Fun Facts!

Their special nose warms the incoming cold air before it enters the lungs.

The reindeer of North America can run at speeds up to 50 mph.

A clicking sound comes from their legs as they walk.

Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Reindeer are large deer with shaggy brown coats in summer and gray coats in winter. They have a white rump and tail and a paler chest and belly. Both males and females have antlers. The reindeer coat has two layers of fur, a dense woolly undercoat and a longer-haired overcoat, consisting of hollow, air-filled hairs. Reindeer hooves adapt to the season: in the summer, when the tundra is soft and wet, the footpads become sponge-like and provide extra traction. In the winter, the pads shrink and tighten, showing the rim of the hoof which cuts into the ice and crusted snow to keep it from slipping. This also helps them dig through the snow to their favorite food, a lichen known as reindeer moss.

HABITAT

Reindeer (also known as caribou) are found in herds only in open tundra (cold and treeless land usually around the North Pole) in Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia.

DIET IN THE WILD

They eat a wide variety of green vegetation, including grasses and the leaves of willows and birches, as well as lichens and twigs. Reindeer herded by native peoples have been known to eagerly eat mushrooms in late summer.

BEHAVIOR

Reindeer are adapted for living in harsh northern areas, browsing around the woodland edges. They live in herds of 10-1,000 animals, but can form large herds of up to 200,000. Since reindeer can swim easily and quickly, migrating herds will not hesitate to swim across a large lake or broad river. The reindeer travels the furthest of any land mammal, as much as 3,100 miles a year. They have poor eyesight, and locate food using their keen sense of smell. Some migrate to the arctic plains for the summer.

STATUS IN THE WILD

Reindeer in the wild are not threatened.

LIFE SPAN

Typically, reindeer live for less than 5 years, but some have been known to live as many as 13 years.