Do mosquitoes play a role in caribou behavior?
Mosquitoes do play an important role in caribou behavior. Mosquitoes appear in early summer, just as the caribou are shedding their long winter hair. The insects can easily draw blood from the caribou at this time, and seriously torment the animals. The problem is worst when the weather is warm, winds are calm, and the caribou are in damp tundra areas where the mosquitoes breed. Caribou try to avoid mosquitoes by a variety of strategies, depending on where they live: they run; move to higher areas that may be windy and dry; move to snow or ice patches that are too cool for the insects to be active; move out into large lakes or shallow salt water; and/or bunch up into very dense groups.
