Reindeer diet.
Reindeer food depends on the season. In the summer, they feed on grass, grains and ... mice - yes, yes! Not that they are specially hunted for them, but if some frivolous mouse gags on a hummock, the deer crumbles along with the grass and will not even notice. And mushrooms are also delicious food for them. The peoples of the North do not eat mushrooms precisely because deer eat them.
So the Sami thinks: What am I, man, going to eat reindeer food for? I'm not a deer! And there are so many mushrooms that sometimes the whole tundra around it seems to be covered with a solid carpet of bright boletus caps. So deer will not be left without food in the summer.
But in winter, when there is neither grass nor mushrooms in the tundra, reindeer get lichen from under the snow. This is the only food available in the winter cold. The deer have an excellent sense of smell, and they smell reindeer lichen even under a meter layer of snow, and they know how to get it from this great depth. And what can you do: winter in these parts lasts nine months, so I had to adapt. They dig the snow with their front feet so deep that sometimes only the back of a feeding deer is visible.
Yagel is a lichen.
Previously, the Sami kept their reindeer near their dwellings in winter - a very small herd of three to five heads. And they prepared reindeer lichen for them for the winter. In the summer, it’s quite simple, since you don’t need to dig out the plants from under the snow - you gathered up an armful, put it in a shed, and let it dry yourself. Before giving it to the deer, reindeer moss was soaked in a bucket of water, and it became like fresh. And since the deer love salt, salted fish heads were also thrown there. It turned out to be such a venison salad - lichen with salted fish. Delicious!
Berry picking in the north.
And deer are also very fond of berries that grow in the tundra in the swamps: cloudberries, blueberries, lingonberries, cranberries. We humans are also not averse to eating such berries, so I will tell you how they are harvested.
For collecting cranberries and lingonberries, there are special devices, similar to a scoop with a scallop. With these combs, the berry is, as it were, combed out of the bumps: rr-times - and he has already collected a whole glass of cranberries! But cloudberries have to be picked by hand, each berry separately - it is very tender. But reindeer do not need all these difficulties and adaptations. Indeed, unlike humans, they are not afraid to get bogged down in a swamp and calmly walk along it, nibbling berries.
Information from the book about reindeer.
Reindeer grazing
Reindeer grazing.
Reindeer walk on their own in the summer, and no one looks after them at all. This is called free grazing. They roam in small groups of 3-5 individuals along the seashore, where the wind drives away annoying insects from them. and nibble young grass.
Such reindeer independence is very convenient for humans: you don't need to look after them or feed them. And in the fall, instinct makes them go to warmer places, deep into the Kola Peninsula. So they rush to the south with trodden thrones, along their thousand-year-old routes. It was then that the shepherds were watching them. They know all these paths well and gradually collect reindeer into herds, which are driven to winter pastures. Such herds may not be very large, or they may simply be gigantic. And then distilling them to the pasture is an impressive sight.
Imagine: ten thousand deer are walking, powerful snowmobiles accompany them from all directions, and helicopters fly from above. As if the whole army is going on the offensive - with equipment and aircraft!
For the winter, reindeer can be placed in a large enclosure, or you can do without it. Then the reindeer breeders constantly go around the herd and make sure that the reindeer do not scatter. This method of grazing is called guarding. This is, of course, because the deer are on guard. And the Sami herding their most reindeer is much easier. Here is a hut on the pasture in which the shepherds live. Reindeer graze nearby and get reindeer for themselves from under the snow. And the shepherds only go around the flock from time to time: they look to see if anyone has fought back.
Deer horns
The discarded antlers are food for the inhabitants of the tundra.
All the deer of the world have large beautiful horns only in males, and only in reindeer do females wear them.
But the question is: if thousands of deer shed their antlers every year, why should the entire tundra be covered with them? But this is certainly not the case. The discarded horns in winter are eaten by all living creatures in the tundra: mice, arctic foxes. Yes, the deer themselves are not averse to gnawing their antlers, sometimes right on each other's heads! Well, what am I to get lost, since they are so useful! And in the summer, tourists come to the tundra, who also gladly pick up the discarded horns. They will bring home, hang on the wall - it is immediately clear that the person has been to the tundra.
Inhabiting the North. In the endless expanses of the tundra, taiga in our country, as well as in the north of America, this stately handsome reindeer lives.
