Featured Wildlife: Porcupine Caribou

Average life span: 15 years in the wild

Length: 64-84 inches

Height: 33-59 inches at the shoulder

Weight: 180-400 lbs., up to 700 lbs.

Well adapted: Relatives of reindeer, moose and deer, caribou are well adapted to their northern habitat and cooler climate, with hollow-hair fur that covers almost all of its body providing insulation in winter and flotation for swimming.

Porcupine Caribou Herd: The Coastal Plain of the Arctic Refuge is the central calving ground for the internationally-recognized Porcupine Caribou Herd, relied upon by the Gwich’in people in the U.S. and Canada to meet their subsistence needs and for their cultural survival. Each year the Porcupine Caribou Herd migrates between winter habitat in Canada and Alaska south of the Brooks Range, and summer habitat (calving and post-calving) on the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain, the longest land migration route of any land mammal on earth.