Behind the reindeer
It is quiet out here. The snow covers the forest into a sparkling blush of white. The sun shines thru the branches of the trees. It feels like the snow queen will appear in the very next second, out of nothing behind the next tree. The sled pulled by four beautiful reindeer with a leather harness and small Christmas bells on it.
No, reindeers cannot fly. But they are magic and come from a long tradition. The eyes are big and always wide open. The fur is fluffy, and the horns crown the beauty of these Arctic primeval animals. There are more reindeer in the north of Sweden than people. The live semi-domestic, and most of them coming back to the farm in the fall. Spending the winter in a shelter with food next to the traditional Sami people's home. Here you can visit them. Take some of the reindeer candies. Lichen is growing at the trees. Look up, you see them everywhere.
Nevertheless, they also show you the quality of the air. During the years after the accident in Chernobyl, there was almost no lichen at the trees. The atmosphere was not good enough. Nowadays, you can find them again. And a lot! Be careful, as soon as the reindeer have spotted the most favorite food, they will come and steal it right out of your hands. That is the moment when you can look into these big eyes. It is like looking back in history, into the nature and the carless of their life. This animal is fascinating and sweet.
THE COLD TAKES THE ANTLER
Antlers begin to grow on male reindeer in March or April and on female reindeer in May or June. This process is called antlerogenesis. Antlers grow very quickly every year on the males. As the antlers grow, they are covered in thick velvet, filled with blood vessels and spongy in texture. The antler velvet of the reindeer is dark chocolate brown. The velvet that covers growing antlers is a highly vascularised skin.
When the antler growth is fully grown and hardened, the velvet is shed or rubbed off. To the Sami, for whom the caribou is a "culturally important keystone species," the months are named after landmarks in the reindeer life cycle. In the Scandinavian populations, old males' antlers fall off in December, young males' fall off in the early spring, and females fall off in the summer.
When bull reindeer shed their antlers in early to midwinter, the antlered female reindeer acquire the highest ranks in the feeding hierarchy, gaining access to the best forage areas. These cows are healthier than those without antlers. Calves whose mothers do not have antlers are more prone to disease and have significantly higher mortality. Females in right nutritional conditions, for example, during a mild winter with good winter range quality, may grow new antlers earlier as antler growth requires high intake.
THE CASTANETS OF THE NORTH
The knees of many subspecies of reindeer are adapted to produce a clicking sound as they walk. The sounds originate in the tendons of the knees and maybe audible from ten meters away. The frequency of the knee-clicks is one of a range of signals that establish relative positions on a dominance scale among reindeer. Correctly, loud knee-clicking is discovered to be an honest signal of body size, providing an exceptional example of the potential for non-vocal acoustic communication in mammals.
SANTA IS COMING TO TOWN
Around the world, public interest in reindeer peaks in the Christmas period. According to folklore, Santa Claus's sleigh is pulled by flying reindeer. These were first named in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", where they are called Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Bliksem. And it works. In other words, thunder and lightning. Some consider Rudolph as part of the group as well. However, he was not part of the original named work referenced previously. Rudolph was added by Robert L. May in 1939 in his book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Nevertheless, Santa cannot exist without reindeers. He needs the sled to hide the Christmas gifts for every child around the world.
NATURAL ROAD BREAK
Be careful during your journey over the long beautiful roads in this magic home of the reindeer. Sometimes they stand there. One or two, a dozen. Sometimes, they appear out of the forest without warning or stand next to the road, hard to discover. And then, here they are. And stand there for minutes in the middle of the way. Sometimes they realize you. Sometimes not, just standing there. It is like medicine — a natural road break, which allows you to take your time and to care. Care about the beauty of the animal and the moment into which they have brought you. In the very heart of the arctic and you realize the details of the beauty. Time does not matter. It is midnight, and the sun is shining over the horizon, tells you, there is no night to care about.
And then, they disappear in the woods. A last glimpse from the back. The forest takes care of them during these days. Until the leaves fall off the trees and the snow is coming back. Telling them to go back to the farm where they came from. Where they born.
MAX HENSLER June 24, 2020