Do you have 4 minutes? Listen instead of reading:
Rudolf has many relatives. In North America, there are caribou, while Siberia and northern Scandinavia have reindeer.
Other than their North American relatives, Scandinavian reindeer are not wild but domesticated. Every reindeer you see in Sweden has an owner.
For thousands of years, elk and reindeer hunting was the livelihood of the northern Scandinavian natives, the Sámi people. Very early on, the Sámi tamed individual wild reindeer as draft and pack animals. In the 17th century, the Sámi people semi-domesticated entire reindeer herds. As was the case thousands of years ago, the animals are still free to roam and follow the rhythm of their seasonal migration patterns.
In May, following a gestation period of seven and a half months, the cows give birth to a calf. Only a couple of hours after their birth, the calves start following their mother around and grow up protected among the herd. As prey of Lapland’s predators like wolf, bear, lynx and wolverine, reindeer live a dangerous life. By regulating the number of predators and by means of compensation payments, the government tries to ease the ancient antagonism between man and predator.
In June, the Sámi round up the herds at the traditional collection points to mark the new calves. The latter follow their mothers everywhere, making it easy for the owners to recognise the addition to their herd and to mark the new calves by cutting a family-specific pattern into their ears.
Then the herds will migrate through Lapland on ancient routes in search of new grazing pastures. In the spring, they move towards the mountains, and in the autumn they return to their winter pastures in the east. This is when the slaughtering season starts. Most of the bulls are separated from the herd and either sold to reindeer slaughterhouses or slaughtered for own use.
One reindeer bull has a harem of about 25 to 30 cows. Otherwise reindeer cows are rather emancipated. They also have antlers, making them the only deer species where both the male and female animals grow antlers. The bulls shed their antlers after the rutting season in the autumn, while the cows keep theirs until spring, giving them an advantage when defending their grazing areas.
Their favourite food is reindeer lichen and one animal eats about two kilograms of this per day. Depending on the season, reindeer also feed on mushrooms and moss. In winter, the animals are able to smell the lichen under the snow and uncover it by brushing the snow-covered ground with their hooves. If unfavourable weather has rendered the snow too hard or has even laid a cover of ice on it, the animals have no chance. Unfortunately, climate change is making this occur more often. In this case, the herders have to feed the reindeer additional fodder.
Reindeer are well protected against the winter cold as their coat is made up of hollow, air-filled hairs, while their broad hooves ensure that they do not sink into the metre-high snow.
Reindeer are most easily spotted on roads. In the early summer, the herds leave the woods and come to the roads in order to escape the mosquito swarms, and in snowy winters it is easier for them to move on the roads. Additionally, reindeer love to lick the grit from the road. So please drive carefully as Rudolf might be lurking behind any curve on the road.
If it comes to the worse and you do hit a reindeer, call the police by dialling 112. Clearly mark the site of the accident, for instance by knotting a red band around a tree. If the reindeer is dead, this makes it easier for the owner to find it, and if the animal is injured and has disappeared into the forest, the searchers know where to start looking.
Text: Kirsten Stelling/Winterkurier 2024