From: MAINE
We think the females keep their antlers when they're pregnant for protection. They lose them when the calf is born so they don't hurt the calf. The males keep their antlers when the females don't have theirs to protect the herd. They also need them during the mating season to see who will mate with the females.
Caribou Study Team
High St. *
Blue Hill, ME 04614
Blue Hill Consolidated School (bhcs@downeast.net)

From: COLORADO
The female caribou keep their antlers in the winter while males drop theirs because the females recieve theirs later and drop them after breeding their young. It helps them protect themsleves whil pregnant. Hassan Bateman, Lisa Novack, Stacy Miller, John Simms
sands@ucsu.colorado.edu

From: NEW YORK
Ms. Lobb's period 6 class from Hudson Falls Middle School, Hudson Falls, New York answers: In the winter, food is scarce so the female caribou keeps its antlers to strip bark off trees. It also helps to fend off predators.

Ms. Lobb's period 5 class from Hudson Falls Middle School, Hudson Falls, New York answers: The reason female caribous keep their antlers during the winter is so they can dig under the snow to feed their young and themselves.
Hudson Falls Middle School (hfmiddle@global2000.net)

From: ILLINOIS
Mother caribou would keep their antlers so they could protect their young. The males would lose them so they could have energy for migration. Travis Matthews, Mr. VanAntwerps 6th Grade Class
James Hart Junior High
Homewood, IL
Gary G Vanantwerp (GG-Vanantwerp@govst.edu)

From: CALIFORNIA
This is our answer to Challenge Question #3 - We think that the reason why female caribou keep their antlers longer than the males is so they can dig up food more easily for their unborn calves. We were very happy to find out that we were the closest class to figure out the temperature where the caribou are. Hope we are right again!! Louann Talbert's 7/8 Grade Class in Laytonville, CA
(ltalbert@mail.mcn.org)

From: ONTARIO
Grade 7 students at Langton Public school, Fenelon Falls, Ontario, think that the female caribou keep their antlers when they are carrying the calf to protect themselves and the baby from preditors. They drop the antlers after giving birth so they won't harm their baby while cleaning or nuzzling the calf.
Patricia Holloway (Patricia.Holloway@fc.vcbe.edu.on.ca)

From: TENNESSEE Dear Journey North, We found out that females lose their antlers in the spring and the males lose theirs in the winter. We figuered out that the reason why the females still have their antlers in the winter is because if they lost their antlers the same time the males do, which is in the winter, they would both lose their antlers. If they both lost their antlers at the same time, they would not be able to dig for food, fight for food, store food, and give out warning signals. In the spring the females lose their antlers, and the males grow theirs back because the males need their antlers more important than the female s because the males need their antlers because the male use their antlers for fighting for a mate. We also found out that the females have one young per birth. We are writing you from Maryville Middle School and would like to thank you and Mrs. McGinley. Sincerely,
Andrew Baumann & Chris Gowan
Lisa McGinley (MCGINLEYL@ci.maryville.tn.us)

From: records@MR.Net
We think it is becsause to protect their babies.Nabil, Neil, Kyle.