Why aren’t reindeer happy about warmer winters?
A few weeks ago, it snowed in Leipzig. Not much, but Mika and I were really excited to ring in the Christmas season with a little snow. Later, unfortunately, there were only puddles left… Nevertheless, we went for a walk. I wore a red Christmas hat and Mika wore a reindeer antler crown. It looked so cute. While we were searching for the last bits of snow in the forest, we met a young woman who was also out for a Sunday walk.
“You look great,” she said, “Where I come from, the reindeer are a little bigger.” That made Mika and me curious, and I immediately asked her about it. It turned out that the woman was from northern Scandinavia, from Lapland. “My family belongs to the indigenous people of Scandinavia, the Sami,” she explained. “We live from reindeer herding. It has been an important part of our culture for generations. Most reindeer in Scandinavia live only semi-wild and belong to someone, usually a Sami family.”
I didn’t know that at all. I asked her if she could tell me more about reindeer. After all, Christmas was coming soon and there is hardly any other animal that I associate more with the Christmas season. And what she told us, I would now like to tell you.
She said that reindeer belong to the deer family and once lived all around the Arctic. In Canada and Alaska, they are called caribou and are slightly larger. On the other hand, in Spitsbergen, they are particularly small and fluffy. In summer, the reindeer live in small groups in the mountains, where there is enough to eat. When it gets colder and darker, they move further down into the forest, where they search for lichens and mosses under the snow. This is very exhausting, which is why reindeer do not move around as much in winter.
And then the woman said something else that really surprised Mika and me. For reindeer, it is not at all good that it is getting more and more warm due to climate change. You might think that less snow makes it easier to find food. But the problem is when it rains. The rain freezes on the snow and the reindeer cannot break through the layer of ice. This prevents them from reaching their food! The same thing can also happen when the snow melts and freezes again. Fortunately, there are the Sami people who feed the animals. Another problem is when the rivers and lakes that the reindeer have to cross to get to their winter pastures are not frozen over. This can be quite dangerous, especially for young reindeer.
“It’s good that the reindeer have their humans,” I thought, “who can guide them and lead them to safe paths.”
At some point, we realised how cold it had become. Without reindeer fur, I froze much faster than the animals. So we said goodbye to the woman and went home, where hot chocolate was waiting for us. “I hope it’s really cold for the reindeer in Lapland right now and that they can find lots of food,” I said to Mika, sipping my cocoa.
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Text & Photos: Hannah Sundermann, Illustration: Patrizia Schoch, Translation: Fathima Cherichi Puranyil