Photo: Alaska Caribou

A caribou, the largest member of the deer family, grazes on the plentiful food supply on the North Slope of Alaska during the summer.

A barren ground caribou in the North Slope of Alaska. Both the male and female caribou grow antlers, although they differ in appearance and size. The velvet covering the antlers sheds in late summer which heralds the arrival of rutting season and the fall migration.

The wild caribou in Alaska are numbered at approximately 950,000 and are split into 32 different populations or herds. In Alaska, the caribou prefer the treeless tundra or mountains although some herds spend their winter in the boreal forest.