REINDEER IN ALASKA. 47 
DEHORNING. 
It has been remarked that the large growth of horn which is com- 
mon to all reindeer must be a heavy drain on the system, and that 
if the horns could be eliminated the body weight of the animal might 
increase. Experiments in dehorning were made on two yearling 
reindeer which were being kept at the Unalakleet station. About 
10 days after the horns had dropped the velvet had grown to a 
width of about one-fourth inch surrounding the horn core. After 
slightly moistening, sodium hydrate was rubbed onto this new 
growth. Only one of the horns on each animal was treated. 
Growth stopped at once and a scab covered the area. In about 
three weeks the scab began to lift at one corner and in a few days 
the treated horn was growing just as rapidly as the untreated one. 
That considerable injury had been done to the horn was evinced 
by the fact that a large white area appeared on the velvet. Strange 
to say, the injury appeared to stimulate the growth as well, and by 
the latter part of August it was found that the treated horn was 
much larger than the untreated one. (This is illustrated in PL 
XVIII, Fig. 2.) It had been suggested that the proper time to 
conduct a dehorning experiment is when the fawns are newly born; 
but unfortunately, it is not safe to handle the fawns at that time; 
consequently the outlook as regards dehorning does not seem 
promising. 
CASTRATION. 
The Lapp method of castration, which consists of crushing the 
testicles, was introduced into Alaska at the time the reindeer were 
first imported. This method, still followed in some districts, is 
barbarous and often ineffective and should be stopped as soon as 
possible. The method used for other kinds of domesticated stock, 
consisting in opening the scrotum, or bag, with a knife, severing 
the cord, and removing the testicles, is proper for reindeer as well. 
No instruments other than the knife are required if the operation 
is done on the fawn soon after birth, but this is not good practice. 
With the older animals, however, serious hemorrhage is apt to fol- 
low unless an instrument such as the emasculator is used to sever the 
cord. It is gratifying to record the fact that the use of the emas- 
culator by the Biological Survey in 1921 was at once accepted by 
herd owners as an improvement and that its use has spread rapidly. 
Not only are the natives using it under the direction of officials of 
the Bureau of Education, but the leading Lapps have expressed 
themselves as in favor of the method. During the past season a 
large number of animals in most of the principal herds have been 
successfully castrated with the emasculator, so that it is now probably 
only a question of time until all herd owners will have adopted its 
use. 
