Santa and His Reindeer Buddy

About this drawing

Santa with his reindeer may be pure holiday magic, yet the animal itself is real and remarkably tough. Reindeer live in the cold northern parts of Europe, Asia, and North America, where they are called caribou when wild. Few large mammals are better built for snow, wind, and bitter temperatures.

Here is something that surprises most people: reindeer are the only deer species in which both males and females usually grow antlers. Big males shed theirs in early winter, while many females hold on to theirs until spring. Strictly speaking, then, the antlered team in a Christmas Eve story may well be female. Antlers fall off and regrow every year, wrapped at first in fuzzy skin called velvet.

The rest of the body is just as impressive. Hollow hairs in the coat trap warm air like a puffy jacket. The nose warms each frozen breath before it reaches the lungs, and wide hooves spread out on the snow like built-in snowshoes. Reindeer eyes even change through the year, adjusting to catch more of the faint light during the long polar winter. No flying is required to make this animal extraordinary, though it certainly helps explain why storytellers chose it to pull a sleigh through the coldest night of the year.

• santa
• reindeer
• antlers
• jingle bells