Reindeer

Reindeer

[ Rangifer tarandus ]

Quick Facts

HEIGHT: up to 42 inches (at shoulder)
WEIGHT:

up to 220 pounds
WILD DIET: plants, fungi, and lichens (plant-fungus mix)
ZOO DIET: commercial diet with alfalfa
DISTRIBUTION: morthern-most lands around the world, including Greenland, Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia, and Russia
HABITAT: Arctic tundra and woodland edges

 

Deer of the North

Double duty
Reindeer are creatures of two worlds, because there are both wild and domestic populations of the species. Reindeer have been domesticated for about 1,500 years. They’re used as pack animals—in a day, a reindeer can pull a load of up to 300 pounds over 30 miles. The Lapps, a nomadic group of people living in northern Europe, keep reindeer for meat to eat and use their hides for clothing. Some people also make rich reindeer milk into cheese, butter, and yogurt.

Bring on the cold
Reindeer live in the northernmost lands on earth. The tundra of arctic Asia and Europe is harsh and cold. But reindeer have ways of dealing with their extreme habitat. Like polar bears, the hair of a reindeer is hollow. This helps keep body heat in and provides a layer of warmth in the fur. Reindeer feet are pretty special, too. They have broad, two-toed hooves with sharp edges, which splay out and grip icy surfaces. Their feet are filled with fatty tissue that keeps them flexible, even in the coldest weather. And reindeer are also the only deer with a special heat-saving feature—their nose is completely covered in fur!

Migration to the max
Reindeer travel in big herds, sometimes numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. Most reindeer migrate with the seasons to find new food supplies. During the short northern summer they stay in the arctic tundra, feeding off low-growing plants and fungi. As the weather turns cold and the snows come to the Arctic Circle, reindeer journey hundreds of miles to woodlands in the south where vegetation is more plentiful.

Deer basics
Reindeer are one of about 36 species of deer in the world. The basic body plan of all deer is the same, having long, slender, legs with hooves and a graceful body. But the species of deer vary greatly in size from that of a large house cat (the southern pudu) to the ¾-ton moose. All deer are plant-eaters, or "herbivores." Some are browsers, which means they eat leaves off of trees and shrubs. Others are grazers, living mainly off of grass. Deer are the only animals with antlers (though many other animals have horns).

Antlers and horns
Antlers and horns are alike in one way—they both sit atop an animal’s head—but that’s where the similarity ends. While the horns of bison and other animals are made of the same non-living protein as our hair and fingernails, antlers are solid living bone.

Amazingly, antlers are shed and regrown every year. Look at the photograph of the reindeer above and imagine having to grow something like that each year! Antlers grow out of small bony platforms in the skull. When they’re new, antlers are covered with a soft nutrient-rich tissue called velvet. Later the velvet is shed, revealing a new, hardened set of antlers. Usually only male deer have antlers, which they use to battle with rival males, but in reindeer both sexes have antlers.

Reindeer at Brookfield Zoo:
You can see reindeer in Children’s Zoo, where they are an especially popular attraction during Holiday Magic.

Get Involved

Conservation Fund of the Chicago Zoological Society