. One day Don suddenly exclaimed, "There!" He had spotted a dozen cows only 100 yards away, walking single file over the edge of a hill toward us. Caribou: Hardy Nomads of the North "They look terrible, don't they?" Ave said. Ribs and hip bones projected from gaunt frames. Their coats were pale, hair tips worn and bleached. Shiny black spots of hide showed. Udders were full, for all the animals were pregnant. Their flashing hoofs appeared too large for their thin legs. They would calve within days. The energy drain of maturing fetuses, the 400-mile mi gration, and a diet of dormant vegetation all had taken a toll. Yet they were vigorous and traveling. My, how they traveled! They filed down the mountain to the ice-choked Kong akut, plunged through the shallows, and swam JIM REARDEN(ABOVE)ANDGEORGEW. CALEF(FOLLOWINGPAGES) Newborn legs a-quiver, a calf responds to its mother's anxious head bobbing and wob bles to its feet. Just two feet long and weigh ing only 13 pounds at birth, it will be able to outrun a man after 24 hours. Spiked thicket of burnished antlers flows across a river (following pages) as the Porcupine herd heads south through blow ing snow during its fall migration; adults will mate in two weeks. Caribou are the only members of the deer family in which antlers adorn both sexes. 873
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