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. 2015 Jun 10;10(6):e0127586. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0127586

Table 1. Diet composition (mean ± SE %) of caribou in northwest Alaska derived from microhistology of feces collected in 2012 that were corrected for digestibility (sensu Gustine et al., 2011).

A. All Samples
Class N Shrub Forbs Gram Lichen Misc Moss
Pregnant Cows 81 7.7 (0.6) 2.9 (0.5) 6.1 (0.4) 70.1 (1.7) 0.0 (0.0) 13.2 (1.0)
Non-Pregnant Cows 34 6.0 (0.9) 2.3 (0.7) 4.5 (0.7) 75.8 (2.7) 0.1 (0.0) 11.4 (1.5)
Bulls 92 7.0 (0.6) 1.5 (0.5) 5.0 (0.4) 75.9 (1.6) 0.2 (0.0) 10.5 (0.9)
B. Arctic caribou
Class N Shrub Forbs Gram Lichen Misc Moss
Pregnant Cows 75 8.2 (0.6) 3.1 (0.7) 6.3 (0.4) 68.4 (1.8) 0.0 (0.0) 14.0 (1.0)
Non-Pregnant Cows 28 6.8 (1.0) 2.6 (0.7) 5.2 (0.5) 72.5 (2.9) 0.1 (0.0) 13.0 (1.7)
Bulls 74 7.6 (0.7) 1.7 (0.3) 5.9 (0.5) 72.8 (1.7) 0.1 (0.0) 11.9 (1.0)
C. Galena Mountain Herd caribou
Class N Shrub Forbs Gram Lichen Misc Moss
Pregnant Cows 6 2.1 (0.9) 0.8 (0.5) 3.3 (1.7) 90.5 (2.2) 0.1 (0.1) 3.1 (1.5)
Non-Pregnant Cows 6 2.2 (0.7) 1.1 (1.0) 1.0 (0.5) 91.5 (4.6) 0.3 (0.2) 3.9 (2.5)
Bulls 18 4.2 (0.5) 0.4 (0.1) 1.6 (0.4) 88.8 (1.4) 0.4 (0.1) 4.7 (1.0)

‘Gram’ is graminoids, which includes grasses and sedges. ‘Forbs’ includes Equisetum spp. ‘Misc’ is miscellaneous which is comprised mostly of items difficult to digest such as seeds and spruce needles.