Reindeers in the Arctic die starving
#Rendieren Researchers from the Norwegian Pole Institute have found hundreds of dead reindeer located 1200 kilometers from the North Pole. Animals starved last winter because weather conditions change. Reindeers die every winter, but it has only happened once before that such a large number of starving animals were discovered and that was in 2008. The researchers count each year the number of reindeer on Svalbard, an archipelago of glaciers and frozen tudras between Norway and the Arctic. One of the researchers, Åshild Ønvik Pedersen, told the public broadcaster NRK to be shocked by the find.
The reindeer that still live in the area are much skinner than usual. In December, the area was hit by heavy rainfall, until previously very unusual. The rainwater freezes when it lands on the tundra and the layer of ice makes the plant growth unattainable for the grazing reindeer. They had to resort to seaweed along the coast, but that is much less nutritious. The reindeer are also trying to find food on the cliffs driven by hunger, which is called the 'mountain goat strategy'. These expeditions are dangerous for the animals because the cliffs are very steep.
The reindeer is the largest herbivore of the Arctic Circle. They graze the tundra's and thus maintain plant growth. Should the reindeer disappear from the landscape, this has major consequences for the area.
Source: Joop
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