Rangifer

1 species

| Reindeer or Caribou |
| Rangifer tarandus |

 

Reindeer or CaribouCommun name : Reindeer or Caribou
Latin name : Rangifer tarandus (Linnaeus 1758)
Localisation : northern Europe and Asia (Scandinavia to Siberia), Alaska, Canada, Greenland
Habitat : tundra
Size : 1,2 to 2,2 m length, 1,2 m high

The Reindeer and Caribou used to be two distinct species. Now, they are two races of the same species. Their colors vary from black to clear gray. Females also grow antlers but these are smaller than those of the males. They have large hooves enabling them to walk in snow.

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9 sub-species

  • Rangifer tarandus caribou : : American Woodland Caribou, Canada and southeast Alaska (Gmelin 1788) .
  • Rangifer tarandus dawsoni : Queen Charlotte Island Caribou, Queen Charlotte Island (Thompson Seton 1900) extinct.
  • Rangifer tarandus eogroenlandicus : East Greenland Caribou, east Greenland (Degerbol 1957) extinct.
  • Rangifer tarandus fennicus : Eurasian Forest Reindeer, European Russia from Karelia to the Ural Mountains, including Sakhalin Island (Lonnberg 1909) .
  • Rangifer tarandus granti : Grant's Reindeer, Alaska (J.A. Allen 1902) .
  • Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus : Greenland or American Tundra Caribou, Greenland , canada (Borowski 1780) .
  • Rangifer tarandus pearyi : Peary Reindeer, Ellesmere, Melville and other islands of Canadian Arctic Archipelago (J.A. Allen 1902) .
  • Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus : Spitsbergen Reindeer, Island of Spitsbergen Archipelago (Vrolik 1829) .
  • Rangifer tarandus tarandus : Eurasian Tundra Reindeer, Norway, Russia (Linnaeus 1758) .