I dissected out the glands from the hind feet of an adult male Caribou (No. 1046). Seton (1929, 3: 68) has discussed these structures in the Woodland Caribou and the Norwegian Reindeer; and Pocock (1911: 960-962, fig. 138B) and Jacobi (1931: 22, fig. 4), in the Reindeer. Many hairs had their base in the glands, and there was a fatty secretion on the hairs adjacent to the glands. I judged that the opening to the exterior extended in a more or less dorso-anterior direction. One of the suggested functions of these glands is anointing the velvet covering of the antlers. I was highly interested, therefore, in seeing an old buck on June 16 rub the tips of its growing antlers with each hind foot in turn. Meanwhile it inclined its antlers alternately to one side and backwards to place one of them at a time within convenient reach of the hind foot on that side. It seemed to rub its snout as well as the antler tips. In Charles Schweder’s experience this action was always carried out with the hind foot, not the forefoot. The latter contains a similar but smaller gland, according to Jacobi (1931: 22), while Pocock (1911: 960-961) gives contrary testimony. On August 27 I also saw a fawn rubbing a knob of its skin-covered antlers with a hind foot.
Another function of the foot-glands is suggested by an observation of Dugmore’s (1913: 89-90), which has been mentioned in the section on Signaling. I could not definitely connect any of the various occasions of panic that I observed, with scent from the foot-glands of preceding Caribou that had been frightened.
References.—Caton, 1881: 265; Pocock, 1911: 960-962; Seton, 1929, 3: 68, 105; Sutton and Hamilton, 1932: 84; Harper, 1949: 230.
[ Mastology]
Very little seems to have been published on this subject. Jacobi (1931: 24) merely remarks that in the Reindeer the mammae number four, or occasionally six, but that the supernumerary ones are not functional. The four rudimentary mammae in a male fawn of arcticus (No. 1072) of August 20 seemed remarkable for their arrangement in a nearly straight transverse row—quite different from the more rectangular pattern in a domestic Cow or in a male Moose, as figured by Seton (1929, 3: 221). In an adult doe (No. 1101) of September 21 the anterior pair are about twice as far apart as the posterior pair; each of the mammae appears no more than a couple of inches from the one nearest to it. The arrangement in a two-year-old buck, as shown by Seton (1929, 3: 106), is approximately intermediate between linear and rectangular.
[ Fat]
A Caribou (probably a buck) secured about the end of June was reported to have back fat half an inch thick—possibly resulting from the fresh green spring feed. In August, however, scarcely any fat was to be found on the animals; perhaps the annual renewal of pelage and the summer harassment by flies had been deterrents to the storage of fat. In September and early October the Caribou were in prime condition. On September 19 there was a fresh piece of back fat half an inch thick; two days later there was another piece three times as thick. In 1943 (a year of great mushroom growth) the animals were said to have become particularly fat. According to Charles Schweder, the doe never becomes so fat as the buck; one of September 21, still nursing, was just slightly fat. An adult buck of September 29 was recorded as “somewhat fat”; two of October 16 were “rather fat” and “quite fat.” Charles has seen as much as 3 inches of fat on a buck. The strips of back fat brought into camp on October 8 from several bucks weighed about 5 to 10 lb. apiece. Such fatness evidently prepares the bucks for the strain of the rutting season, when they neglect their feeding and become very poor and thin. This loss of fat occurs in about two weeks. The does also lose some fat at this season, but slowly. In some winters the Caribou remain fat, but in other winters they do not. In the latter case there may be deep snow that hinders their feeding. In the spring the Caribou become fat again, and they are in that condition when they arrive from the south in May.
The eagerness of the Eskimos and the Indians for fat results in their selection of the biggest bucks, which generally carry the most fat. Charles Schweder spoke of the tail of such an animal almost disappearing, apparently engulfed in fat! Besides its use in the native diet, the fat goes into the making of “Eskimo candles” (see section on Relations to man).
References.—Franklin, 1823: 240; Armstrong, 1857: 477-478; Whitney, 1896: 161; Elliot, 1902: 276; R. M. Anderson, in Stefánsson, 1913b: 505-506; Stefánsson, 1921: 231-234, 246-247, 252; Jenness, 1922: 48, 101, 248; Birket-Smith, 1929 (1): 48, 90; Seton, 1929, 3: 113-114; Critchell-Bullock, 1930: 193; Weyer, 1932: 40; Hornby, 1934: 105; Hamilton, 1939: 109; Downes, 1943: 228; Manning, 1943a: 53.