Reindeer

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), the sole species of its genus, from the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America (where it is called the Caribou). In prehistoric times it ranged as far as Southern France, and gave its name to a period and to tribes living in that period. Down to the middle of the 13th century it lingered in Caithness. The size is about that of a red deer (q.v.), but the wild race is larger than the domestic. The general colour is a brownish-grey, and the hair becomes thicker and longer in the winter. Both sexes bear antlers, variable in shape; there is a bez tine as well as a brow tine, both either branched or palmated. In the caribou and in some English fossil forms the brow tine on one side is generally aborted so as to allow free development to that on the other. In a wild state these animals are gregarious. In summer they feed on the young shoots of willow and birch, and in winter upon lichen, to obtain which they scrape away the snow with their hoofs and antlers. The wild reindeer is shot and trapped, chiefly for its flesh and hide; and the domestic form constitutes the chief wealth of the Laplanders. It is used as a beast of draught and burden, and when dead nearly every part is utilised.