Of the many body patterns and designs 
     
     found among mammals, one of the most suc— 
     
     cessful is the large hoofed herbivore. 
     
     Animals such as antilope, camels, gir— 
     
     affes, bison, tapirs and rhinoceri 
     
    

    
     belong to this group, as do our own 
     
     domestic cattle, horses, sheep, and 
     
    

    
     pigs. The group is collectively known 
     
    

    
     to biologists as ungulates, 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     There are no wild ungulates left on 
     
     Prince Edward Island, and our know— 
     
     ledge of the original large—mammal 
     
     fauna of the Island is based on antlers 
     
     that have been found preserved in bogs. 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
        
     
    
   
   
    
                
     
        
     
          
     
    
   
   
    
               
     
    
   
   
    
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     Such finds have indicated that Prince 
     
     Edward Island was once home to caribou* 
     
     and moose, but so far, no evidence has 
     
     been uncovered that white—tailed deer 
     
     were ever part of our native fauna. 
     
    
   
   
    
     So why did we have caribou and moose but 
     
     not deer? To answer this question, we 
     
     must refer to both the geological his— 
     
     tory of our area, and to the basic 
     
     ecology of the three species. 
     
    

    
     Firstly, it must be pointed out that, 
     
     although caribou, moose and white—tailed 
     
     deer are all members of the deer family. 
     
     and that all have large populations in 
     
     eastern North America, the areas occupied 
     
     by each species are sorted out according 
     
     to a well—defined plan. Basically, 
     
     caribou are creatures of the northern 
     
     tundra and taiga, moose inhabit the 
     
     spruce—fir, or boreal, forest, and white— 
     
     tailed deer are at home in the temperate 
     
     hardwood forests. 
     
    

    
     Each animal has a particular set of 
     
     adaptations which suit it for its envir— 
     
     onment. The caribou has wide splayed— 
     
     out hooves, which serve both as snowshoes 
     
     for travel over the windvpacked northern 
     
     snow, and as shovels to dig craters in 
     
     that snow for access to lichens and 
     
    

    
     other forage. To reduce heat loss in 
     
     severe winter conditions, caribou have 
     
     dense fur coats of hollow hairs, as well 
     
     as blunted muzzles and ears (to see what 
     
    
   
   
    
     *Our North American caribou belong to the 
     
     same species as reindeer, which are 
     
     found in Lapland and the North Pole.