ABOUT THE ARCTIC UNGULATE SOCIETEY - AUS

The series of Arctic Ungulate Conferences was started by an initiative by Jack Luick, David Klein and Robert White, who organized the First International Reindeer/Caribou Symposium, held at Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1972. Then 7 years went by until the Second International Reindeer/Caribou Symposium was held at Røros, Norway, in 1979. Thereafter International Reindeer/Caribou Symposia were organized on a tri-annual basis: the Third at Saariselkä, Finland, in 1982, the Fourth at Whitehorse, Canada, in 1985, the Fifth at Arvidsjaur, Sweden, in 1988 and the Sixth was due to be held at Nuuk, Greenland, in 1991. However, in 1984, a First International Muskox Symposium was held at Fairbanks, Alaska, later to be followed by the Second International Muskox Symposium at Saskatoon, Canada, in 1987. At the time of the Nuuk symposium in 1991 it was realized that there was not enough material to go around for both tri-annual reindeer/caribou and muskox symposia, since both meetings were pretty much catering for the same group of people. It was therefore decided that a conference dealing with all arctic ungulates should be held every four years, and the Nuuk meeting therefore became the First International Arctic Ungulate Conference in 1991. The Second International Arctic Ungulate Conference was held in due time at Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1995, but at the time for the third conference it had become clear that the terminology, based on three different series of conferences, was confusing and it was therefore decided that the next meeting would become the 10th International Arctic Ungulate Conference at Tromsø, Norway, in 1999. Thereafter the 11th International Arctic Ungulate Conference was held at Saariselkä, Finland, in 2003 the 12th at Yakutsk, Russia, in 2007 and the 13th at Yellowknife, Canada, in 2011. At the Tromsø meeting in 1999, a proposal by A.S. Blix, led to the inauguration of the “Arctic Ungulate Society”, which primarily is a body to decide on the selection of venue and aid in the organization of upcoming conferences.The statutes for this society are found under separate heading on this web-site.