Rudolph's glowing red nose caught on camera

RUDOLPH'S glowing red nose has long captured the imaginations of children worldwide - and now it's been caught on camera for all to see.

RUDOLPH'S glowing red nose has long captured the imaginations of children worldwide - and now it's been caught on camera for all to see.

A bunch of researches determined to expose the phenomenon setup camp at the Zoo of Nordic Animals in Sweden.

Using a thermographic camera the researches filmed reindeer and were able to capture their noses lighting up like a light bulb - just in time for Christmas.

It's a long-held belief that Rudolph's nose glows "so bright'' to guide Santa's sleigh through the night.

So bright ... a thermographic camera captures a reindeer's glowing red nose.

But as Professor of Functional Zoology at Lund University Ronald Kroger explained, it also serves another, lifesaving purpose: it's red because of the rich supply of blood the animal needs to pump to its nose to keep it from freezing.

"When reindeer are feeding, their mules are exposed to very low temperatures as they look for food under the snow," Prof Kroger said.

"They need to maintain sensitivity in order to know what they're actually eating."

Prof Kroger said not all mammals operate like reindeer.

"Dogs are the exact opposite to reindeer. Nobody knows why their noses are cold and why they have evolved that way. That is what we want to find out," he said.

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