472 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



[northernmost Dalecarlia], the wild reindeer were soon extermi- 

 nated. They mixed, especially during the rutting season, with the 

 'tame' herds and could then be approached by the Lapps within 

 shooting distance and were thus killed. The extermination took 

 place within a comparatively short time, so that probably the last 

 wild reindeer in Sweden was killed soon after 1860." (E. Lonnberg, 

 in litt., 1937.) 



Great Britain. The ancient occurrence of Reindeer in Great 

 Britain may be briefly mentioned here, although the subspecific 

 status of the British animal does not appear to have been satisfac- 

 torily determined. According to Harting (1880, pp. 62-75), the 

 abundance of its remains in British postglacial deposits is very 

 remarkable. It gradually became extinct during the prehistoric 

 period, although there is a "tradition that the jarls of Orkney 

 in the twelfth century were in the habit of crossing the Pentland 

 Firth for the purpose of hunting the Red-deer and the Reindeer 

 in the wilds of Caithness." There is, however, some dispute as to 

 the authenticity of this tradition. Jacobi (1931, p. 161) evidently 

 accepts it, for he remarks that the extreme north of Scotland was 

 still in the Middle Ages a refuge for the Reindeer of the Glacial 

 Period. The same author (1931, p. 102) refers the European Pleisto- 

 cene Reindeer to R. arcticus. 



Enemies. In his discussion of the enemies of Reindeer and 

 Caribou in general, Jacobi's remarks (1931, pp. 154-158, 218, 240- 

 247) apply in part to both the wild and the domestic stock of 

 R. t. tarandus. The range limits of the Reindeer have been con- 

 siderably pushed back by Europeans and even by primitive peoples 

 who sell the products of the chase to Europeans. With few excep- 

 tions, it is always the hand of man (and especially civilized man) 

 that has had a disastrous effect upon these animals. 



The original and ever-menacing enemy is the Wolf. The Reindeer 

 transfers its well-grounded fear of this animal to the tame Wolf, 

 the domestic dog; consequently, among peoples whose reindeer- 

 keeping is less ancient, such as the Chukchis, no shepherd dog can 

 be kept. Where the domestication is ancient and advanced, as 

 among the Soyots, the Samoyeds, and the Lapps, both behave as 

 with a flock of sheep. 



During its whole life the Reindeer is threatened by numerous 

 dangers. Snowstorms and recurrence of winter cold take toll of 

 young fawns. Individuals and even whole bands fall into glacier 

 crevices. Still larger numbers are sometimes destroyed by snow 

 avalanches. This happened to 300 in Norway in the winter of 

 1910-11. 



The Lapps and the Samoyeds have to be on guard day and 

 night to protect their herds from the Wolf. The attempted establish- 



