Christmas Reindeer: Free Printable PDF Sheet

Christmas Reindeer: History & Fun Facts

Quick Facts

• Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are the only deer species in which both males and females grow antlers.
• Wild reindeer in North America are called caribou; in Europe and Asia the same species is called reindeer.
• Real reindeer have concave, wide hooves that act like snowshoes, perfectly adapted for life on Arctic snow and ice.
• Santa's eight original reindeer were named in the 1823 poem: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen.
• Rudolph was invented in 1939 by Robert L. May as a Christmas booklet for Montgomery Ward department stores.
• Reindeer can see ultraviolet light — a useful ability in the Arctic, where snow and ice reflect UV that most mammals cannot perceive.

The Real Animal Behind the Legend

Long before they were pulling Santa's sleigh through Christmas Eve skies, reindeer were one of the most important animals in the lives of people living in Arctic and subarctic regions. The Sámi people of northern Scandinavia — the part of the world most closely associated with Santa's mythological homeland — have herded reindeer for thousands of years. Reindeer provided meat, milk, fur, leather, and transportation. Pulling sleds loaded with goods across snow-covered terrain was a practical, everyday function for domesticated reindeer in northern Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. It is not surprising that when European storytellers and illustrators imagined a gift-giver traveling through the frozen north, they pictured him with reindeer.

Real reindeer are remarkably well adapted to extreme cold. Their noses are lined with an unusually dense network of blood vessels that warm inhaled air before it reaches the lungs. Their fur is hollow at the shaft, providing excellent insulation. They have large, crescent-shaped hooves that spread under their weight, preventing them from sinking into snow — and that can also be used as paddles when crossing rivers and lakes. Unlike most deer, female reindeer also grow antlers, though somewhat smaller than the males'. Males shed their antlers in early winter, while females keep theirs through the spring. This means that if Santa's reindeer are depicted with antlers on Christmas Eve, they are technically all female.

Jingle Bells and Reindeer Harness

The bells on a reindeer collar in Christmas illustrations are not purely decorative — they reflect a real practice. Sled dogs and draft animals in northern regions often wore bells on their harness so that other travelers on narrow forest paths could hear them approaching from a distance and move aside. For reindeer pulling sleds in snowbound Scandinavian forests, a set of bells served the same navigational purpose. Over time, the sound became associated with festive winter travel and eventually with the magical approach of Santa's sleigh. The song "Jingle Bells," written in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont, was originally composed for Thanksgiving but became one of the most instantly recognizable Christmas songs in the world — and it features not reindeer, but horses. The association between jingle bells and Christmas reindeer developed later, cemented by decades of holiday imagery and decoration.