ALTERNATE SPECIES FOR NORTHERN ANIMAL PRODUCTION

Abstract

Domestic animals, with the exception of the reindeer, are poorly adapted to foraging conditions in the Far North. Plant productivity is low at high latitudes, but native ungulates free to range over the irregularities of the terrain are able to obtain forage of high quality during the short summer growing season. Adaptations of native ungulates to survive the long winters when forage quality and availability are limited include growth plateaus during winter, accumulation of large fat reserves, reduced activity during winter, increased capability to digest plants not normally consumed by herbivores, and capability to forage through the snow cover. Attempts to domesticate the moose and muskox have to date been unsuccessful largely because these species appear poorly adapted to free-ranging conditions as are reindeer, and they therefore require closer handling, fencing, and provision of supplemental feed, with associated high costs of operation. No long-term practice of selective breeding of these species has accompanied the domestication efforts. Reindeer husbandry enjoys a renewed vigor in North America as a result of the recently developed raw antler market and changing motivations of native herders. The continued harvest of native wild ungulates for the sustenance needs of local people appears to be the most realistic use of most northern rangelands in the immediate future.