The Journal of Heredity 
REINDEER RACING IS AN ALASKAN SPORT 
For exhibition purposes as many as ten reindeer have been driven to one sled, but usually one or 
two toa sled. 
up to ten miles. : 
miles in 27 minutes and 30 seconds. 
condition of the animal. Small 
antlers are a sign of deterioration. 
Sterile animals are said to be recognized 
by their straight antlers. 
FEMALES NEVER KILLED FOR MARKET 
The male reindeer is polygamous. 
During the rut he gathers his harem— 
this is a time of love and hate. The 
bucks then fight duels, often to death. 
The clatter of horns is continually 
heard. The antlers sometimes, but 
very rarely, become so interlocked that 
the animals cannot separate them- 
selves. If help does not then arrive 
they will die of starvation. 
The reindeer are not particularly 
prolific. The doe gives birth to one 
fawn each year—rarely two. Strong 
and early fawns sometimes breed when 
only one year old. The does continue 
to breed until fourteen or fifteen years 
of age. The reason for the rapid 
increase of the herds in Alaska is that 
females are never intentionally killed. 
The natives are prohibited from so 
doing, and other owners sufficiently 
appreciate the value of the does for 
breeding purposes, not to kill them. 
Bucks and steers, however, are killed for 
the market. Their elimination from the 
herds gives the does and fawns more 
latitude, less molestation, and more 
Some remarkable records with one and two animals have been made for distances 
There is a record of five miles in 14 minutes and 32 seconds, and one for 10 
Photograph by Lomen Bros. (Fig. 5.) 
and better feed than they would other- 
wise have. The period of gestation is 
seven months and seven days. The 
herds should double every three years, 
allowing an annual kill of ten percent, 
without affecting such result. 
VARIATIONS IN COLOR 
The color of reindeer in summer is a 
chocolate brown; in winter it is lighter. 
Some reindeer are spotted, and some 
are white. None are wholly of one 
color. Their hair under the throat, 
belly, short stubby tail, on the muzzle 
and immediately above the hoofs, is 
white or nearly so. Under the throat 
the hair is very long and tufted, hang- 
ing like a pendant mane. The hair of 
the reindeer is hollow and hence very 
buoyant. 
One of the peculiarities of the rein- 
deer is that it has no gall-bladder. 
This, however, is said to be common to 
all of the Cervidae. Other peculiarities 
are that the animal, when running, 
pants like a dog.  Instinctively it 
travels against the wind; and, in ‘“‘mill- 
ing’’ runs or swims ‘‘against the sun.” 
The so-called ‘‘dew-claws’”’ of the 
reindeer are functiona!—being of use to 
the animal as a brake in going down 
snow clad hills, and they assist in sup- 
porting the animal on the deep snow 
