Reindeer

Reindeer and caribou are the only deer where male reindeer, female reindeer, and reindeer calves produce antlers. Like other deer, reindeer shed their antlers annually. Reindeer hair is extremely dense. Reindeer travel hundreds of miles between their summer and winter grounds in herds of up to 200,000 reindeer. 

A reindeer of many San Diego Zoo reindeer

Reindeer food

Reindeer food consists of a variety of plant matter, particularly grasses in summer and lichen in winter.

Domesticated reindeer

Reindeer have been domesticated for many centuries in Lapland, N Siberia, and Mongolia. Reindeer are used for meat, milk, clothing, and transportation. Reindeer are also used both to pull sleds and to carry burdens and riders. Domesticated reindeer were introduced into Alaska from Siberia in the 1890s and became essential to the economy of the Alaskan Eskimo. Herds of reindeer were established in Canada in the 1930s.

Wild reindeer

Wild reindeer living in a wild state in Eurasia are probably descended in part from domesticated reindeer. The wild reindeer of North America, called caribou, are larger than, but otherwise quite similar to, the Eurasian reindeer species. These reindeer have never been domesticated.

Reindeer breeding

Breeding of reindeer takes place in the fall of each year.