A new Dutch study explains the likely physiology of Rudolph the reindeer’s red nose: “Microcirculatory investigations of nasal mucosa in reindeer Rangifer tarandus (Mammalia, Artiodactyla, Cervidae): Rudolph’s nose was overheated,” Ben van der Hoven, Eva Klijn, Michel van Genderen, Willem Schaftenaar, Lisette L. de Vogel, Ditty van Duijn and Erwin J.O. Kompanje (a member of the […]
Tag: reindeer
Genghis Kahn (and reindeer eunuchs)
It’s been a big week for educated speculation about climate influences. As mentioned yesterday, castrating additional reindeer by chewing off their testicles just might be a small but gleaming key to slowing climate change. Now comes word from the Carnegie Institution for Science that “Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes had an impact on the […]
Climate change and castration
Lead Sentence of the Week honors go to Alister Doyle of Reuters, whose news report begins: Indigenous Sami peoples in the Arctic may have found a way to help their reindeer herds cope with climate change: more castration. (Thanks to investigator John Karp for bringing this to our attention.) Further detail appears in a pair […]