The tundra is treeless. Because it is treeless, animals on the tundra behave somewhat differently than animals in forested areas. This fact may have made a big difference in the life of one tundra roaming caribou.
A young inuit man was walking along the outskirts of town of the northern Baffin community of Pond Inlet. The weather was harsh. The wind blown snow made it hard to see even a few feet at times. The young man walked doggedly through the blizzard holding his parka hood down to block the wind. His progress was slow but measurable. Along the side of the dirt road are poles that were imported to the high arctic. These poles are made of the tall pines that grow in forests far to the south. They stand along the road every 50 meters or so. Wires are strung along the top of the poles, some connecting to a street light here and there. On the other side of the road was a vast seemingly unending expanse of ice and mountain. The dirt road was the boundary between the wild and the humanly inhabited. The poles defined the difference well, they were on the civilized side of the border. Brought to their final plot by people from some forest somewhere. Trees standing in a treeless land.
The young man continued his difficult walk, looking downward away from the blowing snow. He then saw in front of him a utility pole. He knew how much further he would have to walk now. After adjusting his hood to make the opening for his face a bit smaller, he aimed himself for the next pole down the road. He could not see it. It is dark in the winter all day and the blowing snow is blinding. The wind and snow made it hard work to walk. The hard work helped to ward off the minus forty degree cold. He started off with an idea of how long it would take to get there. A minute or less. As he walked, he noticed a dark figure. "The pole" he thought. He walked up then raised his hand up to touch the pole. He felt, only for an instant, a coarse fur coat. Immediatly he looked up to come eye to eye with a caribou. A very wide eyed, nostrils flared, snorting, rearing up on his hind hooves caribou. For a few femtoseconds, the two stared face to face in the surrounding snowy haze, both sporting the most surprised look that nature can make on a face. The caribou, being from the wrong side of the road, had probably never seen a human being before. The caribou, being from the wild treeless arctic, had never seen a tree before. The animal having been startled would therefore behave in a manner conducive to scared ungulate of the treeless land and bolt full speed, head and antlers down, in the opposite direction of the young man. The man saw the caribou rear up and turn but could only hear the animal's retreat. The caribou disappeared so suddenly in the blizzard that he could only hear the hooved pace and not see the animal. The sound of the running caribou ended with a sudden loud thump. The young man reluctanly continued his walk very cautiously. After a short walk he came upon the dark figure of the caribou laying on the ground. There was a bit of blood on it's nose. The young man almost didn't notice the utility pole that the caribou had run into. "He must've cracked his skull" thought the young man. He decided to go home to tell someone about what had happened. He wondered if anyone would believe how the caribou died. Before going back on his way, he was tempted to take one more close look at the animal. Only a few steps away but still very hard to see with the blowing snow. The young man was looking down but didn't see what he had expected to see. He saw hooves. The caribou was standing up. He looked up and again, for a few femtoseconds, the two stared face to face in the surrounding snowy haze, both sporting the most surprised look on a face that nature can make. The young man couldn't see the caribou but could hear the galloping and the loud thump that once again ceased the sound of pounding hooves.
