Alaskan caribou and ptarmigan migrations recorded
Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 12:07
in Biology & Nature
In the February issue of BioScience, biologists describe the first-of-a-kind recording of caribou and ptarmigan migrations made with 14 automated cameras positioned in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, Alaska. By analyzing some 40,000 images of the tundra landscape, Ken D. Tape of the University of Alaska and David D. Gustine of the US Geological Survey documented the northern spring migrations of both species. They estimated the number of individuals traveling, and made telling observations that shed light on caribou and ptarmigan behavior, without interfering with the animals by capturing and tagging them.