Appearance
It is a large animal with a powerful body and somewhat short legs. Despite this, it looks very graceful, especially when running. The magnificent horns that individuals of both sexes have give this animal a special beauty.
This is a real weapon of deer - they help to repel the wolf, and the males are not averse to measuring their strengths among themselves.
Wool
Since it is a northern animal, the deer has a very warm coat. Its color is pale gray, almost white. The hair is hollow inside. It contains air, thanks to which the animal swims well. In addition, such a woolen cover reliably protects from the cold. With the onset of frost, a gentle, soft down appears in the undercoat, and then the deer is not afraid of the fiercest cold.
Sheds once a year, but for a rather long time. The old undercoat begins to fall in March, the new one appears in May. The process is especially intense at the very end of June and throughout July. Pieces of old coat may remain until September.
Dense and wide hooves allow the deer to move even in very deep snow. They rake it with their hooves, obtaining food for themselves. The animal easily passes even through a swampy swamp.
What does reindeer eat?
To this question, many will answer that he eats deer moss. This is not entirely correct. The basis of its nutrition is reindeer lichen, which is mistakenly called a perennial plant that covers the surface layer of the earth in the tundra with a continuous carpet. The deer smells him under a half-meter layer of snow. However, this lichen grows very slowly (about 5 mm per year), so herds of reindeer have to wander through the taiga in search of new pastures.
Yagel is very nutritious and contains a natural antibiotic. Continuing the conversation about what the reindeer feeds on, we should note that lichen is not the only food for these animals. In summer, deer enjoy themselves with pleasure on berries, grass, mushrooms, leaves of shrubs and trees. Not many people know that the reindeer, the photo of which you see in our article, in some cases can act as a predator, eating some small animals, for example, lemmings.
Domesticated reindeer usually graze in pastures, but they are added grain flour, hay, and silage.
Reindeer lifestyle
Alone, these animals cannot exist. Reindeer in the tundra lives in herds, which number from one to several dozen individuals. This way of life is due to the fact that during the time in the herd it is easier to protect oneself from predators. The life of reindeer is associated with constant migrations. For example, in late autumn, herds that usually live in the tundra go south, to the taiga - in winter it is easier to find food in these areas. These powerful animals are able to cover a distance of more than 1000 km in search of food.
Enemies of the deer
At all times, reindeer have been tasty prey for various predators. The main danger for them is wolves and wolverines. The most favorable time for them is the period of reindeer migration. During this period, old and weak individuals lag behind the herd. It is on them that wolverines and wolves attack.
It should be said that people are also enemies of wild deer. The meat, skin and horns of these animals are of value to humans. Despite this, the populations of many deer species are well preserved. In those areas where animals are protected, they are not afraid of humans, they often go to the side of the road.
Today, about 600 thousand deer live in the north of Europe, and about 800 thousand in the polar regions of our country. There are much more domesticated deer - about three million individuals.
Reproduction
In autumn, the mating season begins in herds, which is marked by frequent and fierce battles of males. Reindeer is polygamous. In the "harem" of one male there are up to 15 females. The duration of pregnancy is 246 days. Newborn calves are born in May-June. As a rule, one cub is born, much less often two. The average weight of a fawn is 6.5 kg. After two weeks, the baby's horns begin to grow. For two, and sometimes even three years, the deer follows its mother.
Already in the second year of life, he reaches puberty. The average life span of an animal is 20 years.
In December, after the rut, the males shed their horns. Females do not part with them.
Reindeer species
There are two types of these animals. The first category is North American. It consists of several subspecies. Alaska, Greenland, Canada are the territories where this species of reindeer lives. All over the world they are called caribou.
Domesticated deer
The Nenets breed is the result of many years of breeding work. You are probably wondering where the reindeer of this breed lives? Animals are widespread beyond the Urals. The breed is notable for its short stature, but at the same time the animals have incredible endurance. The color is most often brown. These reindeer are used in sledding. Males weigh on average 140 kg, females - 100 kg.
Evenk reindeer in the tundra are often used to transport goods. He is often a transport animal.
Even deer are short, therefore, less hardy. They are usually bred for milk and meat production.
How deer are used
More recently, the life of many peoples depended on such an animal as the reindeer. In the tundra, human existence would be impossible without such an assistant. Wild animals were hunted for meat. But more often they bred domesticated deer. For northern peoples, this animal is universal. Its meat and internal organs are used for food. Domesticated deer females provide nutritious milk. Plagues and yarangas cover these animals with skins. Shoes and winter outerwear are sewn from leather.
