Oomingmak & Reindeer @ LARS

Blue skies ... sunshine ... and a temp of 74F today. Overcast and rain the next few days. Hmmm.

So, we decided to jiggle our plans and go to LARS — the Large Animal Research Station — operated by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. One can wander around the front pen area without a guide. But to have a better chance of seeing the animals and learn about them, one must take a tour ... given twice a day ... at 10:00a and 2:00p.

The only species at LARS now are musk oxen and reindeer ... the latter with a cute calf named Ruth. I was hoping for a few more large animals, but the tour was interesting nonetheless.

The blazing sun made the day intolerable for both the musk ox and the reindeer, so they were hiding in the trees. But a few of them took the “branches of leaf” bribe our guide carried with her and came up to the fence line. We wrapped up the tour in the “touchy-feely” tent where we had a chance to fell the hides of both species and study their skulls.

Overall, a good opportunity to learn about whatever species happen to be at the research station at the time one visits.Read more