Reindeer (Caribou)

Reindeer (Caribou)Rangifer tarandus With the Christmas season comes the stories of the eight flying reindeer (Caribou) that pull Santa's sleigh all over the world in one night. While we have not seen any proof that reindeer can fly, we think that some of the facts about reindeer fascinating.

How about what makes a reindeer able to come to a landing stop on an icy rooftop? The hard hoof rim cuts into ice or crusted snow to stop slipping.

Did you know that reindeer are excellent swimmers? During their migrations they swim across many rivers and streams without difficulty. A reindeer belongs in the deer family and their color varies. Reindeer generally have brown rough fur, with an ivory colored neck and mane. Their stomach, butt, and lower parts of tail are white. Most of the reindeer that inhabit the tundra, the coniferous forests of Northern Siberia, and any woodlands are more brownish. All reindeer have a large nose, small ears and a tiny furry tail. Their rounded hooves are broad and pliant in the summer months but shrink in the wintertime.

Both sexes of reindeer have antlers. The flat forehead spike antler extends straight over their nose. Bull antlers length from 21 to 62 inches long, stretches to about five feet and they also have a flat forehead prong. The bulls weigh about 275 to 660 pounds, while the females only weigh from 150 to 300 pounds. The female's antlers are smaller. The fawn is without spots and matches the adult reindeer. On the Arctic islands the animals are nearly all white in color.

Reindeer breed in October through November. After gestation period of about eight months one or two calves are born in the middle of May through early July. The young reindeer at birth weighs about eleven pounds.

The reindeer inhabits the tundra and far northern carniferous forests and areas where lichens grow .

The Reindeer is among the most migrant of all mammals. It is the only hoofed animal that resides all year north of the tree line. The sociable caribou collect in groups of up to 100,000 of both sexes and all ages in late winter before the spring migration.

As springtime begins the herds begin to move northward. Females move quicker causing some young reindeer to lag behind especially if the snow is deep. Then the young reindeer will join the bulls, who travel slower. The cows spread out as they arrive at the calving area.

Mating occurs in October and November or at the beginning of southerly migration, or once the female has her fawn.

During the rutting season the polygamous bull chases the female. The male chases only one female at a time until he mates and then on to the next female.

After the mating is complete, herd move south and the adult bulls separate from the female and juvenile reindeer. Each herd migrates to an area with enough food, water, and safekeeping from predators.

The newborn calves can stand in about 1/2 hour after birth, run after 1 1/2 hour, and run with the herd within a day. The newborn calves begins to eat solid foods in two weeks and may keep on nursing into the wintertime.

The most superb migrations are by the reindeer inhabiting the tundra in the northwest, that science calls the "Barren Ground Caribou."

Moving in the morning and the evening, the reindeer can run at speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour for a short time. The animal's soft foot pads assist them with traction and skillful weight allotment on the boggy summer tundra. In the winter their pads shrink, hardened, and are covered with tufts of hair. The hard hoof rim cuts into ice or crusted snow to stop slipping.

In summer, the diet of the reindeer consists of lichens, mushrooms, grasses, sedges, and many other green plants, twigs of birches and willows, and fruit. In winter their diet consists of lichens, their main food, augmented by horsetails, sedges, willow and birch twigs. The animals loss weight in the winter because their food intake is reduced. The reindeer demand forage in summer to supply the energy needed for reproduction, development, and staying alive in the winter months.

If the female doesn't build up enough energy reserves she will not breed. In autumn the males fattens up to nourish himself through the rut when be hardly eats.

Usually silent, the reindeer may give a loud snort making them sound like pigs.

The main predators of reindeer are humans and wolves. Other animals that prey on the young reindeer are grizzly bears, wolverines, lynx, and golden eagles.

The Caribou has been a major source of food and clothing for native people of the far north like the Laplanders and Eskimos.