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The Season of the Reindeer
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# : |
18848 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1991 |
2,126 Words |
| Author
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Dwight G. Smith
Dwight G. Smith is professor and chairman of the biology
department at Southern Connecticut State University in New
Haven. His latest book, Plants, was released this summer by
Pearson Publishing Company of Boston. |
Away to the window I flew like
a flash
tore open the shutters, and
threw up the sash.
The moon on the breath and
the new fallen snow
gave the luster of midday to
objects below
When what to my wondering
eyes should appear
but a miniature sleigh and
eight tiny reindeer?
Like kittens and puppies, reindeer are one of the best-loved animals of childhood. During the Christmas holiday season, the reindeer are celebrated in song and verse, pictured on stores and greeting cards, and featured in lawn and rooftop displays. And, for at least one night each year, reindeer are the singularly most important animals in the world, for they are Santa's friendly companions and pull his gift-filled sleigh across the sky on the night before Christmas.
Thousands of years ago reindeer also figured predominantly in human affairs, for reindeer were the animals that sustained Stone Age man on two continents during the great ice ages. Reindeer provided much needed food, clothing, and tools during those harsh, bygone times and the tribes of the lower Stone Age celebrated the reindeer in cave art at le Chapeau au Saints in southern France. They represent some of our first and finest examples of primitive painting.
Reindeer still represent an important food resource for the most northern people of the world--the Laplanders, Eskimos, and other Indian tribes that inhabit Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and the larger islands of the Arctic.
Commonly known as reindeer in the Old World, the animal is called the caribou in the New World, a legacy from the time when scientists thought that the North American and Eurasian populations represented two distinct species. Now caribou are recognized as reindeer, although the common names of several well-differentiated caribou subspecies such as the Barren Ground caribou, Woodland Caribou, and Mountain Caribou continue in vogue.
The scientific name of the reindeer is Rangifer tarandus. Rangifer is a
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