Reindeer
| Reindeer/Caribou | |
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| Subfamily: | Odocoileinae
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| Genus: | Rangifer C.H. Smith, 1827
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| Species: | R. tarandus
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| Binomial name | |
| Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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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 Norway and Iceland and the northern parts of Sweden and Finland; at Spitsbergen; in European parts of Russia including Northern Russia and Novaya Zemlya; in the Asian parts of Russia, to the Pacific Ocean; in North America (where it is called the caribou) 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 humans in the 18th 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 few 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 20th 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 early spring, and for females, 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 up to 50 miles per hour and may travel 3,000 miles in a year.
Reindeers 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. There is some evidence to suggest that on occasion they will also feed on lemmings[1], arctic char and bird eggs[2]
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 (of the subspecies tarandus) are found in central Norway, mainly in the mountainous areas of Rondane, Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella (see Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park), Hardangervidda and Setesdalsheiane. Genetic analysis has shown this, and that the reindeer in Rondane and Dovrefjell is of Beringia origin, other wild Norwegian reindeer are of European origin and have interbred with domesticated reindeer to a various extent, the reindeer in Hardangervidda and Setesdalsheiane only to a limited extent. Some areas, such as Filefjell, have populations of reindeer that have been herded in the past but are now left free. Scandianavian domesticated reindeer is supposed to be a mixture of the two subspecies tarandus and fennicus - mountain and Finnish woodland reindeer.
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. Golden eagles may be seen to kill calves up to 1/2 year by using their claws to puncture their lungs. 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).
Wild reindeer are considered to be very vulnerable to human disturbance, especially the last two months before and during the calving period in late may (this varies some weeks between different areas).
In Canada, the woodland caribou is under threat from extensive logging operations. Because the caribou need the boreal forest to survive, the destruction and little protection of this habitat put this animal at risk of extinction. Logging and logging roads also attract deer and moose, which brings in predators such as hunters, wolves and bears.
Reindeer and humans
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Hunting
Humans started hunting reindeer in the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods and humans are today the main predator in many areas (among them Norway). Norway has a unbroken tradition of hunting wild reindeer from the ice age until the present day. In the non-forested mountains of central Norway, such as Jotunheimen, it is still possible to find remains of stone built trapping pits, guiding fences and bow rests, built especially for hunting reindeer. These can, with some certainty, be dated to the Migration period although it is not unlikely that they have been in use since the Stone Age.
In abscence of other great predators in significant populations, hunting is today a necessary means to control stocks to prevent over-grazing and eventually mass death from starvation. Norway is now preparing to apply for nomination as a World Heritage Site for areas with traces and traditions of reindeer hunting in Central Southern Norway.
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.
Reindeer Husbandry
Reindeer have been herded for centuries by the Sami people of Lapland. They are raised for their meat, hides and antlers, and (especially formerly) also for milk and transportation. Reindeer are not considered fully domesticated, as they generally roam free on pasture grounds. In traditional nomadic herding reindeer herders migrate with their herds between coast and inland areas according to an annual migration route, and herds are 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 semi-domesticated 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
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. Sautéed reindeer 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.
In history
The first written description of reindeer, is in Julius Caesar's Commentarii de Bello Gallico (chapter 6.26) from the 1st century BC. Here, it is described thus:
- There is an ox shaped like a stag. In the middle of its forehead a single horn grows between its ears, taller and straighter than the animal horns with wich we are familiar. At the top this horn spreads out like the palm of a hand or the branches of a tree. The females are of the same form as the males, and their horns are the same shape and size.
Local names
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 from Alaska to Newfoundland and 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. The name of the Cariboo district of central British Columbia relates to their once-large numbers there, but they have almost vanished from that area in the last century. A herd is protected in the Caribou Mountains in Alberta.
- 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 Eurasia and North America, including the Fennoscandia peninsula of Northern Europe.
Rangifer.net has a map of subspecies ranges.
Reindeer in fiction
Santa Claus' reindeer
Reindeer are often used in works of Christmas-related fiction, as Santa Claus' sleigh is said to be pulled by flying reindeer. These were first named in the 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, where they are called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem. Dunder was later changed to Donder and — in other works — Donner, and Blixem was later changed to Blitzen.
In later works, other reindeer has been added to this list, including
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Robbie the Reindeer
- Olive, the Other Reindeer (actually a dog that thinks she's a reindeer)
- Chet from The Santa Clause 2
- Annabelle from Anabelle's Wish (a cow that turns into a Reindeer)
Other fictional reindeer
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.
Other reindeer in fiction include
- Tony Tony Chopper of the anime and manga series One Piece
- Mime from the Happy Tree Friends cartoon series
Miscellaneous
- The Canadian quarter features a depiction of a Caribou on one face.
- Several Norwegian municipalities have one or more reindeer depicted in their coat-of-arms: Eidfjord, Porsanger, Rendalen, Tromsø, Vadsø and Vågå.
- The Swedish band The Knife has a song called "Reindeer" which describes the trip of several of these animals accompanying Santa Claus as he delivers Christmas presents.
References
- ^ Field & Stream - Dream Hunts: Caribou on the Move
- ^ Terrestrial Mammals of Nunavut by Ingrid Anand-Wheeler. ISBN 1-55325-035-4.
- Template:IUCN2006
- 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
- Reindeers.info - Articles and information about Reindeer
- General information on Caribou and Reindeer
- Human Role in Reindeer/Caribou Systems
- Wild reindeer areas in Norway
- Reindeer Studies in South Georgia and Norway
- Frequently Asked Questions about Caribou from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Reindeer hunting as World Heritage - a ten thousand year-long tradition