page_title: Reindeer in Russia
section_title: Taimyr reindeer herd
hierarchical_section_title: Reindeer in Russia / Siberian tundra reindeer / Taimyr reindeer herd
caption_attribution_description: Location Putoran Mountains.PNG
context_page_description: Reindeer in Russia include tundra and forest reindeer and are subspecies of Rangifer tarandus. Tundra reindeer include the Novaya Zemlya and Lapland subspecies and the Siberian tundra reindeer.
context_section_description: The Taimyr reindeer herd, a migrating tundra reindeer (R.t. sibiricus), is the largest reindeer herd in the world. In the 1950s there were 110,000. In 2000 the herd increased to 1,000,000 but by 2009, there were 700,000 animals. The Putorana Nature Reserve, covering 1,887,251 hectares (4,663,500 acres), (a World Heritage Site since 2010), was established in 1988 to protect Taimyr reindeer herd as well as snow sheep. The reserve is located on the Putorana Plateau, a mountainous area at the northwestern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau, to the south of Taymyr Peninsula. Taimyr tundra reindeer migrate to winter taiga pastures in Evenkia and Putoran Mountains. in the forest-tundra and taiga from the river Taz in the west and to the Anabar in the east.
  "In the 1960s up to 80% of reindeer wintered in the Putoran Mountains, but in the late 1970s most animals moved to the mountain taiga of the northern Evenkia and the western region of Yakutia. The shift in winter distribution occurred after the increase in population size, which resulted in deterioration of forage (Kuksoc, 1981). Lineitzev's (1983) observations at the biological station at Ayan Lake in the Putoran Mountains revealed the pattern of reindeer distribution in the piedmont. After some critical density was exceeded, migration was initiated through the Putoran plateau to the south. The new wintering grounds of the Taimyr reindeer are 1000-1200 km away from the calving grounds, and consequently the reindeer reach the Taimyr lowland later. The reindeer linger where the snow melts earlier on the winter mountain ranges. Then the reindeer have to migrate quickly but frequently do not reach the rivers before breakup. Then the reindeer have to stop at the river barrier to calve along the right bank of the Pyasina River and at the bend of the middle flow (central section) of the Agape River (Kuksov, 1981). In years with a warm autumn, reindeer were observed to linger on the southern Taimyr tundra until December (up to 100 thousand head). Those animals headed for new winter ranges at the left bank of the Enisei River, and when the ice conditions prevented them from crossing, they dispersed southward along the Enisei bank up to Turukhansk (Yakushkin et aL, 1970).
  — Baskin 1986
caption: Putoran Mountains Taimyr reindeer winter taiga pastures
exif: {}