Reindeer

The Reindeer the most iconic animal involved with Christmas it is also a beautiful mammal with fascinating facts let's dive in! Female Reindeer are 61 to 84 inches long they weigh 180 pounds to 260 pounds. Males are 71 to 84 inches long and weight 351 to 401 pounds, but very large males have weighed 701 pounds! In most hoofed animals only the male will possess antlers, but in this incredible ungulate species females and males have antlers. Reindeer mate in late September to early November. A dominate male will try to mate with 15 to 20 females. The Reindeer gives birth to one calf per year. A newborn calf weighs about 13 pounds after birth. Reindeer travel in herds they usually form small herds in the winter, but in the spring they form herds between 50,000 and 100,000 individuals! Originally the Reindeer are distributed in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Greenland, Russia, Mongolia, and in Northern China of the 50th latitude. North America it can be found in Canada, Alaska, and from Maine to Washington. Reindeer are mainly herbivorous they usually feed on lichens in the winter. Reindeer are known to feed on willow leaves, birches, sedges, and grasses. Their is some evidence that suggests that when they are nutritionally stressed they will feed on small rodents such as lemmings. They will also feed on fish when they are nutritionally stressed as well as bird eggs. An incredibly wide variety of predators prey on the Reindeer. Golden Eagles are known to prey on calves. Wolverines will also attack calves. Wolves, Polar bears, Grizzly bears are known to attack adults. When the Newfoundland white wolf was the apex predator it would feed on the Reindeer as its main source of food, but sadly they went extinct and now the Reindeer population is sky high. I hope you enjoyed learning about an iconic creature that is incredible.