Caribou or reindeer

The caribou (rangifer tarandus) is the name of the species when found in the wild, 'reindeer' when domesticated. They can be found in North America, Norway, Iceland and Greenland (caribou, green in the range map below) and in Scandinavia and Russia (reindeer, red in the range map below.

The different species of caribou display a wide range of size. Sexual dimorphism exists, in some subspecies the male is twice as large as the female. The female can become as old as 15 years of age, while the male's average lifespan is up to 10 years in the wild. The caribou in North America can run at speeds of up to 80 km/h (50 mph) and may travel as much as 5,000 km (3,000 miles) in a year. Both sexes grow antlers and these grow again each year (see picture, the velvet is shedding, and you can see the new antler). Their diet consists of leaves of birches and willows, cotton grass, sedges, lichens, but also mushrooms and various other vegetation found on the ground. They use their keen sense of smell to find food covered underneath the snow.



The reindeer has a long history of being hunted/herded, dating back to the Middle Stone Age and have played a very important role in Siberian, Scandinavian, and American native cultures. The caribou young are very vulnerable to attacks by bears, wolves, and other predators during their first week of life.

Interesting fact: The caribou (rangifer tarandus) is the only species of deer in which both sexes have antlers.

Picture of the caribou loosing velvet on one of its antlers by Chris73, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5