Overalls and suits for little northerners, as well as hats for adults, are sewn from the skin of deer called fawn.
Souvenirs and jewelry are made from small pieces of wool.
But undoubtedly, (they are also called antlers) are the most valuable material. Various household items are made from them. But their main value lies in their medicinal properties. For more than 3000 years, physicians of the East have been using antler extract to treat people.
Not so long ago, modern scientists became interested in the question of why only deer are able to shed their antlers, and new ones appear in their place. After research, they concluded that the antlers contain a gene responsible for the regeneration of bone cells. Therefore, an extract from them or a powder began to be used to treat severe diseases of bones and joints. In addition, preparations based on antlers are a powerful immunostimulating agent. They are prescribed for high physical and mental stress.
In ancient times, the reindeer was used as a horse-drawn transport. In the tundra, harnessed to a sleigh, he easily transported the owner to the right place on the road. Today, with the development of technology, this need has disappeared. But even now, the reindeer, whose photo often adorns advertising areas, participates in holidays, rides tourists.
In the northern regions of our country, in difficult climatic conditions, people managed to create an unusual animal husbandry. Caring for deer is reduced to protecting them from wild animals in the winter, and from insects in the summer. I must say that measures aimed at this are not always effective.
Despite all the benefits of civilization, even today the main helper of some peoples is the reindeer. It is difficult to live in the tundra without this beautiful and strong animal.
The wild reindeer is a regal and proud creature. It is found in the vast expanses of the Russian North and in the northern part of America, where the reindeer lives.
Appearance
If you look at this powerful beast, the question involuntarily arises - how much does the deer weigh? To imagine this magnificent creature, you need to know the description of the reindeer. This is a rather large animal, weighing up to 200 kg, with a large torso and stocky legs. And, despite this, he looks very graceful, running along the tundra.
The heads of males and females are crowned with branched horns, which give the deer a regal majesty. This is the main distinguishing feature of this species - the presence of horns, both in males and females.
The fur of the animal is very beautiful, in some places it is light gray, almost white. Since the hair is hollow inside and filled with air, this contributes to better retention of the animal in the water.
Closer to winter, feathers grow in the wool, which retains heat well in severe cold weather.
To move well in the snow, the legs are equipped with wide hooves that can pass through any snowdrifts and off-road conditions. With their help, the reindeer in the tundra is able to remove a layer of snow and get food in the form of reindeer lichen.
Varieties
There are several subspecies:
- North American deer - woodland caribou, Grant caribou, tundra caribou, Peary caribou, Dawson caribou.
- Eurasian subspecies - wild reindeer, Finnish northern, Svalbard reindeer, Northern Novaya Zemlya, Arctic northern.
Habitat
This proud animal can be found on the Kola Peninsula and Kamchatka, in Western Chukotka and in the north of Sakhalin. Lives in North America and Canada. There is a very large livestock on the Taimyr Peninsula.
The harsh tundra and semi-tundra are ideal places for the life of horned beauties, where they have lived for thousands of years. So, knowing where the reindeer live, if you want, you can go and admire them in the wild.
Lifestyle and habits
Deer live in large herds, so it's easier to find food and fight off enemies. In search of moss, the herd travels long distances, crossing the tundra and small rivers. Due to the structure of their body, it is not difficult for them.
In autumn, during battles for the female, the horns of the animal are used in mating games between rival males. Fights between males and females are also possible. The latter can keep away the male for a long time for various reasons.
When do deer shed their antlers? Males either lose their luxurious horns during fights for the best female, or they themselves disappear after mating games. Females use them all winter, conquering the best places for feeding.
During migration, huge herds stop to feed and cover up to 700 km in 1.5 months. Migration paths are almost constant, but sometimes they change due to various factors that arise in nature.
Nutrition
What do reindeer eat? Favorite delicacy is reindeer lichen. This moss grows in a solid carpet in the tundra all year round, and therefore these animals do not experience a lack of food. Possessing a keen sense of smell, they can hear the smell of reindeer lichen under a 50-centimeter layer of snow. But reindeer lichen grows very slowly - only 4 mm per year, and therefore the herds wander from place to place in search of it.
