Wildlife

Many animals live in Kobuk Valley, but it is most famous for its caribou herd.

Plan Around Wildlife

A good stop is not just something to read about. Once it belongs on the day, move into a saved trip and build the route around it.

Add to trip View park guide

Use this detail page to confirm that the stop is worth it, then carry that decision into a trip draft while the park context is still fresh.

Wildlife Details

The stars of the show in Kobuk Valley are the caribou. The Western Arctic Caribou Herd, consisting of over a quarter million caribou, migrates through the park each year. They travel north in the spring and south in the fall in search of plants that make up their diet. The herd fords the Kobuk River at a place referred to as Onion Portage. For almost 10,000 years, people have harvested caribou at this place as they cross the river. The Western Arctic Caribou Herd is the largest herd in North America and they range over 140,000 miles in northwestern Alaska, bound by the Arctic Ocean, Lower Yukon River, and the Trans Alaska Pipeline. In addition to caribou, other wildlife is abundant in the park too, and all are inter-connected. In fact, the populations of many other species have been shown to fluctuate with that of the caribou! This seemingly stark environment supports an amazingly rich array of fauna. There are 119 species of birds, 32 mammals, 23 fish, and 1 amphibian. Grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, Dall sheep, moose, wolverines, eagles, lemmings, mink, weasels, hawks, jays, gulls, wood frogs, and salmon all call the park home. The almost non-stop sunlight during the summer allows plant growth, and the damp earth fosters the yearly explosion of insect populations, which will go on to provide protein for predators all the way up the food chain. As long as they can consume plenty of food during the summer, most animals will migrate south or hibernate during the winter.

Difficulty

Open

Distance

N/A

Estimated time

N/A

Region

Learn About the Park