Morphological features of deer

Tundra is the edge of permafrost. The ground, frozen during the long and cold winter, only has time to thaw and warm up a little during the short summer. But still, plants can already live in this upper, slightly warmed layer of soil. The most common species found in the tundra are lichens and mosses.

Deer belongs to the class of mammals, to the order of artiodactyls, to the deer family. The deer family also includes elk and roe deer. The hair of a reindeer in winter is thick and long, with a highly developed undercoat; in summer it is short and sparse. The hair of a deer skin is hollow inside - in the form of a tube filled with air, and the thickening of the stem does not come from the root, but from top to bottom. Therefore, the hair on the animal’s body sits tightly, and it is difficult to blow it even with a strong wind: the hairs seem to wedge each other themselves. Having such a “fur coat”, the deer can withstand fairly low temperatures even in strong winds and snowstorms. Also, thanks to these properties of wool, a deer is able to overcome any water obstacle: its wool, like a life preserver, keeps the deer afloat.

The limbs of the reindeer are massive, the hooves of the middle toes are large and flat. All fingers are movable and can be moved apart widely. The side toes sit low and constantly touch the snow. With this structure of hooves, the deer walks well in swampy and snowy places: it does not fall into deep snowdrifts and does not get stuck in marshy swamps. Medium sized reindeer. The body is elongated, the legs are relatively short. The body length of an adult male is 200-220 cm, height at the withers 110-140 cm, ear length up to 19 cm, tail length up to 22 cm. Body weight from 100 to 230 kg, usually no more than 120-130 kg. Females are much smaller and lighter than males. In winter, deer feed on moss and tree branches; in summer, they eat leaves and shoots of herbaceous and shrub plants.

The animal reaches sexual maturity in the second year of life. The rut occurs in September-October. During the rut, males engage in fierce fights among themselves. During such fights, the males clash their horns and push until one of the rivals gives up. It happens that the antlers do not come apart - the deer become easy prey for wolves. The strong one wins, the weak deer is removed. The winner gathers 10-15 females around him. The duration of a doe's pregnancy is 7-8 months. Females begin to calve in mid-May. They usually bring one calf. Characterized by a very high growth rate of calves. On the second day after birth, the fawn (calf) is already firmly on its feet and even begins to run, and at a week of age it can freely swim across the river. The fawn's antlers appear within two weeks. The cub feeds on thick and fatty mother's milk, which is superior in fat content to cow's milk. The Nenets call only born fawns awki, because... they make sounds similar to "av-av." And the Nenets call female deer that have given birth to cubs “Vazhenka.” A fawn stays with its mother for two years or more. A deer lives up to 28 years, with rare exceptions – up to 30 years.

The deer's head is decorated with antlers. Horns can be simple or highly branched.

Reindeer have good hearing and sense of smell. In summer, the color of the deer's skin ranges from coffee-brown to gray-brown, in places with light bald patches on the head and neck. In winter, the color of the skin takes on lighter tones. Old individuals have protruding parts of the body with graying. There are also albinos among deer, whose body color is completely white.

Deer are a herd animal. The species as a whole has a unique ability to make long migrations over distances of up to 1000 km or more. In severe winters, animals go far south of their usual borders, appearing in the coniferous taiga. Their main habitat is tundra and forest-tundra. Deer living in the north of Yamal and the Gydan Peninsula do not make any long migrations and live in the Arctic tundra all year round. Beloostrovsky deer migrate to Yamal for the winter.

When deer migrate in the spring to summer pastures, the leader, the most experienced, strong deer, with huge branched antlers, usually trots ahead. The leader is followed by several strong males. Inside the herd there are females with calves and young fawns. The herd is closed by 3-4 large stags. Polar wolves often follow a herd of deer, keeping a fair distance. Predators usually attack weak animals that lag behind the herd. Wolves do not come close to the herd, because the large stag bulls that bring up the rear of the herd of deer will give a worthy rebuff to predators at any moment.

In spring, deer experience mineral hunger (lack of salts in the body). To satisfy their mineral hunger, deer go to valleys where mineralized naledi (frozen salt water) and solonetzes (salty soils) are found; to satisfy their mineral hunger, deer also collect bird eggs, catch lemmings (small rodents), drink sea water, and eat algae.

In summer, deer feed on herbaceous vegetation, moss (reindeer moss), and also eat mushrooms. These animals are active around the clock, but also find time to rest and chew their cud. After all, deer, like cows, sheep, goats, and camels, are ruminant animals. Basically, the deer is on the move, fleeing from midges (midges, mosquitoes).

When it becomes cold, damp and uncomfortable in the tundra, deer leave their pastures and move south, closer to the forests, where it is warmer and there is more food.

In autumn and winter, animals move, clinging tightly to each other, warmed by the warmth of the deer walking nearby. As they move, the deer “talk” to each other: their grunting (sounds similar to wheezing and grunting) can be heard far across the tundra, and a peculiar crunching sound is heard, as if from cracking joints.

In winter, reindeer stick to open forest-tundra swamps and mountain areas. The main food for deer in winter is moss, but in the forest sometimes this animal will not pass by the lichen hanging on the trunks of fallen trees.

