Reindeer
Amazing fact
Reindeer hairs are hollow, helping trap heat close to the body.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
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An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
Reindeer hairs are hollow, helping trap heat close to the body.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Reindeer
- Scientific name
- Rangifer tarandus
- Japanese name
- トナカイ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Cervidae
- Genus
- Rangifer
A member of the deer family, it lives on the Arctic tundra and in the cold northern forests around it.
Among deer, the reindeer is the one species in which both males and females have antlers.
In winter, lichens are an important food. When it walks, it makes a clicking sound.
How the Reindeer lives
In spring, reindeer migrate from their winter range to their calving grounds. In summer, they eat willow and birch leaves, mushrooms and other foods. In winter, they dig into snow with their front feet to reach food underneath.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 150–230 cm
- Weight
- 55–318 kg
- Active
- By day (diurnal)
- Diet
- Willow and birch leaves, mushrooms, cotton grass, sedges and other vegetation
Where the Reindeer has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- トナカイ
- 简体中文
- 驯鹿
- 繁體中文
- 馴鹿
- 한국어
- 순록
- Español
- Caribú
- Français
- Renne
- Deutsch
- Ren
- Português (Brasil)
- Rena
- Italiano
- Caribù
- हिन्दी
- रेनडियर
- العربية
- رنة
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Rusa kutub
- Tiếng Việt
- Tuần lộc
- Русский
- Северный олень
- Türkçe
- Ren geyiği
- বাংলা
- বল্গা হরিণ
- اردو
- رینڈیر
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- 旭山動物園 — トナカイChecked: 2026-11-03
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Rangifer tarandusChecked: 2026-11-03
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
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