The Finnish forest reindeer (Finnish: metsäpeura, Russian: лесной северный олень), also known as Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) or European forest reindeer is a rare subspecies of the reindeer native to Finland and northwestern Russia. They are found primarily in Russian Karelia and the provinces of North Karelia, Savonia and Kainuu in Finland, though some range into central south Finland. They are distinct from the semi-domesticated mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in their larger size, longer legs and preference for dense boreal forest habitat, where they are rarely seen by humans, over the open tundra. The Finnish herd migrates seasonally back and forth across the long Russo-Finnish border.
Physical Characteristics The Finnish forest reindeer is one of the largest subspecies of reindeer. It is 180–220 cm long and the tail 10–15 cm. The adult male is larger, weighing 150–250 kg, while adult females weigh about 100 kg. Their longer legs, wide hooves and narrower V-shaped antlers facilitate movement through deep snow and wooded habitats."Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus)", Outdoors.fi (copyright Metsähallitus 2010) . Accessed 11 April 2010. Their antlers are more V-shaped and less spread out. This "slim" profile allows them to run through dense brush and timber without getting tangled. "Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus)", Outdoors.fi (copyright Metsähallitus 2010) . Accessed 11 April 2010.
Range and status In the 17th century, the Finnish forest reindeer ranged throughout Finland and western Russia. Hunting, reindeer husbandry and habitat degradation through forestry led to their near complete extinction in Finland by the end of the 19th century. In 1700, in Russia the population was concentrated in Kandalaksha (Kantalahti) and Lake Onega (Äänisjärvi)) but hunting and reindeer farming wiped them out in that area as well. In 1979 to 1980 they were introduced from Kainuu, Finland to middle Finland to Salamajärvi National Park. A small population of some 1,000 also thrive in Southern Ostrobothnia. While their populations have been recovering in Finland, it has been suggested that an increasing, returning wolf population may be partially responsible for slowing the recovery."Experts concerned about collapse of wild forest reindeer population", Helsingin Sanomat – International Edition, 11 April 2007, accessed 11.04.10
In 2013 Finnish and Russian researchers began a collaborative comprehensive population study using telemetry tags, collars linked to satellites to track the populations of the rare and threatened Rangifer tarandus fennicus, which is found in eastern Finland and northwest Russia. The estimates for the Finland population ranges from 850 reindeer to up to 2,000 or 3,000.According to an article published in Alaska Dispatch in October 2013, while the wild Finnish forest reindeer are in decline, the semi-domesticated mountain reindeer, which are kept separated from the wild reindeer, have a population of at least 200,000. The Finnish Ministry of the Environment considers the subspecies to be Near Threatened.
Ecology Finnish forest reindeer use the Metsola Biosphere Reserve (MBR) for summer pastures, rutting and calving, while some of these animals also use this area as winter pastures. Telemetry showed that some individual migrated in winter across the Russian-Finnish border, a distance of < 50 km. They have a harem-guarding mating system (Panchenko et al. 2021),Panchenko DV, Paasivaara A, Hyvärinen M, Krasovskij YA (2021) The wild forest reindeer, Rangifer tarandus fennicus, in the Metsola Biosphere Reserve, northwest Russia. Nature Conservation Research [Заповедная наука] 6(Suppl.1): 116-126. that differs from the aggregated rutting, individual mate-tending, and synchronized calving system of tundra caribou.
Evolution
Reindeer originated in a late Pliocene North American-Beringian radiation of New World deer (Geist 1998).Geist V (1998) Deer of the world: their evolution, behavior, and ecology. Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 421 pp. A frontoparietal skull fragment of Rangifer sp. from the Early Pleistocene of Omsk, Russia dates back to 2.1-1.8 Ma and suggests northern Eurasia as a center of reindeer origin (Bondarev et al. 2017).Bondarev AA, Tesakov AS, Simakova AN, Dorogov AL (2017) Reindeer (Rangifer) from Early Pleistocene of the south of Western Siberia (in Russian). In: Bogdanov AA, others (Eds) Integrative palaeontology: development prospects for geological objectives, material of the LXIII session of the Palaeontological Society, April, 3-7, 2017. Sankt-Peterburg, 173-175. Its pedicles (antler bases), unlike modern reindeer, are inclined backward and set parallel to each other, demonstrating the primitive morphology for archaic cervids.
