Rangifer tarandus

The reindeer or caribou is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only representative of the genus Rangifer. More recent studies suggest the splitting of reindeer and caribou. "All caribou and reindeer throughout the world are considered to be the same species, but there are 7 subspecies."

Rangifer tarandus

Are G Nilsen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
reindeerPBDB
Sits inside
RangiferPBDB
Diet
grazer, browserPBDB, for Cervidae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Cervidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 1.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 1.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 116 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 0 of 116 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 55 of 116 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 60 of 116 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.3–2.1 Mya — about 1 occurrence2.1–1.8 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.8–1.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.5–1.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.3–1.0 Mya — about 1 occurrence1.0–775 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 3 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 99 occurrences1.8 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

116 occurrences of Rangifer tarandus on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

116 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

American Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WOberer Travertin I — 50.97°N, 11.35°ETen Mile Hills Beds — 32.98°N, 80.17°WWando — 33.01°N, 80.06°WKap Kobenhavn — 82.47°N, 21.02°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Rangifer tarandus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 111 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

690 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 115 sites for Rangifer tarandus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

67 references

Each of the 116 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 55 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Rangifer tarandus

Credit
Are G Nilsen
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

Laser scan

Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Rangifer tarandus tarandus · KU:KUM:2271

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itRangifer through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)