Lichen is a fairly nutritious plant that contains a natural antibiotic in its chemical composition, which helps animals get rid of many diseases. But this is, so to speak, a winter diet. What do reindeer eat in summer?
In summer, food can also be used:
- berries;
- mushrooms;
- grass;
- leaves of shrubs and trees that they can reach.
To help these beauties get through the tough winter times, people put up small haystacks at the edges of the fields to help the animals feed in the cold.
Having got acquainted with the most beautiful animal, we learned what the reindeer eats in the tundra.
Reproduction
Sexual maturity in these animals occurs by the age of two, and the female reindeer can give birth to cubs up to 18 years old.
Reproduction begins in the fall. This is adapted so that the young appear during the melting of the snow, 227 days after the female is covered. Before this, males seek the attention of females, arranging mating games in the field of action of her eyes.
Pregnancy lasts almost 8 months, after which one small cub is born in May, immediately getting to its feet. There are rarely two babies.
On the second day after birth, the baby reindeer already runs freely around its mother and feeds on her milk. At the age of one week, he can already swim across a small river. The appearance of horns on the head of a deer occurs in the third week of its life.
Enemies in nature
In nature, this ungulate often becomes the prey of predatory animals:
- wolves;
- wolverines;
- bear.
During their travels, migrations, sick or weakened animals are at the end of the herd and become the prey of predators.
Man can also be counted among the enemies, so until recently there was a merciless extermination of these animals for the sake of skins and horns.
Human use
The life of the northern peoples has always depended on deer. Domestic animals were used to transport goods, and wild ones were hunted. It was believed that the more deer heads in a family, the richer it is.
Plagues are made of skins, both women's and men's clothes are sewn. Warm and comfortable winter shoes are made.
Meat, entrails and blood are used to make food. Female milk is also used in cooking.
Amazingly beautiful jewelry is made from horns and hooves. Horns are also used in medicine as they have medicinal properties. Scientists were also interested in these medicinal properties, and they found out that the powder made from horns contains a wonderful gene responsible for the renewal of bone tissue. As a result, preparations have been made that can stimulate the internal mental and physical reserves of a person.
Reading interesting facts about reindeer will tell a person little, you just need to see them live, touch their warm fur, hear their breath when they run in a team. Otherwise, they cannot be understood.
Species protection
Reindeer hunting is prohibited. Today, reindeer are listed in the Red Book as a protected species.
Nurseries have been created in the country where these animals feel relatively calm, since they are not poached.
Recently, feeding places have been greatly reduced. A lot of industry appeared in the northern regions, in those places where herds used to graze. And if we consider that the lichen grows extremely slowly, then there was not enough food for everyone, which also greatly reduced the number of individuals.
The entry of the species into the Red Book was done so that the population did not decrease, but was able to fully or at least partially restore its ranks.
Video
Watch our video on the life of reindeer.
|
Taxonomy |
Images |
|
|---|
Reindeer(in North America - Caribou, lat. Rangifer tarandus) - the only representative of the genus Reindeer ( Rangifer), an artiodactyl mammal of the deer family. Lives in the northern part of Eurasia and North America. It eats not only grass and lichens, but also small mammals and birds. In Eurasia, the reindeer is domesticated and is an important source of food and materials for many polar peoples. Among the peoples of the North, wild reindeer is called sokzhoy.