Lifestyle of domestic deer. Their benefits for humans

Inhabitants of the tundra have long ago (about 2000 years ago) domesticated reindeer. Domesticating wild reindeer is a rather difficult process, but reindeer herders can easily cope with it, because This is what they are taught from childhood. On the windward side you can get no closer than a hundred meters to the deer. Sensing danger, animals still do not run away from a person, but go towards him, going around him on both sides. It happens that domestic reindeer leave with wild ones.

In both winter and summer, people in the tundra ride reindeer harnessed to special sleighs called sledges. At the same time, there is no need to carry food with you for the deer, because they are able to find it themselves, even under the snow. This is a great advantage of reindeer over sled dogs, for which you always have to carry food with you.

Deer in the life of the indigenous peoples of the north (Khanty, Nenets, Selkup) - everything. These are clothing, bedding and housing for which deer skins are used. This is food: meat, lard, blood, bone marrow. Stroganina is considered the favorite dish made from reindeer meat among the peoples of the north. To prepare stroganina, the fattest, loin part of the deer is selected from the meat, and a knife comes into play. The constant and only seasoning for the dish is ordinary salt.

They ride on reindeer and transport loads. The reindeer herder's main tool, the lasso (a long rope with a loop), is woven from strips of reindeer skin. Knife handles and other household items are made from horns. From tendons - strong threads, snares (nets for catching birds), nets.

Deer live in the open air all year round. But this does not mean at all that a domestic deer does not require care. A good reindeer herder must monitor the herd, protect it from predators and roam in the spring - to the north, where there are fewer mosquitoes and midges, in the fall - to the south: to the forest, to the taiga, to shelter the herd from the cold winter winds. And reindeer herders constantly make small migrations in search of new pastures.

History of changes in the number and habitats of wild reindeer in Yamal

From the 11th to the beginning of the 20th century, the southern border of the reindeer range in the flat part of Western Siberia steadily shifted to the north. In the 30-40s it passed north of Tyumen, near Tobolsk, along the upper reaches of the Vasyugan, Demyanka and Tartas rivers.

Habitats of wild tundra reindeer on the territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the continuous range of reindeer had disintegrated by this period. Several isolated foci appear, between which there are spaces that are uninhabited or very rarely visited by deer.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, reindeer lived in the northern part of the Yamal Peninsula, the border of its distribution ran along the Mordyyakha and Venuyakha rivers. Over the next decades, the reindeer's range shifts northward. By the beginning of the 80s. deer were found only on the northwestern tip of the Yamal Peninsula, in the basins of the Yahodyyakha, Paindteyakha, Syadoryakha and Bely Island rivers. The range of the Gydan part of the population during this period covered the Yawai and Mammoth peninsulas, the Maguysalinskaya and Soyakhinskaya tundras, the Shokolsky and Oleniy islands.

At the end of the 50s small herds of deer were found in the upper reaches of the Shchuchya and Baydarata rivers. By the end of the 70s. reindeer in the Polar Urals appear to have completely disappeared. A small number of wild reindeer (about several dozen heads) may live in the Arctic Urals.

Back in the mid-60s. The condition of the North Yamal, North Gydan and Polar Ural groups of deer was considered threatening. After a five-year hunting ban (1965-70), the number of reindeer in the Tyumen region increased from 10 thousand to 30 thousand individuals. By the mid-80s. The number of deer in the region is reduced to 19 thousand. In the second half of the 80s. in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug there were 5.7 thousand deer with a density of 7.6 individuals per 1000 sq. km of land.

At the end of the 20s In the 20th century, there were up to 8 thousand deer on the Yamal Peninsula and Bely Island. By the end of the 30s. there were no more than 2-3 thousand of them left. In 40-50 the number of deer decreases to 300-400 individuals. According to an aerial survey conducted in 1978, the number of wild deer on the Yamal Peninsula and Bely Island was 100-150 individuals. The number of deer on the Gydan Peninsula has not been established.

Currently in our country, reindeer are distributed from the Kola Peninsula to the Far East. It is found in Kamchatka and on Sakhalin Island.

Reasons for the decline in wild reindeer numbers

The number of wild reindeer depends on many circumstances: climatic conditions, epidemics, food. The main reasons for the decline in wild reindeer numbers are: poorly regulated commercial shooting, poaching; displacement by domestic reindeer, the main and only pasture competitor; development of the oil and gas industry, construction of pipelines, railways and highways along the migration routes (movement of animals from one territory to another) of reindeer; fires that burn pastures; radioactive contamination of the environment; spread to wild deer of diseases characteristic of domestic deer. Well-fed individuals are less susceptible to various diseases and can more easily endure the harsh conditions of the Far North.

Measures to increase the number of wild reindeer

The number of wild deer is monitored by scientists together with game managers, conducting periodic aerial surveys (counting animals from a helicopter) of the population. But, I believe, to increase the number of wild reindeer, it is necessary to take the following measures: organizing a network of reserves and nature reserves; a sharp increase in the fight against poaching; a complete ban on hunting wild reindeer of the Yamalo-Gydan and Polar Ural populations for 5-8 years; construction of crossings along reindeer migration routes through industrial and suburban communications; improving veterinary care for domestic reindeer; reduction in the number of domestic reindeer herds.