Mountain caribou are a variety of woodland caribou and a member of the deer family.

They are about 4 feet - 1.20m high at the shoulder.

Males weigh 400-500 pounds, females around 300.

Both females and males grow antlers, males have larger ones.

There are only 1670 animals in 13 herds today.

5 of these herds have less than 50 animals and are at the verge of extinction.

Roads, human building sites and logging activities often make it impossible for the fragmented herds to meet safely.

To find mates in between the different herds is necessary to produce healthy caribou babies.

Mountain caribou do not migrate long distances like their northern relatives.

But they move up and down in mountain elevation depending on the time of the year and on snow levels.

They spend spring, summer and fall in the valley bottoms of old-growth called „low- elevation“ rainforests.

Here they feed on fresh green vegetation and a combination of algae and fungus.

In May-June the females give birth to their baby-caribou. At age of two they have their first calf and only one calf per year.

In early and late winter they use their large snow-shoe like feet to climb the mountains.

Their feet allow them to stand on top of deep snow and eat the lichens hanging from the tops of old trees.

Here they used to be safe of predators like wolves and cougars all winter.

Today snow mobiles leave tracks of packed snow behind which enable the predators to follow the caribou to their winter grounds.