WHAT BETTER ANIMAL TO REPRESENT CHRISTMAS THAN A REINDEER?
by Whit Gibbons
December 23, 2012
What animal is inextricably linked with Christmas in the minds of young and old? Reindeer, of course.
Christmas stories abound in literature, television specials and Hollywood movies, so perhaps it's not surprising if some children these days think reindeer are as fictional as the Grinch, Frosty and Rudolph. Well, reindeer are as real as caribou; in fact, they are the same species, caribou being the North American variety and reindeer living in Eurasia. Both are denizens of the Arctic tundra.
Caribou and reindeer are in the deer family and belong to a group known as the even-toed hoofed animals. They are more closely related to pigs, cattle, buffalo and goats than to the odd-toed mammals that include horses, zebras and rhinoceroses. Among even-toed mammals, only members of the deer family have antlers that are shed each year, rather than horns that persist throughout the animal's life. Reindeer and caribou are even more distinctive in that the females as well as the males have antlers.
In addition to caribou, four species in the deer family are found in the United States - mule deer, whitetail deer, elk and moose. Caribou thrive in the Arctic regions of Canada where the ground remains permanently frozen, but a few are found in northern Idaho, and large numbers live in Alaska.
Whereas caribou are still wild animals hunted as game animals, reindeer have been domesticated throughout much of their Eurasian range. In fact, the reindeer is the only type of deer that has been successfully domesticated, providing not only meat but also milk and cheese as domesticated cattle do elsewhere. Reindeer are also used to pull sleds, creating a natural association with Santa's sleigh.
Wild reindeer and caribou are noted for forming larger herds than other species of deer and for making long-range migrations over the course of a year. Their migratory habits are a necessity. During winter, they must move across the snowfields of the Arctic to find food. Beneath the snow, which they clear away by pawing at it with their hooves, they may find grasses, mosses, and lichens (also known as reindeer moss). A large herd can quickly deplete the available forage in an area and must soon be on the move again to find more food.
One advantage of forming large herds is to provide protection against their most common natural predator - wolves. A caribou or reindeer traveling alone would be easy prey for a pack of wolves. Predators have more difficulty surprising an enormous herd as it moves through the frozen northlands. The many eyes, ears and noses constitute an early-warning system for the herd. Wolves usually concentrate their attacks on stragglers that are sick or weak.
Wild reindeer and caribou mate in the fall, and males engage in contests, using their antlers as weapons. Although both sexes have antlers, they are proportionately larger in the males. As with many other hoofed animals that live in open areas where large predators pose a hazard, a newborn reindeer or caribou is ready to travel soon after birth. Caribou have their young in late spring, and a healthy baby is on its feet and able to run within an hour after birth.
Some of the ecological threats to North American caribou are well known. Wolves take their share each year; grizzly bears and lynx will attack calves in the summer. A serious parasite common in whitetail deer has spread into caribou populations in some areas. One speculation is that the clearing of the continental forests forced whitetail deer farther north into the range of caribou, exposing them to the parasite. Another cause of high mortality in some years is starvation due to unusually long, cold winters with heavy snowfall. Sport hunting reduces the number of caribou in some areas.
And though reindeer cannot fly, this in no way precludes the existence of Santa Claus. As young Virginia O'Hanlon was told in 1897, "Ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
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