Reindeer

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Reindeer_Games

Caribou redirects here. For other uses, see Caribou (disambiguation).

The reindeer, known as caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer (Rangifer tarandus).

Habitat

The reindeer is distributed throughout a number of northern locales. Reindeer are found throughout Scandinavia (including Iceland); in Finland; at Spitsbergen; in Russian Europe including Northern Russia and Novaya Zemlya; in Russian Asia, to the Pacific Ocean; in North America on Greenland, Canada and Alaska. In 1952 reindeer were re-introduced to Scotland, as the natural stock had become extinct in the 10th century.

Domesticated reindeer are mostly found in Northern Scandinavia and Russia, and wild reindeer are mostly found in North America, Greenland and Iceland (introduced by man in the 19th century). The last wild reindeer in Europe are found in habitats in southern Norway. Its natural occurrence is approximately bounded within the 62° latitude.

A handful of reindeer from Norway were introduced to the South Atlantic island of South Georgia (South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) in the beginning of the 20h century. Today there are two distinct herds still thriving there but they have been permanently separated by mountains. Their total numbers are no more than a couple of thousand. (The flag and the coat of arms of the SGSSI, officially an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, contain an image of a reindeer.)

Anatomy

The weight of a female varies between 60 and 170 kg. In some subspecies of reindeer, the male is slightly larger; in others, the male can weigh up to 300 kg. Both sexes grow antlers, which (in the Scandinavian variety) for old males fall off in December, for young males in the spring and for females during the summer. The antlers typically have two separate groups of points (see image), a lower and upper. Domesticated animals (reindeer) are shorter-legged and heavier than their wild counterparts (caribou). The caribou of North America can run at speeds of almost 50 miles per hour and may travel 3,000 miles in a year.

Reindeer are ruminants, having a four-chambered stomach. They mainly eat lichens in winter, especially reindeer moss. However, they also eat the leaves of willows and birches, as well as sedges and grasses. They can also eat voles (lat. Clethrionomys glareolus), lemmings (lat. Lemmus lemmus), birds and bird eggs.

Reindeer have specialized noses featuring nasal turbinate bones that dramatically increase the surface area within the nostrils. Incoming cold air is warmed by the animal's body heat before entering the lungs, and water is condensed from the expired air and captured before the deer's breath is exhaled, used to moisten dry incoming air and possibly absorbed into the blood through the mucous membranes.

Reindeer hooves adapt to the season: in the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become spongy and provide extra traction. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, exposing the rim of the hoof which cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep the animal from slipping.

The reindeer coat has two layers of fur, a dense woolly undercoat and longer-haired overcoat consisting of hollow, air-filled hairs. A caribou or reindeer swims easily and fast; migrating herds will not hesitate to swim across a large lake or broad river.

Population

In the wild, most caribou migrate in large herds between their birthing habitat and their winter habitat. Their wide hooves help the animals move through snow and tundra; they also help propel the animal when it swims. About 1 million live in Alaska, and a comparable number live in northern Canada.

There are an estimated 5 million reindeer in Eurasia, mainly semi-domesticated. The last remaining European herds of the genetic wild reindeer are found in central Norway, mainly in the mountainous areas of Rondane, Hardangervidda, Dovre and Forollhogna. Other areas, such as Filefjell, have populations of reindeer that have been herded in the past but are now left free. Wild reindeer are considered to be very vulnerable to human disturbance, especially during the calving period in April.

Males usually split apart from the group and become solitary, while the remaining herd consists mostly of females, usually a matriarchy.

Diseases and threats

Natural threats to caribou include avalanches and predators such as wolves, wolverines, lynxes, and bears. Humans started hunting reindeer in the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Ravens can indirectly kill caribou calves by blinding them (eating their eyes).

Parasites include warble flies, mosquitoes, and nose bot flies. Roundworms and tapeworms can also afflict reindeer.

Diseases include brucellosis, foot rot, and keratitis (white-eye, an infection of the eye).

Reindeer and humans

Reindeer Husbandry

Reindeer have been herded for centuries by the Sami people of Lapland. They are raised for their meat, milk, hides, and antlers, and (especially formerly) also for transportation. Reindeer are not considered fully domesticated, as they generally roam free on pasture grounds. In traditional nomadic herding reindeer herders migrated with their herds between coast and inland areas according to an annual migration route, and herds were keenly tended. However, reindeer have never been bred in captivity, though they were tamed for milking as well as for use as draught animals or beasts of burden.

