Rangifer tarandus
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2011
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Artiodactyla
Cervidae
Rangifer
Rangifer tarandus

description: 35.
Caribou
Rangifer tarandus
French: Renne / German: Ren / Spanish: Reno
Other common names: Reindeer (in Europe)
Taxonomy. Cervus tarandus Linnaeus, 1758,
Lapland, Sweden.
The oldest evidence of the genus Rangifer dates back to the late Pliocene, about two million years ago, in Alaska. “Reindeer” were present in Siberia and Central Europe from the Middle Pleistocene, about 650,000 years ago. The analysis of mtDNA revealed three main haplogroups, possibly representing three separate populations during the last glacial period. The main population lived in Siberia and Beringia and has contributed to the gene pool of all the extant subspecies. One small refugial population supposedly lived in Western Europe and the other in eastern North America. The word caribou derives from the Micmac Indian term “xalibu,” which means “pawer,” “shoveller,” in reference to the habit of digging snow for obtaining food. Taxonomists are not concordant on the number of subspecies. Here ten subspecies are recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
R.t.tarandusLinnaeus,1758—Norway.
R.t.caribouGmelin,1788—SCanada(fromSYukontoLabradorandNewfoundland)andNWUSA(NEWashington,NIdaho&WMontana).
R.t.fennicusLonnberg,1909—FinlandandNWRussia(Karelia).
R.t.groenlandicusLinnaeus,1767—Alaska,NCanada,WGreenland.
R.t.pearsoniLydekker,1903—NovayaZemlya(Russia).
R.t.pearyiJ.A.Allen,1902—CanadianArcticIs.
R. t. phylarchus Hollister, 1912 — Russian Far East (Amur region, Okhotsk area, Sakhalin, Kamchatka).
R.t.platyrhynchusVrolik,1829—Svalbard(Norway).
R.t.sibiricusMurray,1866—NSiberiantundra,RussianArcticIs.
R. t. valentinae Flerov, 1933 — Ural Mts (Russia), Altai Mts, Mongolia.
Feral Icelandic population originated from animals introduced from Norway in 1771; they have been introduced also into South Georgia Is (in 1911-1912 and 1925) and Kerguelen Is (in 1955).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 185-210 cm for males (bulls) and 170-195 cm for females (cows), tail 14-16 cm, shoulder height 90-135 cm (bulls) and 70-100 cm (cows); post-rutting weight 65-170 kg (adult bulls) and 55-110 kg (adult cows). Males can reach 210-240 kg, females 140 kg. Size dimorphism very variable. Males are on average 30-90% heavier than females. A medium to large-sized deer, with long neck, rump, and legs, and short ears and tail. The rhinarium is furred. Hooves are wide, crescentshaped and splayed; the dewclaws are relatively large and low, providing a large surface to support the body. Toe pads are spongelike in summer, tightened and sharp-edged in winter. Both sexes have an inflatable laryngeal air sac; it is larger in males. The coat is made of particularly dense hair, of variable color, from grayish-brown to white. Males have a well-developed neck mane. The coat of the newborn calf is unspotted. There are three main ecotypes: a large-bodied forest form, a medium-sized tundra form, and a small, short-legged, whitish high Arctic ecotype. Preorbital, nasal, tarsal, interdigital, and caudal glands are present. Permanent dentition is 34 teeth, with rudimentary upper canines. Molars erupt fom 4-26 months of age. Males bear large antlers 90-120 cm long, with flattened and multipointed brow and bez tines. Most females develop simple, light-weight antlers 30-45 cm long. Pedicles begin to grow very early, at 7-10 days of age, and the first set of antlers (a pair of spikes 10-40 cm long) begins to grow at just 4-6 weeks, finishes growing at about five months of age, and is cast off at 11-12 months. Adult bulls clean their antlers in September and cast them in November—January. The new antler set begins to grow 1-2 months later. Adult cows retain their antlers though the winter and cast them in March-May. The species has the largest relative antler mass, with bulls of 230-240 kg carrying up to 15 kg of antler weight. The longest antler beams are 140-150 cm.
Habitat. Mountain summit meadows, open taiga, tundra, and high Arctic desert up to 2700-3000 m above sea level. It can tolerate temperatures as low as -60°C and suffers when the temperature exceeds 15°C. More than 60-80 cm of snow impedes movements.
