Arctic Wildlife - Mammals

Arctic Wildlife

Witness the awe-inspiring migration of the caribou. See bald and golden eagles swoop down to crystal-clear waters. Have a chance to photograph the white wolf or shaggy muskox. These are just some of the reasons that naturalists and photographers flock to Tukto Lodge.

Here are profiles of the diverse wildlife found at Tukto Lodge:

Mammals

Arctic Hares

Inhabiting Canada's tundra region, the Arctic hare is the largest of North American hares. The Arctic hare's coat changes to adapt with the seasons, becoming snowy white in the winter and blue-grey in the summer. Herbivores, Arctic hares will consume woody plants, willow leaves, bark and shoots as well as a variety of grasses and berries.

Their back legs are extremely powerful and the hare can reach speeds of almost 40 miles an hour. This helps the Arctic hare elude its enemies - wolves, foxes and snowy owls. The Arctic hare often congregate in groups of 100 to 300 hares, often huddling together during the cold winters.

Arctic Wolf

A subspecies of the grey wolf, this northern wolf is similar to all other wolves in many ways - it hunts in packs, claims territories and is part of a social hierarchy. How it differs, however, is in its appearance, its prey and its habitat.

Adapted to its environment, the Arctic wolf has white fur that allows it to blend in to the snowy landscape. Unlike other wolves, the Arctic wolf has thick hair between its pads and longer thicker fur that allows the wolf to survive temperatures of up to - 70 Fahrenheit. The Arctic wolf will kill and eat every animal it can catch, devouring every part of its prey, including skin, fur and bones. It survives on Arctic hare, lemmings, muskox, caribou, ptarmigan, seals and nesting birds. Due to the frozen nature of the tundra, the Arctic wolf cannot make traditional wolf dens, so instead their dens are in rock outcroppings, shallow land depressions and caves.

Barren Land Grizzly Bears

A majestic animal, this bear has long been a symbol of wilderness and strength. Unlike its mountain grizzly cousins, this Arctic bear has reduced its dependence on plants as a source of food. The barren land grizzly survives primarily on caribou throughout late spring, summer and fall. However, it also enjoys berries and fish.

The barren land grizzly hibernates from approximately late October to mid May. A healthy male can easily cover 30 miles a day and over a season may travel approximately 500 miles.

Caribou

Caribou are the only members of the deer family where both the male and female members have antlers. The caribou's broad, sharp-edged hooves serve multiple purposes: to provide traction on ice and smooth rock; to dig for lichen, the principal food source in winter; to function as paddles when swimming Dubawnt Lake's numerous channels. In fact, caribou are such good swimmers that they can propel themselves through water at almost 2 miles an hour. The average DuBawnt caribou bull weighs 350-400 pounds and the cows average 175-225 pounds.

Caribou are extremely inquisitive animals and photographers have sometimes found that by slowly waving their arms or bobbing up and down from the waist, they can attract the curious animals for a close-up. Photographers at Tukto Lodge have often been able to photograph the magnificent caribou as close as 20 feet from the camp.

Muskox

Easily recognized by their shaggy coat and upturned horns, it is estimated that this hairy mammal crossed the Bering Strait land bridge to North America over 90,000 years ago. Their thick dark brown or black coat help the muskox survive temperatures of minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. These mighty beasts have been under Canadian government protection since 1917 after being pushed to the brink of extinction by trappers and hunters. Their only wild predator is the Arctic wolf.

Breeding season is late summer and the bulls will challenge other males to elaborate fights by emitting deep rumbling bellows. The muskox feeds on the willows, sedges, grasses, crowberry and bilberry found in the Arctic.

Richardson Ground Squirrel

A member of the squirrel family, this cute, furry animal has a thinner tail and smaller ears than its squirrel cousins. The Richardson ground squirrel is known locally as "Sic Sic". During the winter they hibernate in burrows and breed each season, with an average litter size of 6 to 8 babies.

This delightful animal is very chatty. Its squeals, whistles, chirps and chirrs are very distinctive. The Sic Sic has two alarm sounds. The first is a short, low-pitched chirp for aerial predators such as owls, eagles and falcons, and the other is a long high-pitched whistle that indicates a ground predator such as weasels, foxes and wolves. Other Sic-Sics will immediately stand on their hind legs and scan the area for danger.

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