A reindeer can swim easily and quickly, normally at about 6.5 km/h (4 mph) but, if necessary, at 10 km/h (6 mph) and migrating herds will not hesitate to swim across a large lake or broad river. The calf is weaned after about two months and joins the herd in the fall migration. In the CCHE mechanism, in cold weather, blood vessels are closely knotted and intertwined with arteries to the skin and appendages that carry warm blood with veins returning to the body that carry cold blood causing the warm arterial blood to exchange heat with the cold venous blood. [citation needed] Tormenting insects keep caribou on the move searching for windy areas like hilltops and mountain ridges, rock reefs, lakeshore and forest openings, or snow patches that offer respite from the buzzing horde. [81] The sounds originate in the tendons of the knees and may be audible from ten metres (yards) away. The word deer was originally broader in meaning but became more specific over time. Box 2006 Elder Chief of Koyukuk and chair for the Western Arctic Caribou Herd Working Group Benedict Jones, or K’ughto’oodenool’o’, represents the Middle Yukon River, Alaska. [67] Calves whose mothers do not have antlers are more prone to disease and have a significantly higher mortality. (The Warble Fly lays eggs on a caribou’s flank; larvae are hatched and burrow up to the caribou’s back, feeding on skin and fat. The frequency of the knee-clicks is one of a range of signals that establish relative positions on a dominance scale among reindeer. 70% of the meat is sold to slaughterhouses. It is believed that domestication started between the Bronze and Iron Ages. CCHE is present in animals like reindeer, fox and moose living in extreme conditions of cold or hot weather as a mechanism for retaining the heat in (or out of) the body. "[2] The word rein is of Norse origin. Heat is thus recycled instead of being dissipated.
192 Wheelers Road Predators of caribou include wolves and brown bears. [79] In May or June the calves are born. The Taimyr herd of migrating Siberian tundra reindeer (R. t. sibiricus) in Russia is the largest wild reindeer herd in the world,[4][5] varying between 400,000 and 1,000,000. Tomson Highway, CM[155] is a Canadian and Cree playwright, novelist, and children's author, who was born in a remote area north of Brochet, Manitoba.
Some consider Rudolph as part of the group as well, though he was not part of the original named work referenced previously. Carl Linnaeus chose the name Rangifer for the reindeer genus, which Albertus Magnus used in his De animalibus, fol. In the traditional lifestyle of the Inuit people, the Northern First Nations people, the Alaska Natives, and the Kalaallit of Greenland, reindeer is an important source of food, clothing, shelter and tools. ), Sakhalin Island, and USA (Northern Idaho and the Great Lakes region). Although lichens are high in carbohydrates, they are lacking in essential proteins that vascular plants provide. The Mulchatna herd's range encompasses most of southwest Alaska, including seasonal use of Togiak National Wildlife Refuge habitats.
The Avalon Herd recently experienced a significant reduction due to an outbreak of the Scandinavian brainworm (E. rangiferina). In this way, their legs for example are kept cool, maintaining the core body temperature nearly 30 °C (54 °F) higher with less heat lost to the environment.
A caribou statue was erected at the centre of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, marking the spot in France where hundreds of soldiers from Newfoundland were killed and wounded in World War I and there is a replica in Bowring Park in St. John's, Newfoundland's capital city. [79], Changes in climate and habitat beginning in the twentieth century have expanded range overlap between white-tailed deer and caribou, increasing the frequency of infection within the reindeer population. Breeding females have more body mass than non-breeding females between the months of March and September with a difference of around 10 kg (20lb) more than non-breeding females. Caribou are part of a herd (or population) and are identified from other herds by the area they use for calving. They appear to be more common in domestic herds. The barren-ground caribou (R. t. groenlandicus) is found in western Greenland, but the larger herds are in Alaska, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.[9]. [2], In North America, R. t. dawsoni is extinct,[123][11][10] R. t. pearyi is endangered, R. t. caribou is designated as threatened and some individual populations are endangered. "[64] Reindeer continue to migrate until the bull reindeer have spent the back fat.[63][65][66]. According to the Grubb (2005), Rangifer tarandus is "circumboreal in the tundra and taiga" from "Svalbard, Norway, Finland, Russia, Alaska (USA) and Canada including most Arctic islands, and Greenland, south to northern Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia; now only domesticated or feral? Brown bears and polar bears prey on reindeer of all ages, but like the wolverines they are most likely to attack weaker animals, such as calves and sick reindeer, since healthy adult reindeer can usually outpace a bear. The use of the terms reindeer and caribou for essentially the same animal can cause confusion, but the International Union for Conservation of Nature clearly delineates the issue: "The world's Caribou and Reindeer are classified as a single species Rangifer tarandus. Their main food source is lichens, which gives caribou an advantage in the more harsh northern areas of its range where vegetation is scarce. However, Geist and others considered it valid. [78] Weight varies drastically between seasons, with males losing as much as 40% of their pre-rut weight.[79]. The last remaining wild tundra reindeer in Europe are found in portions of southern Norway. Some populations of North American caribou, for example many herds in the barren-ground caribou subspecies and some woodland caribou in Ungava and Labrador, migrate the farthest of any terrestrial mammal, travelling up to 5,000 km (3,000 mi) a year, and covering 1,000,000 km2 (400,000 sq mi). In North America, it was found in Canada, Alaska, and the northern conterminous USA from Washington to Maine. Bloodsucking insects, such as mosquitoes (Culicidae), black flies (Simuliidae), and botflies and deer botflies (Oestridae, specifically, the reindeer warble fly (Hypoderma tarandi) and the reindeer nose botfly (Cephenemyia trompe)), are a plague to reindeer during the summer and can cause enough stress to inhibit feeding and calving behaviours. "[29], The Gwich'in, the indigenous people of northwestern Canada and northeastern Alaska, have been dependent on the international migratory Porcupine caribou herd for millennia.
In late August the caribou migrated from the Alaska Range up north to Huslia, Koyukuk and the Tanana area. [99] During the late Pleistocene era, reindeer occurred as far south as Nevada and Tennessee in North America and as far south as Spain in Europe. [90] Dugmore noted that, in their seasonal migrations, the herd follows a doe for that reason. Antlers may spread up to (5 ft)(1.5 m) wide.
Reindeer are ruminants, having a four-chambered stomach. Average weight is (400 lbs)(180 kg) for males; (300 lbs)(135 kg) for females.