Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Determining What Our Ancestors Ate
- Part II Staple Foods: Domesticated Plants and Animals
- II.A Grains
- II.B Roots, Tubers, and Other Starchy Staples
- II.C Important Vegetable Supplements
- II.D Staple Nuts
- II.E Animal, Marine, and Vegetable Oils
- II.F Trading in Tastes
- II.G Important Foods from Animal Sources
- II.G.1 American Bison
- II.G.2 Aquatic Animals
- II.G.3 Camels
- II.G.4 Caribou and Reindeer
- II.G.5 Cattle
- II.G.6 Chickens
- II.G.7 Chicken Eggs
- II.G.8 Dogs
- II.G.9 Ducks
- II.G.10 Game
- II.G.11 Geese
- II.G.12 Goats
- II.G.13 Hogs (Pigs)
- II.G.14 Horses
- II.G.15 Insects
- II.G.16 Llamas and Alpacas
- II.G.17 Muscovy Ducks
- II.G.18 Pigeons
- II.G.19 Rabbits
- II.G.20 Sea Turtles and Their Eggs
- II.G.21 Sheep
- II.G.22 Turkeys
- II.G.23 Water Buffalo
- II.G.24 Yak
- Part III Dietary Liquids
- Part IV The Nutrients – Deficiencies, Surfeits, and Food-Related Disorders
- References
II.G.4 - Caribou and Reindeer
from II.G - Important Foods from Animal Sources
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Determining What Our Ancestors Ate
- Part II Staple Foods: Domesticated Plants and Animals
- II.A Grains
- II.B Roots, Tubers, and Other Starchy Staples
- II.C Important Vegetable Supplements
- II.D Staple Nuts
- II.E Animal, Marine, and Vegetable Oils
- II.F Trading in Tastes
- II.G Important Foods from Animal Sources
- II.G.1 American Bison
- II.G.2 Aquatic Animals
- II.G.3 Camels
- II.G.4 Caribou and Reindeer
- II.G.5 Cattle
- II.G.6 Chickens
- II.G.7 Chicken Eggs
- II.G.8 Dogs
- II.G.9 Ducks
- II.G.10 Game
- II.G.11 Geese
- II.G.12 Goats
- II.G.13 Hogs (Pigs)
- II.G.14 Horses
- II.G.15 Insects
- II.G.16 Llamas and Alpacas
- II.G.17 Muscovy Ducks
- II.G.18 Pigeons
- II.G.19 Rabbits
- II.G.20 Sea Turtles and Their Eggs
- II.G.21 Sheep
- II.G.22 Turkeys
- II.G.23 Water Buffalo
- II.G.24 Yak
- Part III Dietary Liquids
- Part IV The Nutrients – Deficiencies, Surfeits, and Food-Related Disorders
- References
Summary
The terms “caribou” and “reindeer” refer to a species of cervid, Rangifer tarandus, which has Holarctic distribution. “Reindeer,” however, is somewhat ambiguous, as it is used to refer to both the wild and domesticated forms of this species, whereas “caribou” always designates the wild form. Yet “reindeer” is generally preferred in the Old World for both. (The term “wild reindeer” is also sometimes used as a synonym for “caribou,” to differentiate from the domesticated animal.) In addition, a separate species of Paleoarctic (Old World) reindeer, Rangifer arcticus, was once recognized, but the fact that caribou and reindeer interbreed successfully and produce fertile offspring, particularly in Alaskan herds, led to general unification of the taxon (Banfield 1961).
At least six major modern subspecies of caribou are recognized. Two of these are Paleoarctic in distribution: Rangifer tarandus tarandus, the European tundra reindeer, and Rangifer tarandus fennicus, the Eurasian forest reindeer. Three are Neoarctic in distribution: Rangifer tarandus grant of Arctic Alaska and westernmost Canada, Rangifer tarandus pearyi (the “Peary caribou”) of eastern Arctic Canada, and Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus of Greenland and Baffin Island (Meldgaard 1986). One subspecies, Rangifer tarandus caribou, is endemic to the subarctic boreal forest, originally ranging from Alaska to eastern Canada and the northernmost United States but now more limited in distribution. Other varieties are more restricted geographically: Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus lives only on Spitzbergen, and Rangifer tarandus dawsoni is confined to the Queen Charlotte Islands.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Food , pp. 480 - 489Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2000
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