THE CAMEL OF THE FROZEN DESERT 



541 



LED TO WATER, THE REINDEER PROVES NO MORE AMENABLE TO PERSUASION THAN 

 THE AXIOMATIC HORSE WHICH REFUSES TO DRINK 



The reindeer is not, however, highly 

 prolific. The female deer usually gives 

 birth to but one fawn a year, and if there 

 are twins, one (or both) of the young is 

 liable to die. 



The rapid increase is due to two facts : 

 One is the remarkable hardihood of the 

 fawns, which only a few hours after birth 

 are strong and fleet of foot. The contrast 

 between the self-reliant reindeer fawn 

 and the weak, knobby-kneed colt or calf 

 is striking and has much to do with the 

 tendency of reindeer herds to increase 

 rapidly in spite of a low birth rate. As 

 the social worker would say, the infant 

 mortality is slight. 



The other factor in the rapid increase, 

 and an illustration of the fact that early 

 fecundity is not entirely a tropical trait, 

 is the remarkable fact that yearling rein- 

 deer frequently reproduce. 



Extreme cold rarely kills off the very 

 young. The rigors of the Arctic and the 

 forcing processes of tropical heat both 

 serve to protect from extermination the 

 fauna of the respective zones of each. 



Conducive to the increase may also be 



mentioned the fact that the herders have 

 learned to keep a sharp lookout for 

 strayed or lost animals, and to afford the 

 herds all possible protection from wolves, 

 lynx, and other predatory animals. Spe- 

 cial care is given the herd during the 

 fawning season, which commences usually 

 with the first full moon after the middle 

 of April and lasts throughout the month 

 of June. 



WHERE THE REINDEER GETS ITS NAME 



The reindeer has been aptly named. 

 Of all ungulate, ruminant, and gregarious 

 animals, it is one of the most particular 

 in the selection of its food. It pastures 

 during the summer on tender mosses, 

 lichens, mushrooms, alga?, and grasses. 

 Its typical home is Lapland. In the Lapp 

 tongue the word "reino" means pastur- 

 age, so that the word "reindeer" means 

 an animal that pastures. During the long 

 winter the deer subsist entirely upon 

 moss, which abounds on the vast tundras 

 and hills of Alaska, so that the deerman 

 has almost unlimited grazing land for his 

 herds. 



