Reindeer

? Reindeer/Caribou
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Artiodactyla Family: Cervidae Genus: Rangifer C.H. Smith, 1827 Species: R. tarandus
Binomial name
Rangifer tarandus ( Linnaeus, 1758)

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 deer are mostly found in Northern Scandinavia and Russia, and wild deer are mostly found in North America, Greenland and Iceland (introduced by man in 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.

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. The outer coat is boyant to the point that a full third of the animal is always above water. 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, 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 Forrelhogna. 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 the predators wolves, wolverines, lynxes, bears, etc. In mesolithic and neolithic periods, Europeans hunted them, too. 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 raised in captivity for centuries in Finland, but are not considered fully domesticated, being referred to as "captive bred". They are raised for their meat, milk, hides, and antlers, and for transportation. 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.

• The Laplanders, who use trained reindeer extensively to pull sleighs, use a measurement called poronkusema which loosely translates into "reindeer piss". This is because a reindeer cannot urinate when it is pulling a sled and is prone to urinary tract clogging if it is not allowed to urinate with regularity. A poronkusema is generally 10 to 15 kilometers or about 30 minutes of riding.
• 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 and Northern First Nations people, 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, Tjuktjer and Korjaker 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

• Svalbard Reindeer (R. tarandus platyrhynchus) which are found on Svalbard is the smallest subspecies of reindeer.
• Mountain/Wild Reindeer (R. tarandus tarandus) which have a continuous distribution in the tundra biome from west to east across the Eurasian continent, including Fennoscandia.
• Finnish Forest Reindeer (R. tarandus fennicus) Wild forest reindeer in Fennoscandia are only found in two areas, in Finnish/Russian Karelia, and a small population in central south Finland. The Karelia population reaches far in to Russia, however, so far that it remains an open question whether reindeer further to the east are fennicus as well.
• Woodland Caribou (R. tarandus caribou) which are found in North American woodlands as far south as Maine and Washington. Woodland Caribou have disappeared from most of their original range and are considered " threatened" where they remain, with the notable exception of the Migratory Woodland Caribou of northern Quebec and Labrador, Canada.
• Peary Caribou (R. tarandus pearyi) which are found in the islands of the Canadian Arctic.
• Barren-ground Caribou (R. tarandus groenlandicus) which are found in northern Canada. This is the most numerous subspecies in North America.
• Grant's Caribou (R. tarandus granti) which are found in Alaska and northwestern Canada.
• Arctic reindeer (R. tarandus eogroenlandicus) which is an East Greenland population that has been extinct since 1900.

Famous Reindeer

• Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder (or Donner) and Blitzen pull the airborne sleigh in A Visit from St. Nicholas
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
• Olive, the other Reindeer
• Tony Tony Chopper of One Piece series
• 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.