Responses of West Greenland caribou to the approach of humans on foot

Responses to the approach of a human were studied in two caribou population s (Akia and Isortoq) in West Greenland during calving, summer and after the hunt in 1997-98. For each group encountered the distance between the appro aching person and the caribou at their first sign of fright ("fright thresh old distance"), the distance between the person and the caribou when they b egan to move away ("flight threshold distance"), and the distance the carib ou ran ("run distance") were measured with a laser range finder. Generally, groups of caribou had longer fright threshold, flight threshold and run di stances, indicating more vigilance than single individuals. Groups with car ves were more vigilant than female and male groups, while there was no diff erence between female and male groups. This pattern was most clear in the A kia population. The frequency of curiosity behaviour indicated that the Aki a caribou were less vigilant than the Isortoq caribou after the hunting, wh ile there was no locational difference during: the other seasons. Caribou i n Akia were most vigilant during calving, whereas in the Isortoq population the highest vigilance was found after hunting. Hunting seemed to have heig htened awareness in the Isortoq population. It is concluded that flight and fright reactions of Greenland caribou are similar to those found among oth er caribou populations, and that precautions should be taken to minimize di sturbing caribou during calving.