REINDEER

                                                                                         

ARCTIC EXPRESS

The famous reindeer which pulls Father Christmas' sledge on Christmas Eve comes all the way from Lapland.

The winter coat is long and has a soft, dense under-fur which keeps them warm in the long winter with icy temperatures. The top layer with longer hair is hollow and air-filled. Nature also provided them with broad cloven hooves to prevent them sinking too deep into the snow. Their hooves change in the summer and become sponge-like because the ground is soft and wet. In the winter their pads shrink and tighten to expose the rim of the hoof. This stops them from slipping and helps to scrape the snow to find lichens.

Reindeer are ruminants and have a four-chamber stomach. Their diet in winter is lichens and in summer leaves from willows and birches, sedges and grasses.

Reindeer noses have nasal turbinate bones to increase the surface area within their nostril. Air coming in is heated by the body heat and it goes into the lungs. The water condense is used to moisten dry air coming in and it is assumed that it is absorbed into the blood stream via mucous membranes.

The bulls and cows have the beautiful curved, branched antlers. They are the only female deer to have them. Matured bulls shed their antlers after their rut in September and October. The cows do not shed their antlers. In the winter they use them for scraping away the snow and to feed on lichens. Their babies, named calves, are born in May and June.

In 1952 a small herd from Lapland was re-introduced in Scotland. The reindeer returned after thousands of years to Scotland. They are only to be found in The Cairngorm mountains near Aviemore in the Highlands and are the only free roaming herd. They are very tame and friendly. There is a visitor centre were you can come and see them.

CAIRNGORM HERD

The bulls measure a height of 48 in (120cm) at shoulder and cows 36 in (90cm).

Their grey-brown coat is paler in winter.

MIGRATION

Reindeer walk up to 5,000 km which is the furthest of any terrestrial mammal. They travel 19 to 55 km a day.

During the spring migration begins and smaller herds being built up into larger herds of 50,000 to 500,000. In the autumn migration they break-up into smaller groups and the mating season starts. In the winter they stay in forests to find their lichens. In the spring they travel to their calving grounds.

Reindeer swim easily and quickly, from 6.5 km to 10 km. They swim across large lakes and broad rivers.

MOOSE AND REINDEER THE TRAFFICE JAM IN FINNLAND WHICH CAUSES MANY ACCIDENTS

PREDATORS

Golden Eagles, Wolverines, Brown Bears, Polar Bears, Gray Wolves, blood-sucking insects, black flies and mosquitoes.

In the Ice Ages - Dire Wolves, Cave Lions, American Lions, Short-faced Bears, Cave hyenas, Smilodons, Jaguars and Cougars.

HABITATS

Reindeers were widespread and numerous in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia and northern China.

In Canada, Alaska (USA) and from Washington to Maine are their main territories. It was still to be found in Idaho in the 19th century and they Iive natural in Sakhalin, Greenland.

In the late Pleistocene reindeer were in Nevada, Tennessee, (USA) and in Spain, Europe. They vanished from most parts but are still in Norway, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and Canada in large numbers.