Fairbanks, Alaska...land of Eeyore and Rudolph

Muskox!

On Tuesday, July 3rd, we returned to the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitor Center to watch the three free films they offer each morning. The first two were similar to a couple of the ones we had seen at the Museum of the North a couple of days ago, but offered a different take on living at 40 degrees below zero as well as a more elementary explanation of the aurora borealis. The third movie, Heartbeats of Denali, showed life in Denali National Park. It covered everything from the plants and animals to the mountains and glaciers. It was a fascinating first glance at the park we’ll visit soon.

From there, we returned to the RV for lunch before heading to the Large Animal Research Station (LARS), this time on a day it is both open and offering tours. Their gift shop offers caribou antlers so tourists can either purchase them or take ridiculous pictures of themselves wearing them. Ken obviously chose the latter. We joined the 2pm tour and our guide, Pam, took us and about 15 other folks on a short walking path to see the animals. 

She gave a comprehensive explanation of the behaviors, feeding, care, habitat and so on of the muskox, but I was so enamored with the crazy looking beasts to absorb much of what she said. They are so funny-looking, designed in part to withstand the frozen tundra where they live naturally. Their thick outer coat of hair is never shed and in winter gathers little icicles that hang underneath them and clink together when they walk. The undercoat is shaved by trained professionals and spun into qiviut, a very warm and desirable yarn that sells for $25/ounce (!). The six pounds of qiviut harvested from a muskox each year is spun by cooperative of native Alaskan women in the north who sell it around the state. These ladies also knit or crochet handmade items using the yarn and sell those as well.

Mom and baby musk ox

Hungry muskoxen!

The muskoxen have a decidedly pre-historic look to their long faces and droopy hair, and even appear slow and tame. But, apparently, they are rather aggressive and defensive. And they don’t like their heads petted.

Caribou

We were also shown the reindeer and caribou field where we learned the two are the same species (but different sub-species). The reindeer are shorter, wider and herded by people to areas where they feed. Caribou are wild and roam all over larger distances in search of food. They prefer lichen, the mossy green stuff that grows in abundance in boreal forests. Lichen, however, takes 80 years to regenerate after being harvested (or nibbled). It is only due to the caribou's unpredictable eating patterns that the lichen isn't wiped out completely.

Caribou

We watched several reindeer and caribou munching lazily at the grass until our guide, Pam, stepped over with the bag of lichen. Suddenly all 6 or so of them came running over to the fence for a snack. (The silly male caribou even nibbled the fence when the lichen was gone.) There were two youngsters, both born this spring who differed in size quite a bit. The caribou was about double the size of the reindeer yearling.

Baby reindeer

Pam also told us that caribou shed their antlers every year, the males in the fall, the females when they calve in the spring. The antlers grow larger every year and are covered in a layer of fuzzy skin that they scrape off on prickly bushes in the fall. Their feet are also designed to work specifically well on rocky terrain and in thick snow, allowing them to find food even in harsh conditions.

LARS logo

We noticed the caribou and reindeer all seemed to be losing their hair in big unsightly patches. In the spring and summer with the warmer temperatures, their outer coat of fur sheds and the darker underlying fur remains. In the winter the outer layer of fur, with tiny air pockets in each hair, help insulate the animals. The pockets of air also help the caribou float when migration for food requires them to cross raging arctic rivers. With the tour nearing a close, I managed to take a million more pictures of the muskoxen who, I think, are one of the funniest looking animals we've seen and remind me of Eeyore with their long faces. So cute!

We had a great time at the Large Animal Research Station and the weather actually began to clear up after we left. By evening, the pretty blue sky and puffy white clouds were back. Ken fixed us a nice dinner and some tasty ice cream for dessert.

What a fun day!