A reindeer in the summertime.
They must survive the long arctic winter of little daylight and freezing temperatures.
For reindeer, the latter technique is critical to survival.
A reindeer in the summertime. (Photo: Are G Nilsen viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED)
A layer of fat is protective and sustainingand that fat comes from ambitious eating.
A recent study inCurrent Biologydiscovered the reindeers don’t waste any time.
The study tracked the bodily functions of four captive Eurasian tundra reindeer in Norway.
Reindeer are clever creatures. (Photo: Perhols viaWikimedia Commons,CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED)
The deer also seemed dozy, less likely to react and more sedated.
The ruminating did not tire the reindeer, instead they were able to rest.
The discovery of this special reindeer talent adds to the corpus of scientific knowledge on sleep.
The traditional way to look at it is that when youre sleeping, youre not eating.
But in this case theres no time to sleep.
They must find a clever way to combine the two, and this is what they do.
These multi-talented creatures are certainly an efficiency inspiration.
Reindeer are clever creatures.
