Study Shows How Busy Reindeer Keep Their Cool

SATURDAY, Dec. 24 (HealthDay News) — Reindeer have lots to do
this time of year — from playing their reindeer games to dragging heavy
sleighs — but despite all their frenzied activity they manage to keep
cool under luxurious winter coats without getting dangerously overheated,
researchers have found.

Now, Norwegian scientists have gained insight into how they do it by
monitoring the brains of reindeer as they exercised on solid ground.

In the study, the reindeer trotted at speeds of 6 miles per hour on a
treadmill in temperatures from 50 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Reindeer are the best animals to work with; once they trust the
trainer they will do anything for you,” study author Arnoldus Blix, a
biologist at the University of Tromso, said in a news release from The
Company of Biologists.

Blix and colleagues found that reindeer pant with their mouths either
closed or open, allowing them to evaporate water from either the nose or
the tongue. Evaporating water helps the reindeer to cool blood in their
nasal sinuses; the cooled blood then goes back to the rest of their
bodies.

The researchers also discovered that the reindeer turn to another
strategy when their temperatures get too high: they cool their brains
through a heat-exchange system. They do this by diverting the blood that
had been cooled by going through the nose to the brain and away from the
body. This protects the brain from overheating.

The findings were published in a recent issue of the Journal of
Experimental Biology
.

Reindeer are unique in other ways. For one, they’ve lost almost all
signs of the circadian clocks that humans and other animals have because
the day/night cycle at Arctic latitudes is so irregular.

Reindeer are also extremely energy-efficient animals, a fact that
allows them to travel great distances — more than 3,100 miles a year, at
least in American herds.

And, of course, they’re able to fly around the world every Christmas
Eve, although they appear to get a big boost from the powers of
imagination.

More information

Learn more about reindeer from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History.

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