The cervidae family.

Part six the reindeer.

Around two hundred thousand years ago reindeer were numerous in Britain, the icy landscape must have resounded to the noise of thousands of clicking hooves as herds migrated between summer and winter feeding grounds. But the herds started to dwindle, maybe it was of the climate change as the climate got warmer after the ice age. The remaining reindeer lived in Scotland. Knowbody knows when the last reindeer`s died out, but their was a small colony reintroduced to the caingorms in 1952 which is believed to total around one hundred and fifty today. They were a domesticated herd from Sweden that were released by Aviemore. The reindeer`s long, sweeping antlers and large hooves are distinctive. Their coat colour varies widely, but many of the animals are greyish or brownish. Their thick winter coat is paler. In late Summer bulls grow a prominent mane of white hair that persists through the winter. Bulls are about forty eight inches (1.2 meters) at the shoulder with the cows being smaller.During the summer months the male reindeer`s (bulls) are usually solitary, they join up with the female (cows ) herds and the young animals for the September-October mating season. This is called a rut when a male reindeer will challenge rival bulls for the right to mate with as many cows as possible. The bulls will roar and scrape their hooves in the mud and thrash around in any vegetation. They will also urinate so that they can leave their scent, they will hold the cows in a harem. After the rut, the bulls separate from the herd but follow it. Cows grow antlers, the only female deer to do so. The antlers have flattened main branches and points with forward pointing branches with secondary branches. The bulls antlers are bigger than the cows. The bulls shed their antlers in Autumn or in early Winter, the cows carry theirs until Spring. In winter, therefore, the cows can use their antlers to defend feeding patches cleared for themselves and their calves. Short grasses, sedges and lichens are the reindeer's main food. In winter they use their hooves to scrape the snow away to expose the lichens, perhaps they find them by smell. In the Spring they enjoy eating willow and birch shoots.  In North America they are known as caribou, this derives from a Red Indian word meaning shoveller. Calves are born in May or June, unlike most other deer, have no spots and can walk within an hour. The calves begin to develop antler pedicles (stalks) when they are about two months old. Their antlers are fully grown after their first winter ends. Old bulls cast their antlers soon after the rut in September or October, they then grow new ones during winter. A reindeer's broad, cloven hooves are splayed to spread its weight and prevent it from sinking to deep into the snow. The hooves make a clicking sound when they walk.