Reindeer and Caribou: Facts about majestic deer

When spring comes, they Veterinary Deer Society move away from their winter feeding spots and go to their mating season grounds to get ready for babies. Their crescent-shaped, concave hooves help the caribou dig up lichens and other vegetation, their primary food source when buried under snow. During winter, these animals survive on a diet of reindeer moss. The Tundra Reindeer, or the Eurasian Tundra Reindeer, lives in the boreal forest of Scandinavia and northern Russia. It is the largest reindeer subspecies and has a thick dual-layered coat that changes color with the seasons. Reindeer are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

They are primarily herbivores and rely on a diet of grass, small shrubs, leaves, and other plant materials. In South America, the red brocket and the marsh deer are among the species found in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia. These deer have adapted to the diverse ecosystems in the region, from tropical rainforests to wetlands. Deer species can be found on almost every continent, except for Australia and Antarctica.

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Unfortunately, they can still be quite dangerous, and should not be owned by the average person. They must be kept in herds because they are social creatures, and they require lots of land for grazing opportunities. You can find wild herds of Reindeer across northern Europe, Asia and North America. Some use the term Caribou to refer to all wild living animals, and the name Reindeer to refer to those animals that are semi-domesticated by Santa or others. Generally speaking the antlers of female Reindeer are not as thick and stocky as those of the males.

• They migrate south to follow food sources, traveling up to 1,000 miles.
• Deer hunters may harvest one antlered white-tailed deer within the yearly bag limit that does not meet the requirement of having at least three points on one antler.
• The letters nearly convince Santa that he is justified in cancelling the holiday before Olive points out that they lack postmarks.
• Reindeer farming is a common practice in many parts of their range.
• The group stays together until the fawns are born, about four or five months.

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The males of most species develop antlers, and generally it is only the males that develop antlers, with the exception of the caribou (also called reindeer), in which females also have antlers. A young buck’s first pair of antlers grow from two tiny bumps on their head that they have had from birth. Each year, the antlers grow wrapped in a thick layer of blood-rich skin called “velvet” and remain that way until the bone inside is hard; later the velvet is shed. During the mating season, bucks use their antlers to fight one another for the opportunity to attract mates in a given herd. Antlers are also considered to make the males more attractive to the females by showing maturity and good health. Sometime after the mating season, the antlers drop off and the deer is antlerless until the next summer.

There are large differences between herds in some regions compared to others, as well as size variants in the same location. The largest herd is believed to be in Russia, which contained between 400 thousand and one million reindeer. There are currently about 3.5 million Caribou in Northern America including Canada and Alaska, 1 million in Eurasia, and about 3 million tame reindeer in Northern Europe. The global population (which includes domesticated individuals) amounts to around 8 million. They are the only type of deer that have hair all over their nose.