Mr. Alaskan

Across the State of Alaska, caribou still out number people. The Porcupine River herd alone rivals the population of Anchorage.

The species is so ubiquitous in the Alaskan bush, so part of the life on the last frontier style, that locals sometimes forget that caribou are any more wild than their strange neighbor just six miles up the river, or over the next ridge. Some families that live far enough away from grocery stores to qualify for a subsistence hunting license, apologize for serving caribou (certain game units don't have quotas) instead of the magnificent, but scarcer moose.

What makes it so special then for an Alaskan to watch small herds move about Denali Park, is to realize that so many other species also depend on this phenomenon of plenty. A curious fact is that Rangifer Tarandus is the only member of the deer family where both male and female grow antlers. Why? Who knows - except to realize that the shed antlers are the only source of much needed calcium for a long list of smaller animals.

Such is the cycle of life.