Life In The Polar Circle - The Reindeer (71/268)

Life In The Polar Circle - The Reindeer (71/268)

North of the polar circle nature does not escape from winter's icy embrace until May. As soon as the scrubs and berried creepers sprout their first green, then it is time for the reindeer to give birth to their young. They are born in Europe's loneliest region, in Lapland, and they follow their mothers closely as they roam through the endless forests in search of food. The calves have only very few months in which to grow up, and no game in the world grows more quickly, for the midsummer period, when the sun doesn't set, is soon followed by a long icy winter, the most dangerous time of the year. When a layer of ice covers the ground like a shield, then the hooves are often no longer strong enough to dig for grass and herbs. When the temperatures drop to below 50 degrees, then the cold saps their reserves of fat. Winter is the time when the reindeer reveal their true nature, a robustness unimaginable in summer. In winter when the polar night shrouds everything in icy darkness, the Sami, a people who have lived with and off the reindeer since time immemorial, venture forth into the snowy expanses. It is the time when the herds are rounded up, the most exciting time in the entire reindeer year.

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