Caribou (Reindeer)Photos, Pictures, Prints

View caribou (reindeer) photos, license caribou (reindeer) stock pictures, and buy stunning caribou (reindeer) prints by award winning professional photographer Jon Cornforth. To license an image for editorial or commercial use, click on the License Image button and fill out the form. To purchase a fine art print, select your image size and presentation style before clicking on the Buy Print button.

Rangifer tarandus

Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are wild reindeer that live in North America. They are an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling, widespread and numerous across the north. Large animals, their weight varies between 130-370lbs (60-170kg) for females, and up to 660lbs (300kg) for males. Meanwhile, both sexes grow antlers.

Notably, reindeer hooves adapt to the season. In the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become spongy and provide extra traction. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof. This, in turn, cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep the animal from slipping. This also enables them to dig down through the snow to their favorite food, a lichen known as reindeer moss. Aside from lichen, this animal also eats the leaves of willows and birches, as well as sedges and grasses. The reindeer travels the furthest of any terrestrial mammal. For example, the caribou of North America can run at speeds up to 50 mph (80kph) and can travel as much as 3,100 miles (5,000km) a year.

Explore with Cornforth Images.