why do caribou migrate?

Question

what causes them to go, and where do they go?

Answer 1

Caribou migrate to find food. They cannot stay in one place without using up the available food supplies or losing them to winter weather. They move north in the spring and south in the fall. Where they migrate depends on which herd you're talking about - the caribou population is divided into several large groups that follow their own migratory paths. The most famous is probably the Porcupine herd.

Answer 2

Caribou Migration

Answer 3

Migrating ungulates like caribou follow seasonally abundant food resources of exceptional quality to feed lactating females after giving birth, and they avoid non-migratory predators. By expanding their territory they reduce competitive pressure for resources with non-migratory herbivores. Group migration has costs through parasite and disease transmission. As the large groups meet and travel stresses them they become more vulnerable to disease. But while they remain in large traveling groups they benefit through predator swamping. There is a no large stable population of predators to take out the caribou and what predators they meet are less likely to pick to given individual from such a large crowd so their individual chance of surviving a predators attack go up.
http://www.conbio.org/activities/meetings/2006/Symposia/Symposium_migrations.cfm
Caribou in Canada make the longest known terrestrial migration. They typically travel 500 kilometers (~300 miles) but they can travel up to 2,500 k (~1,500 mi) each way. caribou winter range can be from as far south as latitude 46o north to their summer range as far north as latitude 80o north.
http://books.google.com/books?id=bUSLWcOZZksC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=longest+terrestrial+migration+caribou&source=web&ots=QS0DqIzc0J&sig=I5p6yNfeN0YuwB9Qy_oifkoKXBU
http://arctic.fws.gov/carcon.htm
Satellite tracking in the Yukon & Alaska has shown some individuals had annual round trip movements of 5,055 km (3,141 mi) (Fancy et al, 1989)
http://books.google.com/books?id=7W-DGRILSBoC&pg=PA1129&lpg=PA1129&dq=longest+terrestrial+mammal+migration&source=web&ots=WHH3oQQyQH&sig=s7a8TRBZEOwtTkUJAZcgDKboxLU

Answer 4

They follow the food source.

Answer 5

somewhere in the northwest.. i was acutally watching PLANET EARTH last night and they were tlaking about caribou... what a coinsidence!

Answer 6

food

Answer 7

Their visa expired? :)

Answer 8

thank u