Regardless of whether you call them reindeer or caribou, these animals, which symbolize Christmas in many countries, are very entertaining. They can carry temperatures of -60 degrees Celsius, travel thousands of kilometers, and use the magic of their nose to deliver us gifts. Their herds can consist of hundreds of thousands of animals crossing the continents and passing thousands of kilometers. In addition to their impressive numbers, there are many interesting facts about these all the favorite Christmas herbivores, we will describe ten of these facts below.
While in the battles that took place in the deserts during the Second World War, the allied forces attracted camels for help, in the far north the Soviet troops resorted to the help of 6,000 reindeers. In addition to the fact that they could feed themselves, the reindeer could carry 50 kilograms of cargo each. They were used to transport cargo, wounded soldiers and even to drag planes through the snow. The Red Army used the help of 1,000 Aboriginal shepherds to manage reindeer.
Northern deer transported American cargo from Murmansk, located on the northern coast of Russia to the front lines. Proceeding from the fact that only the armies of America and Great Britain were fully mechanized, the Soviet troops used the power of animals in many battles, and for the frozen swamps of the Russian and Finnish neighborhoods, these deer were the most suitable option. In the northern Russian city of Naryan-Mar, a monument was erected in honor of the reindeer, which provided indispensable assistance during the Soviet-Finnish war.
Reindeers have played an important role in our culture for quite some time. The first work of prehistoric art, created by the first people ever discovered (and recognized as such), was the image of a horse carved on the horn of a reindeer. This artifact was found between 1830 and 1848 by a French priest named Jean-Baptiste Croizet.
The Natural History Museum of Great Britain acquired it in 1848 for 440 pounds sterling, and to date this amount is approximately 40,000 dollars. The museum put this artifact on public display for a year. After that, the artifact was removed for storage and only in 2010 it was discovered during the audit. Modern technology has made it possible to determine its age, which is 14,000 years.
