Page 12

= -~—  ,-~-4~ 0 5 ~ 14 ~  --~---~-~ - ~=-, 2G 11 
 PLEISTOCENE CARIBOU IN CENTRAL WISCONSIN 12 
CHARLES A. LONG 
Department of Biology 
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point 
 In the summer of 1985, Jack and Mona Zelienka found an antler while excavating
their peat bog 6 miles southeast of Coloma, on County JJ in the township
of Richford, Waushara County, Wisconsin. The antler was stained and heavy
with mineral replacement, obviously of great age, broken at all distal aspects
(during excavation), and was shed from a Late Pleistocene caribou (Rangifer
tarandus). The bog, which had been previously excavated 10 to 12 feet in
some places to create a pond, was deepened 
to nearly 30 feet. Subsequently the antler was discovered in the excavated
sediments of marl and peat; its depth in the peat was estimated at between
12 and 25 feet. The bog is sited near the proposed Ice Age Trail along the
Wisconsin terminal moraine in Cary drift. This is the first record of the
caribou from central Wisconsin, and one of but a few for the state. 
 The antler (all in one piece) consists of a brow tine (or "shovel")
with
tip broken away (length 153 mm); a main beam approx 
Fig. 1. Antler of caribou excavated from peat in Richford Township, Waushara
County, Wisconsin.