How Reindeer See Their Food In Dark Arctic Winters

Researchers suggest that the reindeer’s eyes are primed to enable them to locate Cladonia rangiferina, a white moss, during the winter, when it would otherwise be most difficult to spot.

In the Arctic regions, where reindeer live, their staple food is a white lichen. To humans, the white lichen would not be visible from afar in the snowy Arctic. Yet the reindeer’s eyes have evolved in a manner that enables them to spot their food even in the dark, a new study has found.

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In the Arctic regions, where reindeer live, their staple food is a white lichen, Cladonia rangiferina, generally known as reindeer moss, although it isn’t really moss. To humans, the white lichen would not be visible from afar in the snowy Arctic. Yet the reindeer’s eyes have evolved in a manner that enables them to spot their food even in the dark, a new study has found. The study, conducted by researchers from Dartmouth College and University of St. Andrews, has been published in