World Caribou Day 2026
Theme: Caribou as Ecosystem Engineers
This year, World Caribou Day celebrates caribou as ecosystem engineers. Through their grazing, migrations, and daily movements across forests, mountains, and tundra, caribou help shape the landscapes they inhabit. They influence plant communities, create pathways used by other wildlife, and redistribute nutrients that support entire ecosystems.
This World Caribou Day, we're exploring the many ways caribou help build and maintain healthy ecosystems. Through stories, events, educational resources, and conservation initiatives, discover why protecting caribou means protecting far more than a single species.
World Caribou Day Events
Toronto Zoo
⏰ 10am PST (1pm EST)
📍 On The Toronto Zoo's Facebook page
Celebrate World Caribou Day with an inside look at the care, ecology, and conservation of caribou. Hosted by the Toronto Zoo's Nutrition team, this presentation will highlight what makes caribou unique, the challenges they face in the wild, and how research, animal care, and conservation programs are contributing to their long-term survival.
Arrow Lakes Caribou Society
⏰ 1pm PST (4pm EST)
📍 On Arrow Lakes Caribou Societies Facebook page
Meet the Arrow Lakes Caribou Society and discover how their maternity pen project is helping recover caribou in British Columbia. This special World Caribou Day event will also feature conversations with researchers working at the maternity pen, exploring topics such as the gut microbiomes of caribou mothers and calves, and how maternal traits may influence calf health, growth, and survival.
World Caribou Day with Arrow Lakes Caribou Society
Celebrate World Caribou Day by exploring the hidden impact of caribou on the natural world. From shaping habitats to supporting other wildlife, caribou play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems. This video also takes you behind the scenes of the Arrow Lakes Caribou Society's maternity pen project, showcasing a conservation success story that is helping support the recovery of caribou in British Columbia.
Games and Activities
Shrub Takeover
Caribou help shape the Arctic by eating shrubs like dwarf birch, preventing them from taking over the tundra. In this game, discover what happens when there aren't enough caribou to keep shrubs under control and see how one animal can influence an entire ecosystem.
Trail Blazers
When caribou dig through snow to reach their food, they do more than feed themselves. Their craters expose plants and other resources that become available to birds, small mammals, and other wildlife. In this activity, explore how a simple behaviour can help an ecosystem.
Nutrient Delivery Service
Caribou travel incredible distances each year, carrying important nutrients across the Arctic as they migrate. In this interactive game, become part of the herd and discover how caribou help fertilize the landscape and connect ecosystems along their journey.
Snow Digging Survival
The ground in the Arctic is frozen solid—until it’s not! In this game, you’ll be a caribou trying to cross the land as melting permafrost turns your path wobbly and wild.
Caribou Crossword
Become a caribou detective! Hidden in this puzzle are words that tell the story of how caribou live, migrate, and help shape their environment. Search for clues about the Arctic ecosystem, from predators and scavengers to lichen and nutrients. Can you find all the hidden words?
Artwork by Abigail Roscoe
Abigail is a queer and disabled Canadian illustrator with a love for wildlife and conservation. They hope the love they show for caribou in their work moves people to learn more about them and care more about the remaining herds. During their bachelor's study, Abigail released a children’s book titled “Yuka’s Way Home” that follows Yuka the caribou as he meets reindeer and Sámi people in his new Arctic home. Abigail is currently working on new books, writing a movie, and exhibiting their solo show this year- all these projects tie into themes the artist cares about, such as conservation, and our relationship to the world around us.
Abigail obtained a Design bachelor degree with a focus on illustration and animation. They hope to use their work to raise awareness about endangered species and what we can do to help.
@ab_roscoe