A Reindeer Compendium

From The National Wildlife Federation's site:

1) In North America reindeer are also called caribou. (Not his greatest album but there were a coupla good tunes)
2) Both the males and females grow antlers.
3) Their noses are specially designed to warm the air before it gets to their lungs.
4) Reindeer hooves expand in summer when the ground is soft and shrink in winter when the ground is hard.
5) Some subspecies have knees that make a clicking noise while walking so they can stay together in a blizzard.
6) Some North American caribou migrate over 3,000 miles in a year – more than any other mammals.

There are six more Fascinating Facts at the post — go, read, read.

From The Independent UK site:

Scientists have discovered that reindeer eyes change colour from gold to blue over the course of the year – the first time this has ever been shown to happen in mammals.
~snip~
Like many other mammals, during the bright summers reindeer eyes reflect back most light through the retina – so they appear gold.

A kind of enhanced night vision kicks in through winter, however, when a layer of tissue behind the retina becomes less reflective and appears blue.

This increases the sensitivity of the reindeer eye to limited winter light – and is a vital tool in helping them survive the challenging Arctic conditions.

These animals are AMAZING!

A deceptive title at The Dodo — Russian Police Look To Enlist Crime-Fighting Reindeer

The Moscow Times reports that Russian police working in the Arctic Circle have requested that a crime-fighting force composed of reindeer be formed to help track down criminals across the frozen region. Sleds driven by these animals are used by local criminals as getaway vehicles, and they’re far more reliable modes of transportation than what the police currently have available.

So then, Rudolph won’t be battling evil doers like some real life Underdog but still, a pretty wild image to ponder.

From 11 Things You Might Not Know About Reindeer at Mental Floss:

They used to live a lot farther south. While reindeer now live exclusively in the northern points of the globe, when the earth was cooler and humans were less of a threat, their territory was larger. In fact, reindeer used to live all the way down in Nevada, Tennessee and Spain during the Pleistocene area. Its habitat has shrunk considerably in the last few centuries. In the 19th century, reindeer still lived in Southern Idaho.

At Grist, Santa might be down a reindeer or two this season

...reindeer numbers in China have dropped 25 percent since the 1970s. The reason is primarily due to soil degradation in the reindeer’s main grazing area, on Mount Daxinganling. But other factors include increased poaching, inbreeding, predation, and climate change, according to the new study, published in the Journal for Nature Conservation.

And it's not just the reindeer that are disappearing. From The Guardian:

The (reindeer) herders are among the last speakers of Ume Sami, one of at least five Sami languages spoken in Sweden. Today, it is spoken by fewer than 50 people.

Understanding why the language has become endangered is impossible without unpicking the complicated past and present of being a Sami in Sweden. “There is a deep wound in Sami culture and it is still bleeding,” says Oscar Sedholm, our guide from the NGO Såhkie Umeå Sami Association. 
~snip~
Meeting the speakers of Ume Sami was a moving insight into something, particularly as a native English speaker, I had found difficult to fully comprehend: what stands to be lost when a language dies. Without this recognition, it’s easy to remain ignorant of how far the language you identify as your own shapes how you see the world and who you think you are.

Finally, a possible explanation for how those airborne reindeer and why Santa comes down a damn chimney instead of through the front door.
Magic Mushrooms May Explain Santa & His 'Flying' Reindeer

"As the story goes, up until a few hundred years ago these practicing shamans or priests connected to the older traditions would collect Amanita muscaria (the Holy Mushroom), dry them, and then give them as gifts on the winter solstice," Rush told LiveScience. "Because snow is usually blocking doors, there was an opening in the roof through which people entered and exited, thus the chimney story."
But that's just the beginning of the symbolic connections between the Amanita muscaria mushroom and the iconography of Christmas, according to several historians and ethnomycologists, or people who study the influence fungi has had on human societies.

You're welcome.