Santa's Reindeer

[JesusA (imported)]

Wildlife Experts Ponder Gender

of Santa's Reindeer

BETSY BLANEY

Huffington Post

December 19, 2008

LUBBOCK, Texas — There may be a perfectly good reason why Santa doesn't get lost on his annual Christmas globetrot: His flying reindeer just might be female and don't mind stopping for directions.

The gender of Rudolph and his or her sleigh-hauling friends – the subject of goofy Internet chatter every year around this time – is now being pondered by renowned wildlife experts at Texas A&M University.

"Santa's reindeers were really females, most likely," said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa's helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas.

But Santa's sleigh helpers might also be castrated males, known as steers, said Greg Finstad, who manages the Reindeer Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Young steers finish shedding their antlers in February and March, just as non-expecting females do. Bulls generally lose theirs before Christmas, while expectant mothers retain their antlers until calves are birthed in the spring. This allows them to protect food resources through harsh weather and to have enough for developing fetuses, he said.

Sledders most often use steers because they maintain their body condition throughout the winter, he said. Bulls are tuckered out from rutting season when they mate with as many as a dozen females in the months leading up to December. That leaves them depleted and too lean to pull a sleigh or sled through heavy snows, Finstad said.

Many females are pregnant after rutting season, which lasts from summer and into the fall. That would mean long hours of backbreaking work for an expecting Rudolph, as well as Donner, Blitzen, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Comet and Vixen.

"You don't hook up your pregnant females to a sled," Finstad said. "That is not good animal husbandry."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/1 ... 52294.html

And, from among the many comments on the item:

That's right, little Timmy, Santa rides on a magical sleigh, that is pulled by 9 castrated eunuchs.

 And if you don't behave this year... guess what?

[theGelded1 (imported)]

I knew Rudolf was gelded because of his red nose.

[Paolo]

A castrated eunuch?

In the dictionary under "redundant," does it say "see also 'redundant'"?

Better be good, Timmy...

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

I was always a little tired after ruttung season. --FLO--

[Dave (imported)]

That's so much more about reindeer than I ever wanted to know.

One thing that I don't understand, if Santa's reindeer fly by magic, maybe the magic has a rejuvenating effect? I dunno. After all, Donner is one of Wotan's sons and Blitzen means lighning in German. Dasher is a pretty dashing name and Prancer, well Prancer might be the black sheep of the family.

[Paolo]

There is a purely scientific explanation for flying reindeer.

1. They have hollow, light bones, like birds.

2. Their antlers are actually helium collectors.

3. High body temperature. (Warm air rises)

4. The design of their hair forces updraft, much like miniature feathers.

5. The minerals in their hooves have anti-gravity properties.

[Arab Nights (imported)]

Did they ever consider the possibility of redneck reindeer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBfX_hkG ... re=related

Redneck reindeer rut all year long. They work the same whether rutting, knocked up or hungover. And you'd have a red nose if you drank what they drink.