It was a very cool spring, very late snow melt period, and animals were forced to remain back on the winter range. They can't change the timing of their calving, so as they move north they were late, they were having calves on migration. I suspect the calves are not being able to keep up, or they have to cross a lot of ice-filled streams and rivers and drown. As we continue our trip up the Porcupine River, Darius Kassi points to other signs of climate change. The riverbanks are collapsing into the water as huge slices of permafrost melt.
Water levels are always high in summer, perhaps the result of glaciers receding in the mountains.
And people are complaining about insects they've never seen before. Biologist Don Russell points out that insects are one of the most important impacts of climate change, especially for caribou. They're blood donors to the mosquitoes, as much as 100 cc s of blood a week. So that drives them around and keeps them looking for wind and windswept slopes. So they greatly reduce the amount of time they spend feeding, and an increased amount of time they spend walking and standing up on windblown ridges.