The reindeer or caribou[a] (Rangifer tarandus)is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer. More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou into six distinct species over their range.
Reindeer occur in both migratory and sedentary populations, and their herd sizes vary greatly in different regions. The tundra subspecies are adapted for extreme cold, and some are adapted for long-distance migration.
Reindeer vary greatly in size and color from the smallest, the Svalbard reindeer (R. (t.) platyrhynchus), to the largest, Osborn's caribou (R. t. osborni). Although reindeer are quite numerous, some species and subspecies are in decline and considered vulnerable. They are unique among deer (Cervidae) in that females may have antlers, although the prevalence of antlered females varies by subspecies.
Reindeer are the only successfully semi-domesticated deer on a large scale in the world. Both wild and domestic reindeer have been an important source of food, clothing, and shelter for Arctic people from prehistorical times. They are still herded and hunted today.In some traditional Christmas legends, Santa Claus's reindeer pull a sleigh through the night sky to help Santa Claus deliver gifts to good children on Christmas Eve.
Names follow international conventionbefore the recent revision (see Reindeer#Taxonomy below). Reindeer / caribou (Rangifer) vary in size from the smallest, the Svalbard reindeer (R. (t.) platyrhynchus), to the largest, Osborn's caribou (R. t. osborni). They also vary in coat color and antler architecture.
The North American range of caribou extends from Alaska through the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut throughout the tundra, taiga (boreal forest) and south through the Canadian Rocky Mountains.[10] Of the eight subspecies classified by Harding (2022) into the Arctic caribou (R. arcticus), the migratory mainland barren-ground caribou of Arctic Alaska and Northern Canada (R. t. arcticus), summer in tundra and winter in taiga, a transitional forest zone between boreal forest and tundra; the nomadic Peary caribou (R. t. pearyi) lives in the polar desert of the high Arctic Archipelago and Grant's caribou (R. t. granti also called the Porcupine caribou) lives in the western end of the Alaska Peninsula and the adjacent islands; the other four subspecies, Osborn's caribou (R. t. osborni), Stone's caribou (R. t. stonei), the Rocky Mountain caribou (R. t. fortidens) and the Selkirk Mountains caribou (R. t. montanus) are all montane. The extinct insular Queen Charlotte Islands caribou (R. t. dawsoni), lived on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii (formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands).
The boreal woodland caribou (R. t. caribou), lives in the boreal forest of northeastern Canada: the Labrador or Ungava caribou of northern Quebec and northern Labrador (R. t. caboti), and the Newfoundland caribou of Newfoundland (R. t. terranovae) have been found to be genetically in the woodland caribou lineage.
In Eurasia, both wild and domestic reindeer are distributed across the tundra and into the taiga. Eurasian mountain reindeer (R. t. tarandus) are close to North American caribou genetically and visually, but with sufficient differences to warrant division into two species. The unique, insular Svalbard reindeer inhabits the Svalbard Archipelago. The Finnish forest reindeer (R. t. fennicus) is spottily distributed in the coniferous forest zones from Finland to east of Lake Baikal: the Siberian forest reindeer (R. t. valentinae, formerly called the Busk Mountains reindeer (R. t. buskensis) by American taxonomists) occupies the Altai and Ural Mountains.
Male ("bull") and female ("cow") reindeer can grow antlers annually, although the proportion of females that grow antlers varies greatly between populations. Antlers are typically larger on males. Antler architecture varies by species and subspecies and, together with pelage differences, can often be used to distinguish between species and subspecies (see illustrations in Geist, 1991and Geist, 1998).