Van Kolfschoten et al. (2011)van Kolfschoten T, van der Jagt I, Beeren Z, Argiti V, van der Leije J, van Essen H, Busschers FS, Stoel P, van der Plicht H ( 2011) A remarkable collection of Late Pleistocene reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) remains from Woerden (The Netherlands): 4-11. Quaternary International 238: 4-11. reported fossils of reindeer in Europe from the early Middle Pleistocene of Germany, France, and England. One of the earliest fossils, an unnamed, large reindeer from Moldova"is an archaic form of reindeer that arrived in Europe during the earlier expansion of the species. It equals in size the modern forest North American subspecies R. t caribou and R. t. terranovae... Its long metapodials [carpal and tarsal bones) with narrow epiphyses indicate adaptation to the wooded landscape" (Croitor 2010).Croitor R (2010) Preliminary data on reindeer fossils from the Palaeolithic site Rascov-8 (eastern Moldova) with remarks on systematics and evolution of Upper Pleistocene reindeer. Ştiinţele Naturii 1: 323-330.Among the later fossil reindeer forms, Cervus [Rangifer] guettardi — large, but with relatively small teeth — originated in a small Western Europe refugium and was a likely ancestor of R. fennicus. R. guettardi persisted into the Holocene, with dates of 11,000 and 7,200 years ago. It was apparently contemporaneous with Cervus (Rangifer) bucklandii, which was even larger than guettardi (Croitor 2018). All of these are relatively large, “primitive” forest forms that do not have the modern adaptations to grassland or to extreme cold of later types.Croitor R (2018) Plio-Pleistocene deer of Western Palearctic: taxonomy, systematics, phylogeny. Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Chișinău, 142 pp.
In contrast, all known Middle and Late Pleistocene reindeer of Eurasia — except the forest forms mentioned above — share with the advanced American barren-ground caribou a peculiar specialized antler shape with the short distance between the first and second tines. One such, R. tarandus constantini, represents “an extreme adaptation of reindeer to grazing in open, dry, periglacial environments.” It dispersed westward during the last glacial maximum (21,000 – 18,000 years BP), mixed with and replaced local European reindeer forms. Its “relatively short limb bones, simple long antlers with small palmations and large cheek-teeth mark it as an open-landscape grazer.” (Croitor 2018) Its food habits may have been similar to those of the fossil reindeer from Alaska that displayed a heavy occlusal tooth wear for young and adult animals that reflects a very abrasive diet (Rivals & Solounias 2007).Rivals F, Solounias N (2007) Differences in tooth microwear of populations of caribou (Rangifer tarandus, Ruminantia, Mammalia) and implications to ecology, migration, glaciations and dental evolution. Journal of Mammal Evolution 14: 182-192. Unlike modern reindeer, however, the volume of nasal cavity of R. tarandus constantini was small, indicating that this Paleolithic reindeer had not yet evolved adaptations to cold air breathing (Flerov 1952).Flerov CC (1952) Mammals: Musk deer and deer. In: Fauna of the USSR. Academy of Sciences, Moscow and Leningrad, USSR, 222-247. R. t. constantini was followed by — and may have been an ancestor of — modern tundra reindeer that dispersed from Beringia during or after the last glacial maximum (LGM).
The above picture is one of primitive reindeer evolving in northern Eurasia in the Late Pliocene or earliest Pleistocene, spreading westward into Europe (and eastward into North America) and adapting to forests during an early Pleistocene interstadial when tundra retreated and forests expanded. When another ice age came and forests retreated, grassland- and then tundra-adapted “modern” reindeer evolved and spread throughout northern Eurasia; but the forest types, descended from guettardi or other archaic forest forms, persisted in Western European refugia and evolved into the Eurasian forest reindeer (R. fennicus). Isolated populations then split into Finnish forest reindeer (R. f. fennicus); Siberian forest reindeer (R. f. valentinae); the narrow-nosed forest reindeer found east of Lake Baikal (R. t. angustirostris); and the Kamchatkan reindeer (R. t. phylarchus). However, since forest and tundra reindeer do not share a direct common ancestor, they cannot be subspecies of the same species, according to the principles of phylogenetic species and subspecies definition.Groves CP (2017) Phylogenetic species concept. The International Encyclopedia of Primatology: 1-2.
Taxonomy Forest reindeer are classified as a subspecies of Eurasian tundra reindeer, Rangifer tarandus fennicus.
Although Carl Linnaeus named reindeer in 1758,Linnæi [Linnæus] C (1758) Systema Naturae Systema naturæ per regna tria naturæ: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis Edition 10 Tomus 1. Vol. 1, Laurentii Salvii, Holmæi [Stockholm], 824 pp. and naturalists and trained taxonomists since then named many species of reindeer, the Finnish forest reindeer was not described until 1909 as a subspecies of Eurasian tundra reindeer: Rangifer tarandus fennicus Lönnberg, 1909.Lönnberg E (1909) Taxonomic notes about Palearctic reindeer. Arkiv för Zoologi 6: 1-17. Miller Jr. (1912),Miller Jr. GS (1912) Catalogue of the mammals of Western Europe (Europe exclusive of Russia) in the collection of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History), London, U.K., 1019 pp. recognizing its consistent morphological differences from tundra reindeer—larger body, longer legs and “skull with nasal bones narrow and highly arched; teeth relatively small”—elevated it to full species, R. fennicus. When later taxonomists named other forest reindeer in Russia as subspecies of R. fennicus because of their obvious morphological and ecological similarity as noted above under Evolution, the Finnish forest reindeer became a subspecies by monotypy: R. fennicus fennicus. Lönnberg designated the type locality as Enontekiö, Finnish Lappland, Finland.