Scientists say reindeer may be shrinking due to warming

SANTA might need to recruit a few extra reindeer this festive season. They’re shrinking, according to scientists, and climate change is to blame.

Wild reindeer foraging for food on the island of Spitsbergen which is part of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway. Picture: Ben Birchall/PA

SANTA might need to recruit a few extra reindeer this festive season.

Reindeer living on the Arctic island of Svalbard are getting smaller, according to scientists, who say climate change may be the cause.

Scientists from Britain and Norway have found that adult reindeer from Svalbard born in 2010 weigh 12 per cent less on average than those born in 1994.

Ecologist Steve Albon of Scotland’s James Hutton Institute says rising temperatures in the Arctic mean Svalbard is getting more rain, creating a hard ice sheet the island’s reindeer can’t easily break through to reach food. The hungry mammals either lose their calves, or the babies are born smaller.

Reindeer typically use their antlers to find plants buried in the snow, which covers the ground in Svalbard for about eight months of the year.

Norway’s Svalbard archipelago is about 800 miles (1,287km) from the North Pole.

Reindeer populations are also increasing due to warmer summers, stoking competition.

Albon says researchers think there is a correlation between rising temperatures and reindeer weight. He says more research is needed to confirm the link.

Scientists noted reindeer could grow larger if the winter season becomes so warm that ice melts completely.

Their findings were presented Monday at a meeting of the British Ecological Society.

A reindeer sled caravan in Tromso in Arctic Norway. Picture: Getty News