Away they flew: Christmas wouldn’t be as magical without Santa’s reindeer
One of the most recognizable and beloved Christmas poems, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” commonly known as “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement C. Moore, describes Santa Claus flying through the sky on a sleigh drawn by magical reindeer.
Moore’s 1823 poem is primarily derived from modern folklore which includes reindeer.
Reindeer were once viewed as mysterious creatures linked to lands in the northern part of the world.
In the 18th century, reindeer were domesticated in Scandinavian and Eastern European countries and were used for transportation, pulling sleds and sleighs and continue to hold significant cultural importance for some indigenous Northern European communities.
Many may have wondered why Santa selected reindeer to pull his sleigh instead of any other animal.
It turns out, their unique biology makes them perfect for this special job, according to interesting scientific research.
Staying warm
Most mammals have only one layer of fur, but reindeer have two – a dense underfur beneath a blanket of hollow guard hairs.
This allows them to live in the Arctic, where temperatures on long, cold winter nights can drop to negative 30 degrees Celsius.
According to scientific research, reindeer have up to 2,000 hairs packed into a single square centimeter, making it 10 times as dense as human hair.
One layer of fur traps air and creates a cover of insulation, which keeps the reindeer from losing heat and stops snow from reaching and cooling the skin.
Reindeer also have counter-current heat exchange which allows them to recycle heat so the heart doesn’t need to work as hard.
“The arteries and veins carrying blood to and from the heart are intertwined, allowing heat from warm arterial blood to pass to the cold venous blood,” states Nottingham Trent University Wildlife Conservation Senior Lecturer Louise Gentle. “A lot of this heat exchange happens in the specialized nasal bones of the reindeer, where plenty of cold air is inhaled through the nostrils.”
Rudolph’s red nose
In the 1939 fictional children’s book “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” written by Robert L. May, Rudolph, Santa’s ninth and youngest reindeer, used his luminous red nose to guide Santaʼs sleigh through the night sky.
Although fictional, some reindeer do have red noses, according to a December 2012 study in the British Medical Journal.
Reindeer have highly-concentrated blood vessels in their nostrils, which allows them to help regulate their body temperatures in harsh conditions and often gives them a red nose.
According to the study, Rudolph’s legendary luminous red nose “helps to protect it from freezing during sleigh rides and to regulate the temperature of the reindeer’s brain, factors essential for flying reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh under extreme temperatures.”
In addition, reindeer can perceive shorter wavelengths of light than humans, allowing them to see ultraviolet light, which is easily scattered in fog and could hinder a reindeerʼs sight, according to a 2015 scholarly paper by Dartmouth College Anthropology Professor Nathaniel Dominy and published in the Journal of Frontiers for Young Minds.
“Reindeer eyes are equipped with a reflective tissue behind the retina, reflecting light back through the retina and enhancing night vision,” states the researchers.
Thus, Rudolph’s red nose, emitting longer-wavelength red light, would penetrate fog more easily, permitting the reindeer to see better and making him perfect for guiding Santa on his journey through the night.
Hardiness
According to a June 2011 article in the Quaternary International Journal, reindeer are the only domesticated species of deer, and people have been using them to move around since the Stone Age.
Reindeer migrate farther than any other land mammal – up to 5,000 kilometers a year – regularly covering 55 kilometers a day with speeds up to 80 kilometers per hour, reports the article.
Reindeer have evolved wide, crescent-shaped hooves, allowing them to walk in snow without sinking or getting frostbite.
These special hooves keep them stable and can be utilized to dig down like shovels to find food under the snow.
Reindeer hoof pads shrink and harden over winter, allowing them to walk on the sharp edges of their hooves and reducing the area of the hoof exposed to the cold ground.
The hoof rims cut into the ice and snow and prevent slipping, which is a great adaptation for keeping reindeer steady when landing on snowy rooftops and is ideal for helping Santa visit every child in just one night.
Adding to their hardy nature, reindeer eat lichen, organisms formed from the symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi during the winter.
In the Arctic, wild, lichens, better known as reindeer moss, are plentiful and an ideal food source for reindeer.
Thanks to the specialized bacteria in their gut, reindeer are the only mammal capable of digesting them.
Perfect for Santa
Reindeer can stay warm, see in the dark, stay upright on slippery surfaces and find nutrition in the harshest of environments – all invaluable skills for pulling off the biggest night’s work on Christmas Eve.
Their domestication and long relationship with humans mean they are also well accustomed to pulling sleighs, but Santa’s reindeer can fly.
His steady nine-reindeer hitch can’t thank evolution for this, as their ability to fly comes from a sprinkling of magical Christmas dust.
However, it turns out, most male reindeer shed their antlers before Christmas in early December at the end of mating season, while female reindeer keep their antlers throughout the winter.
So, there is a very good chance Santa’s reindeer are female and have another advantage too.
While male reindeer thin down during the mating season, female reindeer go into winter with 50 percent body fat to keep them nice and toasty during low temperatures as they pull Santa’s sleigh across the Wyoming night sky.
Melissa Anderson is the editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
