Reindeer - An Artic Dwelling Deer Also Known as Caribou

Reindeer
An Artic Dwelling Deer Also Known as Caribou

The reindeer, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, known as caribou in North America. The reindeer are slightly smaller than caribou which are rather large members of the deer family. The reindeer are social animals that live in herds. They were domesticated and are herded by many Arctic people in Europe, Asia, Scandinavia and Russia. Their wild counterparts, the caribou, are mostly found in North America, Greenland, Canada and Iceland. The domesticated reindeer have shorter legs and are heavier than the caribou.

Reindeer are ruminants and are well adapted to winter conditions. They mainly eat lichens or reindeer moss in the winter. However, they also eat birch and willow leaves, as well as grasses. Reindeer have unique hairs that trap air which provides them with excellent insulation. These hairs help keep them bouyant in the water, as they are very strong swimmers. Their broad, concave hooves spread apart making it easier to walk on soft ground and are good for digging in the snow. Both sexes grow antlers, but in the male they serve as ornaments to attract females and as weapons for fighting off rivals during the breeding season. Mating occurs during late September as the herd drifts toward its winter range. Calves are born in the spring, with each female reindeer giving birth to a single calf.

The tamed reindeer were used to pull sleds and sometimes even saddled and ridden. Some were even kept as pets. Eventually people kept herds for a dependable source of food, clothing, shelter and transportation. Today, these native peoples base their economies on the herding of reindeer. They are not only used for the basics, but for the commercial sales of meat and hides. Reindeer meat is very popular in the Scandinavian countries and in Alaska reindeer sausage is even sold in the local gorcery stores. Although reindeer meat is slightly dry and fine grained, it is said to taste better than ordinary deer meat. Reindeer hides, especially the winter hides, are the best natural insulators available. Today, even the reindeer antlers are sold as a nutritional or medicinal supplement to Asian markets.

Today, there are an estimated five million mainly domesticated reindeer living in Eurasia. The last herd of original wild reindeer can be found in central Norway, where there are only about six thousand remaining. There are about one million caribou that live in Alaska and about that many in northern Canada. The wild caribou are still hunted in North America, especially in Alaska where they are hunted more than any other big game.

There are several subspecies of reindeer, such as the smallest, the Svalbard, the mountain or wild, Finnish forest, and the artic which has been extinct since 1900. In North America there are the woodland caribou, Peary, barren ground and Grant's. Then there are those fictional reindeer that we always hear about at Christmastime; Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, and last but not least Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

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