Languages:
Peary CaribouThe present reduced state of Peary caribou (a small, white sub-species found only in West Greenland and Canada's arctic islands) is serious enough that a number of communities have limited and even banned their subsistence harvests of the species. The number of Peary caribou on Canada's arctic islands dropped from 26 000 in 1961 to 1000 by 1997, causing the sub-species to be classified as endangered in 1991. The decline of Peary caribou appears to have been caused by autumn rains that iced the winter food supply and crusted the snow cover, limiting access to forage. Also, annual snowfall in the western Canadian Arctic increased during the 1990s and the three heaviest snowfall winters coincided with Peary caribou numbers on Bathurst Island dropping from 3000 to an estimated 75 between 1994 and 1997. Source & © ACIA Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment Related publication:
Other Figures & Tables on this publication: Observed Arctic Temperature, 1900 to Present Observed sea ice September 1979 and September 2003 Projected Vegetation, 2090-2100 Arctic Thermohaline Circulation Projected Arctic Surface Air Temperatures Projected opening of northern navigation routes Factors influencing UV at the surface 1000 years of changes in carbon emissions Projected Surface Air Temperature change 1990-2090 Melt of the Greenland Ice Sheet The Gwich’in and the Porcupine Caribou Herd Seals Become Elusive for Inuit in Nunavut Observed Climate Change Impacts in Sachs Harbour, Canada Indigenous knowledge and observations of current trends Case study of interacting changes: Saami reindeer herders Indigenous knowledge and observations of current trends Indigenous knowledge and observations of current trends |
