It's easy to confuse caribou with European reindeer, as the two look very much alike and, in fact, are generally classified as the same species. But while reindeer are mostly domesticated animals, caribou are wild, and still travel in huge migrating herds that stretch to the horizon, sometimes numbering 100,000 or more. Caribou form the major food and clothing supply for many Native Canadians, whose lives cycle around the movements of the herds.
The mighty musk ox is indigenous to the Arctic. About 12,000 of them live on the northern islands. Immense and prehistoric looking, the bulls weigh up to 590 kilograms (1,300 lb.). They appear even larger because they carry a mountain of shaggy hair. Underneath the coarse outer coat, musk oxen have a silky-soft layer of underwool, called qiviut in Inuit. One pound of qiviut can be spun into a 40-strand thread 40km (25 miles) long! As light as it is soft, a sweater made from the stuff will keep its wearer warm in subzero weather. And it doesn't shrink when wet. Qiviut is extremely expensive. Once spun, it can sell for as much as C$90 (US$72) an ounce.
The monarch of the Arctic, the polar bear roams the coast and the shores of Hudson Bay; you'll have to travel quite a way over mighty tough country to see one in its habitat. Weighing up to 658 kilograms (1,450 lb.), they're the largest land predators in North America. Grizzly bears are found in the boreal forests and river basins. Both animals are very dangerous; if you encounter them, give them a wide berth. The North is full of other animals much easier to observe than the bears. In the wooded regions, you'll come across wolves and wolverines (harmless to humans, despite the legends about them), mink, lynx, otter, ptarmigan, and beaver. The sleek and beautiful white or brown Arctic foxes live in ice regions as well as beneath the tree line and near settlements.
Mid-July to late August, seals, walruses, narwhals, and bowhead and beluga whales are in their breeding grounds off the coast of Baffin Island and in Hudson Bay. And in the endless skies above there are eagles, hawks, owls, razor-billed auks, and ivory gulls.
