DEER FAMILY 



33 



REINDEER 

 Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus) 



General Description. — See general description of 

 Woodland Caribou. Size smaller than Woodland Cari- 

 bou, with antlers longer, less palmate and massive. 

 Pasterns short and broad. White ring above hoofs 

 poorly defined. 



Dental Formula. — See dental formula of Woodland 

 Caribou. 



Pelage. — General body color clove-brown, limbs 

 sooty, sides of neck and long hair on throat whitish, 

 blackish along sides of belly. Nose and face dark. 



Narrow white band about feet above hoofs in male ; 

 in female this band may be wanting. 



Measurements. — A little smaller than the Woodland 

 Caribou. 



Range. — In North America has been introduced into 

 -Alaska and Labrador. 



Food. — Same as other Caribou. 



Remarks. — By some authorities the Scandinavian 

 Reindeer has been considered nearest to the Woodland 

 Caribou, but the character of the antlers seems to place 

 it with the Barren-Ground species. 



By permission "t the .New York Zoological Society 



REINDEER 

 These handsome animals have been introduced into Alaska from Siberia, and are doing well 



This Arctic Deer is of especial interest from 

 the fact that it has long been domesticated and 

 used as a draft animal and beast of burden. 

 In its wild state it is much larger than the 

 domesticated Reindeer. It is found in the sub- 

 Arctic and Arctic regions of Europe and Asia, 

 nearly as far north as the extreme limits of land. 



A distingui.shing feature of the Reindeer is 

 that both sexes have antlers. These are remark- 



able for their long, unequally branched horns, 

 and particularly for the fact that of the brow 

 antlers, which are greatly palmated, one is usually 

 aborted and the other hangs over the face. An- 

 other noteworthy feature of the Reindeer is its 

 hoof. Just as the camel is enabled by its broad 

 pad to traverse the trackless sands of the desert, 

 so the Reindeer is equipped by nature for travel- 

 ing over the vast snowfields of the North. 



