March 15, 2013 - Reindeer Driving Competition

ThenSami are the people who live in the northern portions of Scandinavia,nan area that is sometimes called Lapland.
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nReindeernare important to the Sami way of life; they use reindeer meat, hides,nmilk, and antlers, and they use reindeer to pull pulks (sleds) andnfor general transport. Every year the Sami have to round up theirnherds to count, sort, slaughter, and mark their reindeer. At the endnof the round-up, the town of Inari, Finland, hosts a specialncompetition. Men and women put on their cross-country skis andncompete to herd 100 reindeer over a course that is two kilometersn(more than three miles) long. n

nAnReindeer Primer

nDidnyou know that reindeer are caribou, and caribou are reindeer? The twonnames for the same species reflects the fact that this Arctic andnsub-Arctic deer lives in the northern parts of North America, Europe,nand Asia. The North American reindeer are called “caribou,” andnthe Eurasian caribou are called “reindeer.”

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nInnmost populations of reindeer/caribou, both males and females grownantlers. Typically, antlers are larger in males, and in somenpopulations females don’t have antlers. (Females of all other deernspecies, including moose, have no antlers at all.) n

nLikenother deer, reindeer/caribou lose their antlers every year and havento grow them back. Antlers are the fastest-growing bones of all thenmammals—and they have to grow fast especially for reindeer! Malenantlers have to grow up to 40 inches wide and 53 inches long, in justna short time! (That’s 100 cm wide and 135 cm long! We’re talking morenthan four feet of bone grown in just a few months!) Reindeer/caribounantlers are the largest of any deer except moose.