Svalbard Reindeer by Kai Müller

About "Svalbard Reindeer"

by Kai Müller

About the artwork

The Svalbard reindeer has experienced many ups and downs: migrating from the Russian Arctic thousands of years ago, it has evolved into its own subspecies (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus). In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was hunted so heavily that the population was wiped out in many parts of its range. It is estimated that there were only perhaps 1,000 animals left when the species was placed under protection in 1925 - the same year that the Svalbard Treaty came into force, allowing the Norwegian government to take legal action. Svalbard reindeer can travel long distances, including over frozen fjords and even drift ice, otherwise they would never have reached Svalbard. But they don't necessarily do that, because their normal way of life is to stay where they are as long as the conditions are suitable. So it takes time: after local extinction, many decades can pass before reindeer find their way back to remote parts of the Svalbard archipelago. In addition, local populations are subject to strong short-term fluctuations: In bad years, for example when rain on the snow-covered ground in winter covers the tundra with a hard crust of ice, making the vegetation inaccessible, a considerable part of the population starves to death in spring. According to biologist Le Moullec, however, this usually only becomes a problem when the population is already so high that the remaining accessible areas can no longer feed the population: A classic case of self-regulation of a natural ecosystem. In addition, the risk of falling increases in icy terrain: in the winter of 2018-19, several reindeer died in the vicinity of Longyearbyen, for example in Bjørndalen, after falling from steep slopes.