June 30, 2009

We retired one year ago today – the past year has really gone by fast and we have put a few miles on the rig. We have really enjoyed ourselves and have decided retiring was the right thing to do.

Today was a nice, warm sunny day. We went to the University of Alaska Large Animal Research Station where they study musk ox, caribou and reindeer to see how they survive and thrive in the far north. Research is conducted in nutrition, metabolic, physiological and behavioral studies. Again we saw captive caribou – we are still hoping to see some in the wild. We found out that caribou and reindeer are the same species – the difference is that reindeer are domesticated. Because reindeer were domesticated for a food source, they have evolved with shorter legs and larger bodies than caribou. These are caribou.

We were surprised that the musk ox were so small – only about 4 ft tall at the shoulder. Some of them had holes in their sides so researchers can watch their digestive process (like they do at CSU).

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