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Reindeer
Rangifer tarandus
47.3673, 8.55
Field Notes
Description:
The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous,[1] some of its subspecies are rare and one (or two, depending on taxonomy) has already gone extinct.[2][3]
Reindeer vary considerably in color and size and both sexes grow antlers, though these are larger in the males and there are a few populations where females lack them completely.
Habitat:
The reindeer is a widespread and numerous species in the northern Holarctic, being present in both tundra and taiga (boreal forest).[7] Originally, the reindeer was found in Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Russia, Mongolia, and northern China north of the 50th latitude. In North America, it was found in Canada, Alaska (USA), and the northern conterminous USA from Washington to Maine. In the 19th century, it was apparently still present in southern Idaho.[1] It also occurred naturally on Sakhalin, Greenland, and probably even in historical times in Ireland. During the late Pleistocene era, reindeer were found as far south as Nevada and Tennessee in North America and Spain in Europe.[7][8] Today, wild reindeer have disappeared from many areas within this large historical range, especially from the southern parts, where it vanished almost everywhere. Large populations of wild reindeer are still found in Norway, Finland, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska, and Canada.
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