INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC RKTNDEEK INTO ALASKA. 119 

 DESCRIPTION. 



Reindeer varj^ much in size. An abundant food supplj^ is an 

 important factor in their development, as in the case of other animals. 

 Again, breed — perhaps we should call it race — characteristics are 

 another factor influencing size. In some portions of Siberia the rein- 

 deer is much larger than in Lapland. Some domestic deer in that 

 region stand 5 feet high, can carry 200 jiounds on their backs, and 

 are quite generall}' used for riding. There is more variation in size 

 among the wild deer than among domesticated ones, the largest being 

 found among the former; but, on the other hand, taking a large 

 number, the domesticated deer will average larger than the wild. 



Compared with other members of the deer tribe, it is not a graceful 

 animal. The head is large, muzzle broad, neck short, set low, and 

 usuall}^ carried horizontally. When the animal walks the top line 

 of the neck is below that of the back. The withers are high, reaching 

 above the line of the back; shoulders rather lieaA^y, with prominent 

 shoulder points, though when the animal is in good condition they 

 blend pretty well with the thick base of the neck. The back is nar- 

 row, rump sloping; hind quarters light; (lank low and quite full; 

 underline nearl}' parallel with the back. In the fawns the legs seem 

 disproportionately long, but in the mature animal they appear, on 

 the contrary, rather short; the forelegs are straight, but the hind 

 legs are crooked and spreading outward from the hock as if to brace 

 the hind quarters and prevent their wabbling sidewise. The feet 

 are large, and the hoofs spread when pressed against the ground — a 

 provision of nature wliich aids the animal to get over soft snow 

 or mud. 



In color the caribou is grayish brown, darker in summer, lighter 

 in winter; and wliile this, too, is the prevailing color of the domestic 

 reindeer, the latter vary more than the wild ones, some being spotted, 

 others almost white. All are lighter on neck, shoulders, and belly 

 than on the back. The coat is exceedingly thick, longer in winter 

 than in summer, and under the neck the hair is some 5 or 6 inches 

 long, but there is no mossy undercoat such as tnost animals indige- 

 nous to arctic latitudes have. One peculiarity of the hair of the Alas- 

 kan caribou is perhaps worth mentioning, as I have not seen it referred 

 to elsewhere, and that is that most of the hairs are more or less 

 flattened, not c^dindrical; the cross section is oblong, and in some 

 cases they are as much as three times broader than thick. More- 

 over, the individual hairs are sinuous, the wave lines being on the 

 edges of the hair, so that they do not appear wavy when viewed on 

 the edge. The hair is exceedingly brittle and breaks off readily 

 w^hen handled. For this reason caribou and reindeer skins do not 

 make good rugs. They litter the floor continually with broken 