Features of biology
REINDEER (Rangifer tarandus) is the only artiodactyl mammal of the subfamily of reindeer (Rangiferinae). The reindeer subfamily belongs to the deer family (Cervidae) and includes a single genus and species of reindeer. Until the middle of the 20th century, it was believed that there were several species of reindeer. This point of view is also common among modern scientists. Some authors on the territory of North America distinguish two, and sometimes more species. Most scientists agree that the reindeer forms 12-15 subspecies, including 5-7 subspecies in Russia. Domesticated reindeer are distinguished separately. Reindeer's connections with other reindeer are not clear. This is a peculiar species that developed at the beginning of the Pleistocene and finally took shape in the middle of this period. The body length of the reindeer is 150–220 cm, the height at the withers is 80–150 cm, and the weight is up to 220 kg. The coat is dense in winter, with a well-developed undercoat, light with dark streaks. A mane forms on the neck. In summer, the fur is short, brown with various shades of gray. The horns of males, unlike other members of the family, are the same as those of females. The two middle toes carry wide hooves. The lateral toes, which have hooves, touch the ground when walking. The fingers are mobile and widely spaced, allowing animals to move through loose snow and swampy swamps. Reindeer live in the Arctic and taiga zones of the Old and New World (to the south up to about 50 ° N) and on a number of polar islands. They inhabit the forest-tundra, taiga and high-mountainous regions of some mountain systems (Sayan, Altai), preferring open landscapes everywhere. The Taimyr population of reindeer is the most numerous in Russia. In summer, deer feed on grass, leaves of various plants, berries and mushrooms, and in winter - reindeer moss, which is dug out by hooves from under the snow, and lichens growing on trees. Reindeer rut takes place from mid-October to mid-November, when the reindeer are still kept in large herds of 150-200 heads, among which there may be about 10 adult males. Gradually, with one male, a harem of 3-12 females is formed, and the herds break up into separate groups. With females, last year's young growth also continues, so that the total number of animals in a group can reach two or three dozen. Calving takes place in May - June - the female brings one cub, which she feeds with milk until late autumn. Males shed their horns after rutting, females - after calving, by August they grow new horns. In autumn, reindeer begin to migrate to the south - from the areas of the moss-lichen tundra to the areas of light forests and the northern taiga, where it is easier to get food in winter. The length of their migration routes can be 300-500, and sometimes 700-800 km - these are the longest regular migrations among land mammals. Autumn migrations of reindeer in our north take place from September to November. North American deer (caribou) migrate from the tundra to the forest zone in October-December. Reindeer return to the tundra in May. The first are herds of pregnant females and young animals, followed by males. On their way, they often have to overcome water obstacles that deer swim across (even such wide ones as the Yenisei or fjords several kilometers long). Reindeer - both wild and domestic - plays a huge role in the life of the peoples of the North.
Classification
There are several subspecies of reindeer:
North American subspecies
- Forest caribou (R. tarandus caribou) - was originally distributed in the taiga regions of North America from Alaska to Newfoundland and Labrador. Currently, the range has significantly reduced, the subspecies is recognized as being in a state close to threatened (NT according to the IUCN classification).
- Caribou Granta (R. tarandus granti) - North American subspecies, distributed in Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
- Tundra caribou (R. tarandus groenlandicus) - common in the Canadian Northwest Territories and in Nunavut, as well as in western Greenland.
- Caribou Piri (R. tarandus pearyi) - common in the northern islands of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
- Queen Charlotte Islands Caribou, or Dawson's Caribou (R. tarandus dawsoni) is an extinct subspecies that lived on Graham Island, one of the largest islands in the Queen Charlotte archipelago off the Pacific coast of Canada (British Columbia).
See also
Notes (edit)
Links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Synonyms:Reindeer (in North America - Caribou, lat. Rangifer tarandus) - belongs to the family of deer suborder ruminants, the only representative of the genus Reindeer (Rangifer), an artiodactyl mammal of the deer family. Lives in the northern part of Eurasia and North America. It eats not only grass and lichens, but also small mammals and birds. In Eurasia, the reindeer is domesticated and is an important source of food and materials for many polar peoples.
Reindeer
The reindeer is one of the most beautiful animals in the North. In addition, almost all northern peoples of our planet owe their existence to him. Reindeer provides them with food, skins for clothing and is an indispensable means of transportation in the northern off-road conditions.
Reindeer is an artiodactyl mammal of the deer family. Its distribution area covers the lands of the northern part of Eurasia and North America. It can be found in the west of the Kola Peninsula, in Karelia, in Kamchatka, in Western Chukotka. It also exists in the north of Sakhalin. It lives in large numbers on the islands of the seas of the Arctic Ocean, feels great in Alaska and northern Canada.
The largest number of deer is observed on the Taimyr Peninsula. The harsh tundra, forest-tundra, as well as the northern taiga are the places where the animal has existed for many thousands of years. It has perfectly adapted to both mountainous areas and plains. Reindeer are subdivided into wild and domesticated. Currently, there are much more domesticated deer.
Reindeer herds always migrate along the same route for decades. They cross straits and rivers in the same places. Animals swim very well and freely overcome many kilometers of water. They can move for 500 kilometers or more. Migration begins in September, and deer reappear in the tundra in May. Taiga deer climb further into the mountains in summer. By winter they return to their native woodlands and marshy plains.
