Quick Caribou Facts

• Caribou survive almost exclusively on ground and/or arboreal lichens (that grow on trees) in the winter. They have an excellent sense of smell, which they use to locate lichens under the snow. During the remainder of the year they feed extensively on a variety of foods including grasses, sedges, horsetails, flowering plants and leaves of numerous shrubs.
• The ability of caribou to use lichens as a primary food distinguishes them from all other large mammals and has enabled them to survive on harsh northern rangeland.
• Woodland caribou are divided into two populations, the mountain and the boreal. Each has different habitat use, behaviors and seasonal movement patterns, which they have adopted to survive in different environments.
• The mountain population occurs in the forested foothills of Alberta and the interior mountains of British Columbia, and moves seasonally between winter and summer habitats.
• The boreal population inhabits boreal peatlands and upland forest year round.