• Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
  • CCPA
  • Medical Disclaimer
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Bell County News Online
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Technology
    • Crytpocurrency
    • Gaming
    • Gadgets
  • Sports
  • Health
  • General
    • Business Services
  • Travel
  • Press Releases
  • Popular
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Technology
    • Crytpocurrency
    • Gaming
    • Gadgets
  • Sports
  • Health
  • General
    • Business Services
  • Travel
  • Press Releases
  • Popular
No Result
View All Result
No Result
View All Result
Home Technology Gaming

Five Ways Reindeer Are Perfectly Evolved For Pulling Santa’s Sleigh – The Indian Express

by NewsReporter
December 12, 2021
in Gaming
five-ways-reindeer-are-perfectly-evolved-for-pulling-santa’s-sleigh-–-the-indian-express
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

We all know that Father Christmas would struggle to deliver presents to everyone around the world without the help of his magical reindeer. But why were they chosen to pull the sleigh rather than any other animal?

It turns out that the biology of reindeer makes them ideal for the job. Here are five reasons why.

Warmth

Reindeer live in the Arctic, where temperatures on long winter nights often plummet below -30 degrees C. Unlike most mammals, which only have one layer of fur, reindeer have two: a dense underfur beneath a blanket of hollow guard hairs. Reindeer can have up to 2,000 hairs packed into a single square centimetre, making it ten times as dense as human hair.

This double layer traps air and creates a cover of insulation that keeps reindeer from losing heat, and stops snow from reaching and cooling the skin. This enables reindeer to keep warm, whether living with Santa at the North Pole or travelling around the world on Christmas Eve.

In addition, when blood reaches our extremities, like our fingers and toes, it cools and our hearts must pump at a faster rate to warm the blood up again. This requires a lot of energy which we get from food, something that is often lacking in Arctic landscapes — well, unless you count feasting on candy canes and sugar plums with the elves.

But reindeer possess something called a counter-current heat exchange which essentially allows them to recycle heat so that the heart doesn’t need to work as hard. The arteries and veins carrying blood to and from the heart are intertwined, allowing heat from warm arterial blood to pass to the cold venous blood.

A lot of this heat exchange happens in the specialised nasal bones of the reindeer, where plenty of cold air is inhaled through the nostrils. In fact, the highly concentrated blood vessels in their nostrils often give reindeer a red nose, just like Rudolph.

Fitness

Reindeer lichen — an organism that is formed from a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi — is the main thing reindeer eat during the winter. Lichens are the crusty looking things that you often see living on tree trunks and rocks.

Lichens are plentiful in the Arctic — an ideal food source that reindeer can find wherever they go. This means reindeer don’t need to store body fat and unlike many other animals, they can find enough food to power their epic sleigh journey with Santa — helped along by the carrots people leave out, of course.

Reindeer are actually the only mammals capable of digesting lichen, thanks to specialised bacteria in their gut.

Sight

The Arctic has very little daylight during the winter, so reindeer have evolved to see as much as possible in the dark. Reindeer eyes change colour from gold to blue in the winter, letting in more of the small amount of light available and improving their vision.

Reindeer can even see in the ultraviolet. Although this amazing sense is common in birds and insects, reindeer are some of the only mammals to have evolved this ability. This means that objects that would blend into the background when seen through human eyes are much more visible to reindeer.

As reindeer can essentially see in the dark, it makes them perfect for guiding Santa on his journey through the night, ensuring he is not seen by children.

Steadiness

To walk in snow without sinking or getting frostbite, reindeer have evolved wide, crescent-shaped hooves. These keep them stable, but they can also be used as shovels to dig down to find lichen under the snow.

The hoof pads shrink and harden over winter, allowing the reindeer to walk on the sharp edges of their hooves. As well as reducing the area of the hoof exposed to the cold ground, the hoof rims cut into the ice and snow to prevent slipping. Obviously, this is a great adaptation to keep reindeer steady when landing on snowy rooftops.

Transport

Reindeer are the only domesticated species of deer, and people have been using them to get around since the stone age. People ride on their backs like horses, and use small herds of them to drive sleds, just like Santa.

Reindeer migrate up to 5,000km a year — further than any other land mammal — and they regularly cover 55km in a day. They are surprisingly fast too, reaching speeds of up to 80km per hour. This long distance travel is ideal to help Father Christmas visit every child in just one night.

So, reindeer can stay warm, see in the dark, stay upright on slippery surfaces and find nutrition in the harshest of environments — all invaluable skills for pulling off the biggest night’s work on Christmas Eve. Their domestication and long relationship with humans means they are also well accustomed to pulling sleighs.

Of course, Santa’s reindeer can also fly. They can’t thank evolution for that, though, unlike all these other adaptations. As we all know, their ability to fly comes from a sprinkling of magical Christmas dust.

– The author is Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University.

Related Posts

Russia-Ukraine War News: Live Updates On Moskva Warship – The New York Times

by NewsReporter
April 15, 2022
0

Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker

the-biggest-gaming-news-for-april-14,-2022-–-thegamer

The Biggest Gaming News For April 14, 2022 – TheGamer

by NewsReporter
April 15, 2022
0

Elon Musk is trying to buy Twitter and Cyberpunk 2077's first expansion won't arrive until next year. We're nearing the end of the week but that doesn't mean that the news has slowed down. We've got plenty of big stories today, the biggest being Elon Musk's attempt to buy Twitter....

william-&-mary,-vcu-partnership-using-technology-to-treat-parkinson’s-symptom-enters-next-phase-–-news-3-wtkr-norfolk

William & Mary, VCU Partnership Using Technology To Treat Parkinson’s Symptom Enters Next Phase – News 3 WTKR Norfolk

by NewsReporter
April 14, 2022
0

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - It's a devastating disease more than a million Americans are battling and there's no cure, but local scientists say they're working on a way to make life with Parkinson's more bearable.For the last year and a half, researchers at William & Mary have been partnering with a...

report:-high-taxes,-low-profits-tavern-gaming-licenses-a-bust-for-pa.-|-thursday-morning-coffee-–-pennsylvania-capital-star

Report: High Taxes, Low Profits. Tavern Gaming Licenses A Bust For Pa. | Thursday Morning Coffee – Pennsylvania Capital-Star

by NewsReporter
April 14, 2022
0

Good Thursday Morning, Fellow Seekers. When it was pushed under the former Corbett administration in 2011, Pennsylvania’s tavern gaming law was pitched as a sure-fire way to allow Keystone State saloon-keepers to compete with the small games of chance that are a fixture at Elk and VFW halls across the commonwealth. Nearly a decade on,...

Bell County News Online

© 2021 Bell County News Online

Navigate Site

  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
  • CCPA
  • Medical Disclaimer

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • DMCA Policy
  • Medical Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclosure
  • CCPA
  • Terms of Use

© 2021 Bell County News Online

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
Cookie SettingsAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT