##  [On the Marginal Value of Swimming in Woodland Caribou](/resource/marginal-value-swimming-woodland-caribou) 

Organization

[Memorial University of Newfoundland](/organization/memorial-university-newfoundland)

 

 

Resource Type

[Peer reviewed article](/taxonomy/term/37)

 

 

Author(s)

Quinn Webber

Jack Hendrix

Alec Robitaille

Eric Vander Wal

 

 

Original Authors

Quinn Webber

Jack Hendrix

Alec Robitaille

Eric Vander Wal

 

 

Contacts

[Quinn M. R. Webber](/contact/quinn-m-r-webber)

 

 

Resource Date:

2021

 

Page Length

4

 

 

During fieldwork on 30 May 2017, we observed an unmarked adult male caribou swim between two smaller islands, a distance of 470 m, which took approximately 9 minutes. Given that swimming is energetically expensive, we ask how often do caribou swim between islands, how long do they occupy islands, and ultimately what motivates swimming? Here, we frame swimming and island residency as a model of patch use as described by the marginal value theorem within the context of the forage limitation hypothesis.