The Beverly herd of caribou, 276,000 strong, had apparently vanished off the face of the planet last time scientists surveyed the tundra. Turns out, they just moved. There aren't quite as many of them as there were, but the herd is safe and sound a bit further north and closer to the coast. And now scientists know that some caribou herds migrate.
Local First Nations elders told researchers that the caribou had moved, not disappeared. But caribou aren't supposed to move — they're supposed to return to the same calving ground every year. At least, that's what biologists thought; people who actually live near the caribou were like "yeah, this herd moves all the time." It just took the scientists a while to catch up.
So hey, that's a couple hundred thousand caribou that aren't dead, plus now researchers say they'll pay a little more attention to voices from the community. And the caribou get a nice vacation to the beach! It's a win all around.
