A Little Fun Info About Reindeer

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Reindeer or rangier tarandus are large deer of the Artic and northern regions of Eurasia and North America. Having a set of large antlers in both sexes. Also known as caribou in North America. The word reindeer was first recorded in Middle English in a work produced before 1400. The rein- part of the word comes from the Old Icelandic word hireinn. In 1823 a poem entitled A Visit From St. Nicholas came on the scene and is known to be largely credited with the Christmas lore that includes the eight flying reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. The Montgomery Ward chain of stores commissioned Robert L. May in 1939 to write the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as a book to be given out to children visiting the store at Christmas time. As the story goes Rudolph was an outcast because of his red nose. Santa was having trouble traveling around the world because it was so foggy but when Santa went to his house to deliver his presents and saw his red nose he got the idea that would make Rudolph a hero. Reindeer were first used to do work in Lapland and Siberia. They can now be found in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. They are born in captivity in Canada and Northern America. Fully grown these mammals grow to 300-700 pounds and reach a height of 46 inches. The size of the antlers usually play a large part in setting up the hierarchy of the herd. They have offspring of one or two called fawns. Traveling in herds and living in coniferous forest areas and under arctic conditions. Both the males and females grow antlers. They eat mostly plants and fungi, moss, and lichen in the winter. Reindeer cows carry their unborn offspring from Sept/Oct until May/June0(230 days)and is delayed until late Spring so most of the snow is melted. The female has antlers to protect her calves from predators. After 45 days the young can graze and forage for food. They continue to suckle until the following autumn and become mature at two years old. In Spring migrations of smaller herds group together to form 50,000 to 500,000 but in Winter the herds become smaller. They can travel 12 -34 miles a day and can run at speeds up to 50 mph. The larger herds occur in Scandinavia, Russia, Alaska and Canada.