In early September, thousands of reindeer herds go to winter in the forest-tundra. Leaders in herds are usually old females. Deer with fawns walk in front, and males follow them. The whole herd is kept in a heap, so the close antlers of deer seem to be moving branches of trees. The air is filled with characteristic sounds: low voices of animals, similar to snoring, and a kind of crackling in the joints of the legs from bending hooves. The speed of movement of deer is not great, only 15-20 km per day, and the herd stretches for hundreds of kilometers, forming an avalanche of living bodies. They swim across large rivers on the way, and herds can swim for several hours in a row. Reindeer are followed by tundra wolves, which attack weak or sick animals lagging behind the bulk, and this heals the composition of the reindeer herd. Many deer, having strayed from the herd, are looking for their mothers, trustingly approaching any object - a tubercle, bush or animal, and eventually fall into the teeth of predators.
People have domesticated reindeer by isolating part of the herd of wild animals. Domestic reindeer live on semi-free grazing, and they differ from wild animals in that they are accustomed to people and in case of danger do not scatter to the sides, but gather together, hoping for the protection of people. People get milk, meat, wool, horns, bones from deer, and use them as riding animals. From humans, deer only need salt and protection from predators.
Reindeer appearance
The body length of the animal is 2-2.2 meters. Weight ranges from 120 to 210 kg. The height at the withers reaches 1.4 meters. There are also smaller deer. Their height does not exceed 1.2 meters. Reindeer living in the tundra, as well as on the islands of the Arctic Ocean, are inferior in size to their southern counterparts who prefer to live in taiga regions. The body of the artiodactyl is elongated, squat. A mane grows on the animal's neck. It does not differ in its great length; in some deer it is practically invisible.
The coat on the body is short, but warm, as it has a thick undercoat. The length of the hairs does not exceed 2.5 cm in winter. In summer, this value is 1 cm. The hairs are hollow and, in addition to the undercoat, create a reliable air insulating cushion that protects the body from the cold and also helps to keep afloat when wading rivers. The color of the skin is from whitish to dark. The farther north the deer lives, the lighter it is. In most cases, the fur bears both dark and light tones. In the summer, the gray-brown color is interspersed with coffee, and in the cold winter, light areas are diluted with dark ones.
Thick hairs even cover the nasal mirror of the reindeer, the delicate skin of which is protected from cooling. This adaptation is important, since the deer constantly dig their muzzles in the snow, burrowing holes in it half a meter deep in order to get to the reindeer lichen. By winter, deer grow fat, the subcutaneous fat layer reaches 3-5 cm, which allows them to endure severe frosts. In addition, in frosty weather, the deer huddle in dense heaps, as a result of which the entire herd is enveloped in a thick cloud of warmed up air.
Horns grow in both males and females. Males part with their horns at the beginning of winter. Females shed their horns immediately after the birth of babies - this is the beginning of summer. In winter, males do not have horns, but females have, which helps the latter, by extracting food from under a snow coat, drive away hungry males. The hooves of the reindeer are wide, with the lower part curved inward. This makes it easier to dig for snow and forage.
Reindeer start mating games in the second half of October. They continue until the first days of November. During the rut, the males arrange fights, seeking the sympathy of the females. Pregnancy lasts almost 8 months. The female gives birth to one fawn. Twins are very, very rare.
On the next day after birth, and sometimes by the end of the first day, the fawn is already starting to run well. Vazhenka feeds him with milk until late autumn, and sometimes even before the birth of a new fawn. After the first feeding, after 5-6 hours, the mother clearly distinguishes her cub from many others in the herd by smell. The kid, on the other hand, distinguishes his mother by her voice. The horns of young deer begin to appear by the third week of life, at the end of September - October they are peeled from the skin and look like straight or slightly curved needles. Only by the age of 4-5 years, annually becoming more complex, the horns reach full development. Reindeer become sexually mature in the second year of life, but males participate in reproduction not earlier than the third year, since older rivals do not allow them to visit the females. The female can give birth up to 18 years. The total life span of these animals is 25 years.
Adult male wild deer shed their antlers after the end of the rut, usually in November-December. Adult females wear horns all winter and lose them in May - June, in the first days after calving. According to the zoologist P. P. Tarasov, the horns of females in winter (when the males are hornless) help them to protect the holes dug in the snow during feeding. Lowering her head, the female covers the entire hole with a “bone fence”, which cannot be approached. The female with her head lowered, approaching the hole dug by the male, pushes him aside with her horns.
