Reindeer Facts
- In North America reindeer are also called caribou.
- Both the males and females grow antlers.
- Their noses are specially designed to warm the air before it gets to their lungs.
- Reindeer hooves expand in summer when the ground is soft and shrink in winter when the ground is hard.
- Some subspecies have knees that make a clicking noise when they walk so the animals can stay together in a blizzard.
- Some North American caribou migrate over 3,000 miles in a year – more than any other land mammal.
- Though thought of as a tundra species, a form of caribou lived in southern Idaho until the 19th century (there are ongoing efforts to re-establish them in the state).
- Northernmost species are much lighter in color than species at the southern end their range.
- Reindeer have been herded for centuries by several Arctic and Subarctic peoples.
- The name “reindeer” is of Norse origin (from the old Norse word “hreinn” for deer) and has nothing to do the reins of a sled. The name “caribou” comes to us through the French, from the Mi’kmag “qalipu,” meaning “snow shoveler.”
- Golden eagles are the leading predator of caribou calves in the late spring and fall.
- Once the entire body of a reindeer was found inside a Greenland shark (most likely a case of near-shore scavenging, as opposed to a migrating land shark).
Source: https://blog.nwf.org/2010/12/reindeer-twelve-fascinating-facts-about-these-amazing-creatures/
