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II.G.4 - Caribou and Reindeer

from II.G - Important Foods from Animal Sources

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
David Yesner
Edited by
Kenneth F. Kiple  and
Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas
Kenneth F. Kiple
Affiliation:
Bowling Green State University, Ohio
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Summary

The terms “caribou” and “reindeer” refer to a species of cervid, Rangifer tarandus, which has Holarctic distribution. “Reindeer,” however, is somewhat ambiguous, as it is used to refer to both the wild and domesticated forms of this species, whereas “caribou” always designates the wild form. Yet “reindeer” is generally preferred in the Old World for both. (The term “wild reindeer” is also sometimes used as a synonym for “caribou,” to differentiate from the domesticated animal.) In addition, a separate species of Paleoarctic (Old World) reindeer, Rangifer arcticus, was once recognized, but the fact that caribou and reindeer interbreed successfully and produce fertile offspring, particularly in Alaskan herds, led to general unification of the taxon (Banfield 1961).

At least six major modern subspecies of caribou are recognized. Two of these are Paleoarctic in distribution: Rangifer tarandus tarandus, the European tundra reindeer, and Rangifer tarandus fennicus, the Eurasian forest reindeer. Three are Neoarctic in distribution: Rangifer tarandus grant of Arctic Alaska and westernmost Canada, Rangifer tarandus pearyi (the “Peary caribou”) of eastern Arctic Canada, and Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus of Greenland and Baffin Island (Meldgaard 1986). One subspecies, Rangifer tarandus caribou, is endemic to the subarctic boreal forest, originally ranging from Alaska to eastern Canada and the northernmost United States but now more limited in distribution. Other varieties are more restricted geographically: Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus lives only on Spitzbergen, and Rangifer tarandus dawsoni is confined to the Queen Charlotte Islands.

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The Cambridge World History of Food , pp. 480 - 489
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2000

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