Introduction to Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)
Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a deer species (family Cervidae) that lives in the Arctic tundra and neighboring boreal forests of Greenland, Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska, and Canada. They have been domesticated throughout Europe. There are two ecotypes of reindeer: tundra and forest (or woodland). Tundra reindeer travel between tundra and forest in enormous herds of up to 500,000 in an annual cycle spanning 5,000 kilometers (3,000 miles). Forest reindeer are even less common.
Physical Characteristics of Reindeer
Large males can stand over 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) tall at the shoulder and weigh over 250 kg (550 pounds); females are slightly smaller. They have deeply cloven hooves that allow them to spread on snow or soft ground; they also swim well. The color ranges from pale in winter to brown in summer. Heavy guard hairs are hollow, which improves the coat’s insulation properties. Males can have antlers that grow up to 44 points and grow to be 1.4 meters long; females are the only deer species that have antlers.
Reproductive Behavior and Lifecycle
They mature as yearlings if their nutrition is adequate, but males cannot compete with females until their fourth autumn when their antlers and body mass (which are connected) have grown sufficiently. The rut happens in October and lasts only 11 days. Tundra males, who migrate with thousands of females in the fall, visually analyze the antler size of other males and thereby avoid significant battles. Forest reindeer, on the other hand, defend their harems and fight more fiercely.
Quickly after seven and a half months gestation, both kinds give birth to a single calf in May or June. The calf grows swiftly on its mother’s milk, which is more nutritious than that of any other cattle. Next in one month, it can eat fresh plant growth, and by three months, it can live if the mother dies, but weaning often occurs between five and six months. Wolves, bears, and lynx can kill up to half of all calves born. In the wild, life expectancy is more or less 15 years, but in captivity, it is 20 years.
Diet and Feeding Habits
Eurasian and American woodland reindeer form family groups of 6 to 13, with seasonal ranges of 500 square kilometers (190 square miles) or less. Tundra reindeer spend the winter dispersed in forests, but gather in the spring to migrate to the tundra; in the fall, they regroup to return to the forest. Summer foods include grass, sedges, green shrub leaves, and new growth of larch, willow, and birch; mushrooms are sought in late summer.
In the winter, metabolism slows, and reindeer subsist on high-carbohydrate lichens known as reindeer moss, which they find by digging craters in the snow. The calf follows its mother and shares the meal. They live on this low-protein diet by recycling urea (a waste product) in their digestive system and utilizing its nitrogen. Females have their antlers all winter, allowing them to protect feeding craters from both each other and males, who shed their antlers shortly after the rut.
Distribution and Population
North America has approximately 3.5 million caribou, and Eurasia may have 1 million wild reindeer, the majority of whom live in Russia. Nearly 3 million domestic reindeer reside throughout northern Europe. They are valuable to traditional herders such as the Sami (Lapps) of Scandinavia and Russia, who use them as pack and draft animals as well as meat, milk, and hides; the antlers are carved into tools and totems. During the summer, ranchers use boats to guide their cows to outlying islands.
The Evenk people of northeastern China use reindeer as pack animals and mounts, while a small number of Tsaatan (Dhukha) herders in northern Mongolia use the reindeer they maintain in a variety of ways.
Of the nine identified subspecies, two are forest ecotypes, one in North America and the other in Eurasia. According to fossil evidence from Alaska, they originated during the late Pliocene Epoch (3.6 to 2.6 million years ago). The Clovis people of New Mexico, as well as numerous early Stone Age cultures in southern Europe, hunted them during the last glacier (see ice age) more than 11,700 years ago.