The use of reindeer as semidomesticated livestock in Alaska was introduced in the late 1800s by Sheldon Jackson as a means of providing a livelihood for Native peoples there. A regular mail run in Wales, Alaska used a sleigh drawn by reindeer. In Alaska, reindeer herders use satellite telemetry to track their herds, using online maps and databases to chart the herd's progress.

Economy

Wild caribou are still hunted in North America. In the traditional lifestyle of the Inuit people, Northern First Nations people, and Alaska Natives the caribou is a source of food, clothing, shelter and tools.

The reindeer has (or has had) an important economic role for all circumpolar peoples, including the Sami, Nenets, Khants, Evenks, Yukaghirs, Chukchi and Koryaks in Eurasia. It is believed that domestication started between Bronze Age-Iron Age. Siberian deer-owners also use the reindeer to ride on. (Siberian reindeer are larger than their Scandinavian relatives.) For breeders, a single deer-owner usually own some hundreds or up to thousands of animals. The numbers of Russian herders have been drastically reduced since the fall of the Soviet Union. The fur and meat is sold, which is an important source of income. Reindeer were introduced into Alaska near the end of the 19th century; they interbreed with native caribou subspecies there. Reindeer herders on the Seward Peninsula have experienced significant losses to their herds from animals following the wild caribou during their migrations.

Reindeer meat is popular in the Scandinavian countries. Reindeer meatballs are sold canned. Reindeer stew is the best-known dish in Lapland. In Alaska, reindeer sausage is sold locally to supermarkets and grocery stores.

Reindeer antler is powdered and sold as a nutritional or medicinal supplement to Asian markets.

Local names

In Sami, the male is called sarve, a castrated bull (which in old time was performed by a bite) hierke and the female sex is called vaya. The name Caribou is thought to come from a Mi'kmaq word that means "one that paws (the ground)".

Subspecies

Woodland Caribou (R. tarandus caribou), or forest caribou, once found in the North American boreal forests as far south as New England and Washington. Woodland Caribou have disappeared from most of their original southern range and are considered "threatened" where they remain, with the notable exception of the Migratory Woodland Caribou of northern Quebec and Labrador, Canada.
Arctic reindeer (R. tarandus eogroenlandicus), an extinct subspecies found until 1900 in eastern Greenland.
Finnish Forest Reindeer (R. tarandus fennicus), found in the wild in only two areas of the Fennoscandia peninsula of Northern Europe, in Finnish/Russian Karelia, and a small population in central south Finland. The Karelia population reaches far into Russia, however, so far that it remains an open question whether reindeer further to the east are R. t. fennicus as well.
Grant's Caribou (R. tarandus granti) which are found in Alaska and the Yukon and Northwest territoires of Canada.
Barren-ground Caribou (R. tarandus groenlandicus), found in the Nunavut and Northwest territories of Canada and in western Greenland.
Peary Caribou (R. tarandus pearyi), found in the northern islands of the Nunavut and Northwest territories of Canada.
Svalbard Reindeer (R. tarandus platyrhynchus), found on the Svalbard islands of Norway, is the smallest subspecies of reindeer.
Mountain/Wild Reindeer (R. tarandus tarandus), found in the Arctic tundra of the Eurasian continent, including Fennoscandia peninsula of Northern Europe.

Famous Reindeer

The airborne sleigh in A Visit from St. Nicholas is pulled by Santa Claus' reindeer, named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (or Donner), and Blitzen.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Olive, the Other Reindeer (actually a dog that thinks she's a reindeer)
Tony Tony Chopper of the anime and manga series, One Piece
Chet from The Santa Clause 2
In the Art Spiegelman graphic novel series Maus, which deals with the Holocaust, different ethnic groups are portrayed as various animals in order to call attention to racism. The Swedish are portrayed as reindeer.

References

Reindeer Roundup! A K-12 Educator's Guide to Reindeer in Alaska. 2004. Carrie Bucki with Greg Finstad and Tammy A. Smith. Reindeer Research Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

External links

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