In the remote reaches of the Arctic, where Norway’s northern border meets Russia’s expansive terrain, a unique challenge has prompted an investment of €500,000. Norway, home to the Indigenous Sámi people and their cherished reindeer herds, is undertaking the task of rebuilding a decaying reindeer fence along its border with Russia. This seemingly mundane construction […]
Tag: reindeer
Svalbard reindeer thrive as they shift diet towards ‘popsicle-like’ grasses
As the Arctic warms, concern for the plight of Santa’s favourite sleigh pullers is mounting. But in one small corner of the far flung north – Svalbard – Rudolph and his friends are thriving. Warmer temperatures are boosting plant growth and giving Svalbard reindeer more time to build up fat reserves; they also appear to […]
Polar bears eating reindeer: normal behaviour or result of climate change?
Recently, scientists in Hornsund, Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean – witnessed a polar bear pursuing a reindeer into the sea before killing it, dragging it ashore and eating it. The video that they captured was widely shared on news and social media platforms. Then, two days later, they saw the same […]
The reindeer ‘shot for sport’ on £2,000 Icelandic safari: British hunters share gruesome pictures online of slaughtered reindeer on a pre-Christmas trip
Bloodthirsty British hunters have been killing reindeer on a pre-Christmas shooting trip to Iceland. The £2,000 ‘Icelandic Safari’ was organised by Ian Farrington, a deer stalker from Devon. He posted gruesome pictures online of slaughtered reindeer and boasted on a forum for hunters: ‘We have returned from another trip to Iceland with 100 per cent […]
As predators return to Sweden’s wild, ecotourism looks to change mindsets
GÄSTRIKLAND, Sweden — It’s just past 7 p.m. here in the woods along the eastern coast of Sweden. A handful of people are waiting, some of them for the past two hours, peering out from inside a small wooden cabin. The cabin sits at the top of a hill and has sweeping views of the […]
World’s largest reindeer herd targeted by poachers for antler velvet
Moscow – The scene was pure carnage. Dozens of reindeer carcasses were sprawled on the sandy shore of the Khatanga River or floating in the current toward the Arctic Ocean, as if the animals had drowned in mid-stream. The story of what actually befell these reindeer on the Taymyr Peninsula, in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region, however, […]
‘Landscape of fear’: what a mass of rotting reindeer carcasses taught scientists
In August 2016, a park ranger stumbled upon 323 dead wild tundra reindeer in Norway’s remote Hardangervidda plateau. They had been killed in a freak lightning event. But instead of removing the carcasses, the park decided to leave them where they were, allowing nature to take its course – and scientists to study this island […]
Svalbard reindeer rebounding better than hoped after nearly going extinct
Reindeer and caribou populations have been declining dramatically over the past few decades. But one subspecies of reindeer seems to be doing better, anew study has found. The wild Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), which lives in the harsh archipelago of Svalbard off Norway in the Arctic Ocean, was nearly hunted to extinction in the […]