Tuesday, June 13th, 2006, Reindeer and Muskox Options

[Tracy_Alley]

On Tuesday, June 13th, I awakened at Sophie Station Hotel to eat breakfast before heading to the ARCUS office. ARCUS stands for Arctic Research Consortium of the United States. During breakfast, I sampled reindeer sausage. It nearly tasted the same as pork sausage; however, it had a bit stronger taste. If I had not read it was reindeer sausage, I may not have known of the taste difference at all.

I spent most of my day learning how to produce podcasts which will be downloadable audio files on iTunes or through the ARCUS website. When you visit the ARCUS website, you will click on “TREC” (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) to see a section on the page advertising podcasts. I will interview one or two scientists during my stay at Toolik Field Station. Keep checking the site if you are interested!

At the end of the day, I was given a tour by Janet Warburton, TREC coordinator at ARCUS, of the reindeer farm (domesticated caribou) and the muskox farm owned by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. I had never seen a muskox nor did I know they existed on our planet. I learned that they are the sixth smelliest animal in the world as researched by the television show “Animal Planet”. When you see a muskox, they look like a buffalo with the long hair of a sheep dog plus horns of a mountain goat. Below is a picture of reindeer.

I returned to my hotel room to pack for my journey to the Arctic Circle. We will leave for our journey tomorrow at 10am. I am so excited!

Bits of trivia about Alaska:

Most of America’s salmon, crab, halibut, and herring come from Alaska.

The wild forget-me-not is the official state flower.

The willow ptarmigan is the official state bird.

The Sitka spruce is the official state tree.