Caribou Male Skull & Jaw Replica

Description

Caribou male skull & jaw replica measures 15.3″L. Caribou male skull & jaw replica is museum-quality replica polyurethane resin cast. Made in USA. Skull & Jaw only. 2-part skull (separate cranium and mandible). Made in USA.

The caribou is also known as reindeer or Rangifer tarandus. The caribou is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of northern Europe, Siberia, and North America.

Male and female caribou can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between population and season.

Antlers are typically larger on males. In most populations both sexes grow antlers; the caribou is the only cervid species in which females grow them as well as males.

The color of their fur varies considerably, both between individuals and depending on season and subspecies. The coat has two layers of fur: a dense woolly undercoat and longer-haired overcoat consisting of hollow, air-filled hairs.

Caribou fur is the primary insulation factor that allows them to regulate their core body temperature in relation to their environment.

Caribou have large feet with crescent-shaped, cloven hooves for walking in snow or swamps. In the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become sponge-like and provide extra traction.

In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof, which cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep it from slipping. This also enables them to dig down through the snow to their favorite food, a lichen known as reindeer lichen.

Caribou have specialized counter-current vascular heat exchange in their nasal passages.

Temperature gradient along the nasal mucosa is under physiological control. Incoming cold air is warmed by body heat before entering the lungs and water is condensed from the expired air and captured before the reindeer’s breath is exhaled, then used to moisten dry incoming air and possibly be absorbed into the blood through the mucous membranes.

Like moose, caribou have specialized noses featuring nasal turbinate bones that dramatically increase the surface area within the nostrils.

Scientific classification:

• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Chordata
• Class: Mammalia
• Order: Artiodactyla
• Family: Cervidae
• Subfamily: Capreolinae
• Genus: Rangifer C. H. Smith, 1827
• Species: R. tarandus
• Binomial name: Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Conservation status: Secure

While both species exhibit striking headgear, their structure is fundamentally different. The male caribou features deciduous antlers that grow from permanent bony pedicles. In contrast, the synthetoceras tricornatus skull showcases three permanent, bone-covered horns, including a unique, Y-shaped rostral horn found only in males.