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prettygoodwordcaribou (KAR-uh-boo) - n., any of several North American subspecies of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), a large deer of the Arctic tundra and northern boreal forests, having large hooves and long branched antlers usually on both sexes.
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Another large cervid, this one being the only cervid that gets domesticated, both for meat and transport -- though I've only heard of this happening with Old World reindeer and not New World caribou. There are around 20 recognized subspecies of reindeer, though the populations tend to blend into each other, and there is ongoing discussion on whether to reorganize them into six (or so) separate species, and if so how to sort them. The name dates from 1670, earlier form caribo being later replaced by French Canadian form caribou, both from Mi'kmaq qalipu, from Proto-Algonquian *mekālixpowa, literally "it shovels snow", from *mekāl-, to scrape + *-ixpo-, snow, so named because caribou dig through snow to reach fodder in winter.
---L.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
Another large cervid, this one being the only cervid that gets domesticated, both for meat and transport -- though I've only heard of this happening with Old World reindeer and not New World caribou. There are around 20 recognized subspecies of reindeer, though the populations tend to blend into each other, and there is ongoing discussion on whether to reorganize them into six (or so) separate species, and if so how to sort them. The name dates from 1670, earlier form caribo being later replaced by French Canadian form caribou, both from Mi'kmaq qalipu, from Proto-Algonquian *mekālixpowa, literally "it shovels snow", from *mekāl-, to scrape + *-ixpo-, snow, so named because caribou dig through snow to reach fodder in winter.
---L.
