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Context

• Researchers have discovered that the more time reindeer spend ruminating, the less time they spend in non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep.

All about Reindeer

• The reindeer or caribou (Rangifer tarandus) is a species of deer.
• It has a circumpolar distribution, native to the Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America.
• It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer.
• Reindeer occur in both migratory and sedentary populations.
• The tundra subspecies are adapted for extreme cold, and some are adapted for long-distance migration.
• Reindeer vary greatly in size and colour from the smallest, the Svalbard reindeer, to the largest, Osborn's caribou.
• They are unique among deer in that females may have antlers.
• The more time reindeer spend ruminating, the less time they spend in non-rapid eye movement (non-REM) sleep.
• Their habitat includes tundra and boreal forest.
• Reindeer are ruminants, which are hoofed herbivorous grazing or browsing mammals.
• They eat mosses, herbs, ferns, and grasses when available.
• Reindeer are social animals that live in herds of 10 to a few hundred.
• On average, reindeer live 15 to 18 years.
• Population density, predation, and disease seem to determine reindeer herd sizes.
• In winter, they mainly consume lichen and fungi, scraping the snow away with their hooves to get it.
• The IUCN has classified the reindeer as Vulnerable on its Red List of Threatened Species.

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