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The reindeer, known
as caribou in North America, is an Arctic-dwelling deer (Rangifer
tarandus).Habitat
The reindeer is distributed throughout a number of northern locales.
Reindeer are found throughout Scandinavia (including Iceland);
in Russian Europe in Spitsbergen and furthermore, Northern Russia
including Novaya Zemlya; in Russian Asia, to the Pacific Ocean;
in North America on Greenland, Canada and Alaska. In 1952, reindeer
were re-introduced to Scotland, as the natural stock had become
extinct in the 10th century. Domesticated deer are mostly found
in Northern Scandinavia and Russia, and wild deer are mostly found
in North America, Greenland and Iceland. Its natural occurrence
is approximately bounded within the 62° longitude.
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The weight of
a female varies between 60 and 170 kg. In some subspecies of reindeer,
the male is slightly larger; in others, the male can weigh up
to 300 kg. Both sexes grow antlers, which (in the Scandinavian
variety) for old males fall off in December, for young males in
the spring and for females during the summer. The antlers typically
have two separate groups of points (see image), a lower and upper.
They mainly eat lichens in winter, especially reindeer moss. However,
they also eat the leaves of willows and birches, as well as sedges
and grasses. They can also eat voles (lat. clethrionomys glareolus),
lemmings (lat. lemmus lemmus), birds and bird eggs. Reindeer antlers
grow again each year under a layer of fur called velvet. This
reindeer is currently losing the velvet layer on one of its antlers.An
unusual feature of the reindeer is that it has front teeth only
on its bottom jaw; there are molars on both the top and bottom.
Above Images Come From The US Fish & Wildlife Service
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