Amazing Animals #11 The Reindeer

They are one of the most incredible, powerful and stunning animals you could ever set eyes upon. There is a clear reason why Santa picked this species to pull his magical sleigh all over the world in one night, and I am here to tell you why.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

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What do they look like?

Also known as Caribou, they are one of the largest deer species and can reach a body length of 1.2-2.2m, weigh up to 300kgs and have a small rabbit like tail that is around 25cm in length.

They have a thick coat that changes colour depending upon the season, in the summer it is brown, and in the winter it is grey, with their chest, rump, and tail undersides all white.

As they are a prey species their eyes are set to the side of their head, they have short ears and a large nose as well as the notably huge antlers that sit on top of their heads.

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The Eyes

To adapt to their harsh climate, Reindeer have an incredible ability to change the colour of their eyes depending upon the season. In the winter, a part of the Reindeer’s eyes will change to increase its sensitivity light.

The Tapetum Lucidum, which is a layer of tissue behind the retina that reflects light to allow them to see better in dim light will be a golden colour in the summer and deep blue in the winter.

Source: Dissected eyes of the Reindeer

Why? Well the colour blue is completely unusual for a mammal and with the seasonal change it makes it unique to this species, by changing to blue it allows for more light to pass through into more photoreceptors.

This allows them to not only see predators with ease but also gives them the ability to see in UV (Ultraviolet), their main food source which is Lichen absorbs UV which the Reindeer have the ability to see reflecting on the surface of the snow.

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Hooves

Not only do their eyes change colour depending upon the season, so do their hooves. During the summer when the Tundra is soft and wet, the underside of their specially adapted hooves become spongy, this provides them with improved traction on slippy surfaces. In the winter, the pads on their feet shrink and become tight this exposes the rim of the hooves and allows them to cut through ice and snow when walking and searching for a water source.

In the song from Mariah Carrey she sings

I won’t make a list and send it, to the North Pole for Saint Nick, I won’t even stay awake, To Hear those magic Reindeer click

Do Reindeer click you wonder? I can confirm that Mariah did not make this up, Reindeer do click when they walk. As a keeper, I always hear “oh those Reindeer sound like they have really bad joints” and I have to explain why. Let’s think about their habitat, they go through ferocious snow storms and they also have to pull a sleigh around the world in one night that both are equally as loud so how can they hear each other?

The small tendons in their feet move over the bones with every step which produces a very loud clicking noise that allows them to communicate with one another during those extreme moments.

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The Nose

Nothing quite beats a Reindeer nose, furry large and super cute- you just have to look at Ronnie’s to understand!

Ronnie in for a close-up
Imagine this, its -30C outside and as we breath steam comes out of our noses, yet for Reindeer standing at rest in the same cold air, absolutely no steam can be seen coming from their nose, why? As the air leaves a human nose it is at around 32C with water condensing into visible water droplets as the warm exhaled air meets cold air.

Reindeers do not have this problem, they have the most incredible heat exchangers in their nose. As they breath in, the cold air is warmed so that freezing cold air does not make contact with their lungs, and as they come to breath out the warm air hits that heat exchange again which cools it down to 21C before it is breathed out so they save the majority of the heat and no steam is seen.

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Do they ever feel cold?

You could say Reindeer are beautifully adapted in every way to the climate and habitat they reside in. The summer is potentially the only time they may be occasionally free from the cold, as even at this time of year the temperature in Svalbard can dip to 1C but it is highly unlikely in other parts of the world they live in.

Reindeer can survive in temperatures as low as -40C, their main problem is getting rid of heat rather than keeping heat, especially when running away from a predator or even pulling a sleigh. However, they have some very clever adaptations for the heat loss and for conserving heat.

To avoid any overheating, the Reindeer flush their legs with blood and cool down by panting like dogs, this causes water to evaporate from their tongue but if they feel cold they will pump more blood around their body that will increase their temperature.

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Lets talk Antlers

All deer species shed and regrow their antlers annually, however Reindeer are the only type of deer where both Male and Female go through this process. During the summer, when the mating season begins, the male’s hormone Testosterone slows the Antler growth and the veins surrounding the velvet begin to constrict and cut off the blood supply to the antler.

As the velvet dies and falls off, the process is then continued by the Deer by rubbing the antlers against practically anything he can put them on and rub. The antlers will shed when there is a significant drop in Testosterone when the rutting season ends as it causes the tissues and the bone at the base of the antler to weaken and fall off.

For the girls, this process is completed once they have given birth in the spring and no longer need to compete for food against the males and others within the herd. The Antlers will then begin to grow rapidly for up to four months where they will be bigger and different every year.

Reindeer drop their Antlers annually
If we look at the facts to the Antlers does it mean that Santa’s Reindeer are female? There is only one person who knows the answer to this question that is the big man himself however, in my professional opinion Santa does not need 9 rutting deer pulling his sleigh... that would be a nightmare.

I believe Santa’s Reindeer to be castrated where they will not go through the process of shedding their Antlers until they are injected with Testosterone in January and they are no longer needed for his trip around the world. You can make your own decision here...

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What makes them Powerful?

The Reindeer have one of the longest migrations of any land-dwelling animal, with some herds travelling over 3,000 miles covering around 300,000 square miles in total.

Their migrations within the spring can see individuals coming together forming huge groups of up to 400,00 animals, this isn’t always a good idea as recently a group of 323 Reindeer in Norway were struck by lightning, killing the whole herd.

So, what is the powerful aspect of a Reindeer? Well they are amazing endurance runners and can achieve sprint speeds of up to 50 miles per hour and can travel 20 miles per hour for prolonged periods of time. The saying within Zoos is “if he puts his head down and goes, he will go and there will be nothing you can do”, given the science behind this statement I don’t for one second doubt that.

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Final Words

As I work with this species I can honestly tell you these are one of my all-time favourite animals up there with the Fox and my little Goat, Basil. Santa chose this species due to their inept ability to see in the dark, their ability to cool themselves down quickly, the magical clicking in their feet to hear one another during the flight and their endurance.

Without these adaptations Santa may as well just strap rabbits to his sleigh and hope for the best. You would be surprised of how many people I have met that have never seen a Reindeer before, and often think this is a fake species, I even this week had to convince a child that I hadn’t stuck the antlers on Ronnie’s head with super glue.

Although they have immense power and strength they are also gentle and really lovely to work with. I will say however, if you ever meet a Reindeer don’t touch him/her, why do you ask? Well you may take their magic away to fly on the big night and also, they really despise it…

I would like to take this moment to wish all my followers and @steemstem a very Merry Christmas, and I hope that it is everything you had wished for and more. I can’t thank you enough for all your continued support that encourages me to continue creating more series, as well as informative posts for you all to enjoy. Every up-vote, comment and view makes me want to post more, I of course will take some time over the festive period to spend some time with my family which means I will post sporadically whenever I can.

I hope 2018 is just as amazing as the end of this year has been.

Ronnie on the weigh board

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If you enjoyed this edition of Amazing Animals you may be interested in some of my previous posts:

The Three-Toed Sloth

The Hippopotamus

The Platypus

The Wandering Albatross

The Lobster

The Polar Bear

Any many more...

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Content Sources

All un-sourced images were taken by Myself.

The Eyes

BBC Earth

Antlers

Nomadic Reindeer

The Verge

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