REINDEER FRAMES
Scientists with the Norwegian Institute of Nature Research outfitted wild reindeer in southern Norway with cameras that took photos once an hour for four years. Two-thirds of the images were of fur, but the remainder were scenes never captured before, wri
BONDING Females give birth in mid-May and Olav Strand, a scientist with the institute, says the newborns are “lost at the start.” The calf and the mother need a few days so they can learn to recognize each other. “They need time to imprint the smell of each other, which the mother does by licking the calf dry.” The sense of smell is so strong, Strand said, that researchers have seen lost calves tracking the herd despite 1,000 animals moving through the area.
CLAUSTROPHOBIA You absolutely have to be social to be a reindeer, Strand said. Reindeer have other reindeer around them all the time. “We would be totally claustrophobic if we had people around that much,” but the behaviour is the answer to predation. “They are kind of selfish but still social,” Strand said. “You gamble that the wolf is eating your neighbour but not you.”
FOOD AS DRY AS NEWSPAPER The reindeer live in a harsh environment and migrate in winter looking for bare ground and exposed lichen, which they depend on to survive. In the warmer months, the animals move west to another mountain range that is closer to the sea. Although the range is greener, areas of packed snow reduce the number of insects and allow the reindeer to cool off on warm summer days. “They don’t like it hot,” Strand said.
OUT OF SIGHT In snowstorms, the animals lie down together while two or three stand and keep watch. “To see them completely covered in snow and ice are some of the strongest images,” Strand said. “They’re gone.” Reindeer have air bubbles inside their fur, which increase insulation. The technology has been adapted for humans in neoprene diving suits. The air bubbles also make the reindeer float easily — so they’re good swimmers. The animals have long eyelashes, like camels, to keep out snow, and large hooves that spread out their weight on snow the way camels "float" on sand, Strand said. Special chambers in their nose heat the air, and they can reduce blood circulation to their legs to prevent heat loss.
IMPRESSIVE MOTHERS Females are pregnant from October to mid-May during the harshest winter months and, with nothing to live on but lichen, use the protein in their own muscles to produce milk for their calf. They are like the “mountains at their strongest,” Strand said. The calf spends the next year with the mother, leaving in April before she has her next calf. The young animal stays with the herd.
IN THE MIDST OF THE HERD That’s the translated title of a new book of the photos, along with images taken by Strand during his 25 years of research, co-written by Frid Kvalpskarmo Hansen and published last month. Strand took the cover photo from a helicopter. The animals are 90 per cent of what’s left of wild European reindeer, and therefore habitat conservation is an issue. They belong to one of 23 wild herds, which can number in the thousands, and have little to no contact with humans, unlike reindeer in the country’s north, which are domesticated.