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REINDEER

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 56 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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REINDEER , in its strict sense the See also:

title of a See also:European See also:deer distinguished from all other members of the See also:family Cervidae (see DEER), See also:save those of the same genus, by the presence of antlers in both sexes; but, in the wider sense, including See also:Asiatic and See also:North See also:American deer of the same See also:general type, the latter of which are locally designated caribou. Reindeer, or caribou, constitute the genus Rangifer, and are large clumsily built deer, inhabiting the sub-See also:Arctic and Arctic regions of both hemispheres. As regards their distinctive features, the antlers are of a complex type and situated See also:close to the occipital See also:ridge of the See also:skull, and thus far away from the sockets of the eyes, with the brow-tines in adult See also:males palmated, laterally compressed, deflected towards the See also:middle of the See also:face, and often unsymmetrically See also:developed. Above the brow-tine is developed a second palmated tine, which appears to represent the bez-tine of the red-deer; there is no trez-tine, but some distance above the bez the See also:beam is suddenly See also:bent forward to See also:form an " See also:elbow," on the posterior See also:side of which is usually a See also:short back-tine; above the back-tine the beam is continued for some distance to terminate in a large expansion or palmation. The antlers of See also:females are See also:simple and generally smaller. The muzzle is entirely hairy; the ears and tail are short; and the See also:throat is maned. The coat is unspotted at all ages, with a whitish See also:area in the region of the tail. The See also:main hoofs are short and rounded and the lateral hoofs very large. There is a tarsal, but no metatarsal gland and tuft. In the skull the gland-See also:pit is shallow, and the vacuity of moderate See also:size; the nasal bones are well developed, and much See also:expanded at the upper end. Upper canines are wanting; the cheek-See also:teeth are small and See also:low-crowned, with the. third See also:lobe of the last molar in the See also:lower See also:jaw See also:minute. The lateral metacarpal bones are represented only by their lower extremities; the importance of this feature being noticed in the See also:article DEER.

In spite of the existence of a number of more or less well-marked See also:

geographical forms, reindeer from all parts of the See also:northern hemisphere See also:present such a marked similarity that it seems preferable to regard them as all belonging to a single widespread See also:species, of which most of the characters will be the same as those of the genus. American naturalists, however, generally regard these as distinct species. The coat is remarkable for its See also:density and compactness; the general See also:colour of the See also:head and upper parts being clove-See also:brown, with more or less See also:white or whitish See also:grey on the under parts and inner surfaces of the limbs, while there is also some white above the hoofs and on the muzzle, and there may be whitish rings See also:round the eyes; there is a white area in the region of the tail, which includes the sides but not the upper See also:surface of the latter; and the tarsal tuft is generally white. The antlers are smooth, and brownish white in colour, but the hoofs See also:jet See also:black. See also:Albino varieties occasionally occur in the See also:wild See also:state. A height of 4 ft. to in. at the See also:shoulder has been re-corded in the See also:case of one See also:race. The wild Scandinavian reindeer (Ranee,. tarandus) may be regarded as the typical form of the species. It is a smaller See also:animal than the American woodland race, with antlers approximating to those of the barren-ground race, but less elongated, and with a distinct back-tine in the male, the brow-tines moderately palmated and frequently nearly symmetrical, and the bez-tine not excessively expanded. See also:Female antlers are generally much smaller than those of males, although occasionally as large, but with much fewer points. The antlers make their See also:appearance at an unusually See also:early See also:age. Mr See also:Madison See also:Grant considers that American reindeer, or caribou, may be grouped under two types, one represented by the barren-ground caribou R. tarandus arcticus, which is a small animal with immense antlers characterized by the length of the beam, and the consequent wide separation of the terminal palmation from the brow-tine; and the other by the woodland-caribou (R. t. caribou), which is a larger animal with shorter and more massive antlers, in which the See also:great terminal expansions are in approximation to the brow-tine owing to the shortness of the beam. Up to 1902 seven other American races had been described, four of which are grouped by Grant with the first and three with the second type.

Some of these forms are, however, more or less intermediate between the two main types, as is a pair of antlers from Novaia Zemlia described by the present writer as R. t. pearsoni. The Scandinavian reindeer is identified by Mr Grant with the barren-ground type. Reindeer are domesticated by the Lapps and other nationalities of northern See also:

Europe and See also:Asia, to whom these animals are all-important. Domesticated reindeer have also been introduced into See also:Alaska. See Madison Grant, " The Caribou," 7th See also:Annual See also:Report, New See also:York Zoological Society (19o2) ; J. G. See also:Millais, See also:Newfoundland and its Untrodden Ways (1908). (R.

End of Article: REINDEER

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REINECKE, CARL HEINRICH CARSTEN (1824—1910)

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