Food and Feeding. The main diet consists of lichens, moss, ferns, grasses, leaves, and shoots of shrubs and trees (especially willow and birch). Lichens are particularly important in winter. Occasionally they may also feed on animal matter such as lemmings, fish, and bird eggs. To reach ground lichens in winter they dig craters in the snow.
Breeding. Most females first conceive at 28-29 months of age. In highly productive habitats, some female calves can attain puberty at about six months of age. Rutting season is in September—October. Females are polyestrous, with cycles of 18-19 days. During estrus they are receptive for 12-24 hours. In tundra conceptions are synchronized, with a 7-10 day peak; in woodland habitat they tend to be less synchronous. Tundra bulls form tending bonds within large mating aggregations. Woodland and high Arctic bulls tend to practice harem defense. During rut adult males lose as much as 20-25% of their weight. The gestation lenght is generally 221-237 days. The cow gives birth to a highly developed calf of 4-9 kg (2.5-3 kg in Svalbard), able to stand up one hour after birth and to follow its mother after 5-7 hours (precocial follower-type young). Calves are born with the ability to regulate body temperature. During the first days they nurse every 18 minutes. The milk is rich in fats and proteins. After one week the calf begins to eat lichens, at two weeks it doublesits weight, and at 4-5 months of age it is weaned. Bulls reach their full body weight at six years of age while cows attain adult size at four years. Senescence occurs at about 11-12 years of age. Normally they live to a maximum of 15-18 years. The maximum longevity in captivity is 22 years of age. Gray Wolves (Canis lupus), Wolverines (Gulo gulo), and Eurasian Lynxes (Lynx lynx) are the main predators. Juvenile mortality is high: Brown Bears (Ursus arctos), ravens, and eagles may prey on calves.
Activity patterns. Cycles of activity of 4-5 hours, more active in summer than in winter. They are not crepuscular. In the summer, insects (oestrid flies, mosquitoes) may severely affect activity patterns and also impact body weight and reproduction.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. It is the most cursorial deer, able to run up to 80 km /h in open country and swim up to 11 km /h. In woodland habitats it tends to be sedentary, but sometimes makes small to medium-scaled movements, up to 50-100 km. In tundra it is typically migratory; in Taymyr migrations are 1000-2000 km long, in Yakutia 600-700 km. Animals cover 20-50 km per day. It is a highly gregarious species, particularly in open habitats. The basic social unit is the family group with females and calves. Males form small bands. Groups may coalesce in larger aggregations. Migratory Caribou can form impressive moving herds of 50,000-500,000. During migrations, 100,000 Caribou may move through an area of 30 km?®.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List and stable. East Greenland Caribou and Caribou of the Queen Charlotte Islands (once considered subspecies and known respectively as neogroenlandicus and dawsoni) were exterminated in the first decades of 20" century. In Northern Europe wild Reindeer numbered 26,000 in 2005. Feral Reindeer introduced to Iceland number about 1000 animals. In 1999 the population size in the Russian Federation was estimated at 1-1 million individuals. In Mongolia there are fewer than 1000; in China there are a few hundred, probably of domestic origin. In the early 1980s the total population in North America was 2-3-2-8 million animals. The number grew to four million in nearly 200 herds in 2000. Annual harvest in late 1990s was around 120,000 individuals. In a recent survey of 58 major herds around the world, 34 were reported as declining, eight as increasing, and 16 had no trend data. The simultaneous decrease of many herds is coincident with and could be a result of global warming and human-induced landscape changes. In North America, the Caribou is threatened by onshore petroleum explorations. Poaching is important in the Russian Federation. Hybridization with semi-domestic Reindeeris another threat. Natural densities are very low, 0-5 ind/ km?, but during migrations animals can reach 19,000 ind/km?®. Reindeer were domesticated about 3000 years ago in Fennoscandia and Russia.
Bibliography. Baskin & Danell (2003), Blake et al. (1998), Crete & Daigle (1999), Cronin et al. (2005), Geist (1998), Lincoln & Tyler (1994), Loe et al. (2007), Miller (2003), Reimers et al. (2005), Roed (2005), Roed et al. (2008), Schaefer & Mahoney (2001), Vors & Boyce (2009), Williams & Heard (1986).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2011, Cervidae, pp. 350-443 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 2 Hoofed Mammals, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 431-432, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6514377