Reindeer

This Brink has a Christmas theme: reindeer. Some readers may remember an earlier Brink column about caribou. Caribou and reindeer are the same species, the main difference between them being geographic. Caribou are from Arctic North America and reindeer are from the far north of Scandinavia and Russia. Caribou are completely wild animals whereas reindeer can be wild, semi-wild or domesticated. 

The caribou and reindeer populations have plummeted, largely due to the effects of global warming (about four times faster in the arctic than the rest of the world), on their habitats. They live mainly on the tundra, primarily eating lichens and shrubs. The problem is that with a warmer climate the forests are creeping north, encroaching on the tundra. Another key issue for the caribou and reindeer is during winter they dig through the powdery snow to graze. With warmer winters the snow can get slushy or rained on and then refreezes into concrete-hard icy snow which is almost impossible for the deer to dig through, leading to starvation.

The lives of the Sami of northern Scandinavia  are so closely linked, culturally and financially, to the reindeer that should the reindeer population crash, so will the Sami way of life. While there are significant herds of wild reindeer, particularly in Norway, most of the reindeer are in Sami heards.

The reindeer of the Sami and other ethnic groups in Russia provide another twist to climate change. The growth of shrubs marks the beginning of the trees invading the tundra. This ‘shrubification’ acts like a blanket keeping the ground and snow under the shrubs warmer, accelerating the whole process. However, it has been discovered that the Sami’s reindeer can be used to fight shrubification. 

The border between Norway and Finland is fenced -reindeer cannot cross into the other country. It has been noticed that on the Finish side of the border there are few shrubs and the tundra is largely intact while on the Norwegian side there are more shrubs and less tundra (it is even noticeable on Google Earth). Why?

The answer lies in differing herd management practices either side of the border. In Finland reindeer herding is more ‘hands-off’ with the deer left on the tundra all year while in Norway the deer are moved into enclosures to be hand fed over the winter. It was found that in Finland the reindeer were browsing on the shrubs when snow made lichen was less accessible and also trampling them in the process. The reindeer were not only stopping the spread of the forest but were also slowing down climate change. It is an example of how a simple, easy thing can have a big effect.

While the caribou and reindeer are the same species (Rangifer tarandus) there is a subspecies, Rangifer tarandus rudolphii, which is distinguishable by its red nose and is seldom seen except for late December.

Merry Christmas