By Live Science
Staff | December 18, 2017 01:06pm ET
Impossible, scientists say.
Here's why: Here on the ground, male reindeer
shed their antlers at the end of the mating season in early December, while
females sport their thinner antlers throughout the winter.
Sounds like Rudolph and the gang were all
gals.
"It appears that way," said
physiologist Perry Barboza of the Institute of Arctic Biology, University of
Alaska at Fairbanks, who studies reindeer and their closest cousins, caribou. Scientists
consider reindeer and caribou the same species.
Santa, turns out, did some savvy hiring of
his prancing parade. These antlered deer (Rangifer tarandus) are used to the
cold. They live in Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, where they graze
on tundra plants.
So, even though pudgy Santa must bundle himself beneath a red-velvet suit,
sleigh-pulling reindeer are naturally covered with hollow hairs that trap in
air and keep them well-insulated. Plus, their circulatory systems keep the
cooler blood in the reindeer's limbs from drawing heat from the warm blood in
their core body.
While all reindeer would be equipped for an
Arctic journey, though a flightless one, females might have the edge over their
male counterparts.
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