How Long Do Reindeer Live

Reindeer, or caribou, are members of the deer family, Cervidae. Deer, elk, moose, and wapiti are also members of this family. The distinction between reindeer and caribou mostly depends on where they live. Typically, we refer to Eurasian populations as reindeer and most North American populations equally caribou. However, we apply the term "reindeer" to draw domesticated caribou, including those in Northward America.

Reindeer antlers are the largest and heaviest of all living deer species. Unlike other deer species, female reindeer tin can grow antlers. Male antlers tin can achieve fifty-one inches, while female antlers can accomplish twenty inches. Yet, you might be asking yourself only where practise reindeer live. We'll ding into whether reindeers really share a North Pole home with Santa Claus and which countries you can discover them in!

Are Reindeer In the North Pole?

Christmas Reindeer — According to traditional festive legend in some parts of the world, Santa Claus's reindeer are said to pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to children on Christmas Eve.

Reindeer don't alive at the North Pole, despite what you may have heard in folklore. A few Arctic caribou tin be discovered in the tundra, withal. Formed by the coniferous taiga woods of the Chill, the Arctic tundra encircles the Due north Pole. It spans from Alaska to Canada to Russia to Greenland to Republic of iceland. Winters in this area are long and dry, with months of complete darkness and severely low temperatures.

Just reindeer, or caribou, populations in northern lands closest to the North Pole take been falling rapidly. Reindeer and caribou herds have shrunk by 56% since the mid-1990s. Reindeer impact not only the landscape simply too those who depend on it. The herds take been diminishing for decades because of hunting, sickness, food shortages, and climate change.

Where Do Reindeer Live?

Caribou Migration — Reindeer alive in the Northern Hemisphere in tundra and boreal forests.
doliux/Shutterstock.com

Reindeer live in the far northern regions of Europe, North America, and Asia. They bask colder climates like tundra and boreal forests. Nosotros tin find them in northern countries, which include:

Canada
Greenland
Norway
Russian federation
Alaska

Reindeer are drawn to regions with a harsh topography and long, cold winters. There's no demand to be alarmed, though! They were designed to survive the common cold. In that location is a thick layer of hair covering their entire bodies downwardly to their feet!

Reindeer rarely live below the 50th parallel (most of the U.s.a. and Canadian border is the 49th parallel). In addition, there are no reindeer in the Southern Hemisphere. Reindeers and penguins have never crossed paths in nature, although they do have to face Arctic predators like polar bears.

Can Reindeer Live Anywhere In the Earth?

Reindeer Antlers — Male Caribou with a cute head of antlers on the fall tundra above the Toklat River, Alaska Range.
Jeff McGraw/Shutterstock.com

Although reindeer are native to the chill, they can live in all kinds of climates! For case, the Cairngorms Mountains in Scotland's far north are domicile to the UK'southward simply wild reindeer herd. The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre in Aviemore is an excellent site to see the herd.

A herd of reindeer (caribou) and a herd of muskoxen share the same territory at Alaska's Large Creature Enquiry Station. The yr-circular facility opened in 1976 as function of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. And, in the Swedish Lapland highlands by the Torne, a Sami couple has been taming and herding reindeer for xxx years. Reindeer often roam the grounds.

Examples like these are plentiful. Over 2.5 million domesticated reindeer are currently kept in nine countries, and over 100,000 people are employed in their care!

Where Are Reindeer in America?

Reindeer can exist found in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, besides every bit in the boreal forest and the Canadian Rockies in N America. If you want to see domesticated reindeer in the U.Southward., at that place are several ranches and farms where yous can notice domesticated reindeer throughout the vacation season.

Ranches can be establish beyond the U.s., from Washington to Utah and Michigan. Reindeer tin can be found in some zoos during sure times of the yr. Information technology's always a adept idea to perform some preliminary research. Google "reindeer farms near me" to find out if whatsoever exist in your area. To find reindeer in the wild, your best bet is in Alaska. While some reindeer in the rockies may extend southward into Northern Idaho and Montana, reindeer are commonly found across Alaska.

Are Reindeer Going Extinct?

12 Animals of Christmas From Around the World - reindeer — A Reindeer mama and her babe

The global reindeer population is estimated at five million, including 900,000 caribou in Alaska. Predation and sickness seem to decide reindeer herd size before long. Overhunting has historically diminished some reindeer populations. Poaching persists in Russia despite stringent anti-hunting legislation. Logging and winter sports may disturb the reindeer habitat in Republic of finland. For some populations, hybridization with domesticated reindeer is an issue.

White-tailed deer are moving into reindeer habitats as Chill temperatures rise. These deer are infected with a worm infection that kills moose and reindeer. Insect activity increases when the weather warms upwardly. Insects tin can brand it hard for reindeer to gain the weight they need to survive the wintertime.

The tundra is changing equally well. A few examples include expanding oil exploration, industrial expansion, and a ascent in aviation and snowmobile racket. Since humans and machinery have been around, reindeer accept been able to adapt. Just reindeer herds' demands will go along to be an ongoing concern as humanity continues to develop the Chill.