Reindeer Facts: Printable Reindeer Facts and Learning Videos

Facts Sheet

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Reindeer Facts

*Reindeer have been around for a long time. Ice Age engravings in a cave in France contain a reindeer and the artwork has been dated from 12,000 to 10,500 BC.

*Reindeer walk on snow. They don’t sink into the snow despite their size because their weight is distributed over a large area because of their wide, splayed hooves.

*Reindeer are mostly herbivores, feeding on grasses, mosses, leaves, and lichens. They shed their antlers when greenery is in short supply.

*A reindeer can pull twice its body weight for up to forty miles.

*Both male and female reindeer have antlers, the only species of deer to display this trait. Every reindeer grows a new set annually.

*Male reindeer shed their antlers at the beginning of winter and females shed theirs in spring.

*The people of the Lapp tribe in northern Scandinavia believe that reindeer antlers have magical powers.