Where Do Santa’s Deers Wander? Oh No, They’re in Danger!
Hey, maybe today Santa Claus had some problems sending presents. Maybe his reindeer will never be able to pull his sled anymore. What’s going on with them?
Numerous reports, including WWF Arctic, claim that climate change is a leading reason.
Over the past 20 years, about 20 million reindeer populations have declined, CBS News reported. The latest Arctic Report Card from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explained that five out of 22 herds monitored in the Alaska and Canada area have decreased by more than 90%. Furthermore, it shows no signals of recovery.
According to the latest report from the Government of Finland, a major dieback was discovered on the Arctic islands of Svalbard in 2018. The huge wild herds of caribou — just like reindeer — that have traveled through Alaska and northern Canada for years have been cut in half.
They’re also now getting weaker and smaller. A report by Steve Albon, an Ecologist at Scotland’s James Hutton Institute, found that adult reindeer born in 2010 living on the Arctic island of Svalbard, Norway, weigh 12% less than the 1994 births.
In fact, Since the mid-1990s, reindeer and caribou flocks have decreased in size by 56%. It’s a decrease from about 4.7 million to 2.1 million animals, a loss of 2.6 million, Vox said.
Santa Is in Trouble: His Reindeers Need Help to Survive
Reindeer are remarkable and known for their epic 1000-mile expeditions every year in search of food. We tend to see them roaming in 1000.000 herds at once.
Given their ability to reshape vegetation through grazing, they are supremely important to the Arctic ecosystem. The people of the Arctic Pole depend on the existence of reindeer for food and living.
With reindeer getting smaller and weaker, Santa is in a pickle. And climate change is likely accused of being responsible. As a researcher from the University of Tasmania found, changes in temperature at high latitudes are leading to an expansion of disease-carrying ticks in Arctic reindeer.
Likewise, the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), in the article “REINDEER & CARIBOU: THREATS TO CARIBOU AND REINDEER,” explains why.
Vegetation changes as the Arctic gets warmer. Climate change creates more rainfall and produces more ice rather than snow. Also, as climate change heats the winter, many new plants are growing in the Arctic. Therefore, reindeer may need help to adapt to eating habits and availability.