Enemies
Reindeer has both meat and fat, therefore it is desirable for large predators. His main enemies are wolves and wolverines. A fertile time comes for them during migration. Reindeer herds move south, weak and sick animals are exhausted, lagging behind. It is they who become the prey of wolf packs and wolverines.
The influence of predators in the total mortality of animals reaches 33%. Wolves inflict the greatest damage on deer, and the selective prey of sick and weakened animals by the wolf is only partially confirmed. In Yakutia, it feeds mainly on underyearlings (31.8% of all reindeer hunted by it) and 1-2-year-olds (46.3%). Evenkia and the Kola Peninsula - 83-85% of adults. In the Khatanga region, deaths from wolves in some years accounted for about 55% of all losses. In addition to wolves, deer are destroyed by wolverines, less often by a lynx, a bear. However, all these species together do not bring even half of the harm that a wolf causes. Possible attacks on the calves of the white-tailed eagle, golden eagle, crow.
In many areas, skin and nasopharyngeal gadflies are dangerous for reindeer. With an abundance of gadflies, deer cannot graze calmly, they run all the time and are malnourished. The larvae of the nasopharyngeal gadflies make breathing and feeding difficult, which in turn leads to depletion of the deer. The larvae of skin gadflies, leading to the formation of ulcers and fistulas on the skin, also drain the animals. The role in the life of deer and blood-sucking insects is great: mosquitoes, midges, biting midges, horseflies. To a large extent, under the influence of gadflies and bloodsuckers, tundra deer leave the southern tundra and taiga in summer and come to the northernmost outskirts of Siberia and the Arctic islands, where there are almost no gadflies and few gnats.
Man also mercilessly exterminates these animals. He is attracted by the antlers, skin and meat of reindeer. Currently, there are about 50 thousand wild deer in the Northern European part. In North America, the figure is 600,000. In the polar zones of Russia, the corresponding figure is 800 thousand. There are much more domesticated deer. Their total number reaches 3 million heads.
Reindeer antlers
Antlers (non-ossified antlers) of deer are known in folk medicine for their medicinal properties. The extract isolated from them is used in pharmacology as a general tonic and adaptogenic drug.
during their annual growth, they have a tubular structure, are filled with blood, covered with thin velvety skin with short soft hair. Deer are the only family of mammals that annually grow and shed a massive organ - horns. In the eastern traditional systems of healing (China, Korea) antlers are widely used to maintain strength and youth, they are at the very top of the drugs used and are comparable only to ginseng.
Deer antlers cut from a live or killed animal are processed in various ways:
To obtain antlers, antler deer of Siberian subspecies (maral, red deer and sika deer) have been bred in captivity since the end of the 19th century. In the Russian Federation, antler reindeer breeding is most developed in the Altai Republic (over 70 thousand heads) and the Altai Territory, there are separate farms in other regions. Antler reindeer breeding is also widely developed in Kazakhstan, where marals and sika deer live, with very high quality antlers.
The most valuable are the antlers of the Siberian maral (range - Kazakhstan and Russian parts of Altai). Antlers are a traditional export item, mainly to Korea (in the Altai Republic in 2006, exports amounted to about 40 tons). Antlers serve as raw materials for the production of a medicinal product - pantocrine and a significant number of complexes of biologically active substances. In the 1990s, Russia began the study and production of pantogematogen from the blood of antler deer obtained during the period of cutting antlers.
Antler reindeer husbandry is widely developed in Kazakhstan, China, and New Zealand (over 2 million heads).
Used to prepare antler baths.
Classification
North American subspecies
Forest caribou
(Rangifer tarandus caribou) - was originally distributed in the taiga regions of North America from Alaska to Newfoundland and Labrador. Currently, the range has significantly reduced, the subspecies is recognized as being in a state close to threatened (NT according to the IUCN classification).
Caribou Granta
(R. tarandus granti) - North American subspecies, distributed in Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
Tundra caribou
(R. tarandus groenlandicus) - common in the Canadian Northwest Territories and in Nunavut, as well as in western Greenland.
Caribou Piri
(R. tarandus pearyi) - distributed in the northern islands of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
Queen Charlotte's Caribou, or Dawson's Caribou
(R. tarandus dawsoni) is an extinct subspecies that lived on Graham Island, one of the largest in the Haida Guai Archipelago off the Pacific coast of Canada (British Columbia).
