Status of Rangifer tarandus in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia

Caribous (Rangifer tarandus) in northern Fennoscandia (northern Norway, Sweden and Finland) as well in Kola Peninsula in Russia, are all semi-wild Domestic Reindeers (Rangifer tarandus f. domestica / Rangifer tarandus domesticus), ear-marked by their owners and living in large fenced areas.

There are only two genetically pure populations of wild caribous in Northern Europe:

1) Only genetically pure wild Mountain Reindeers (Rangifer tarandus ssp. tarandus) live in central Norway, and the population in 2007 was between 6000 and 8400 animals. [1]

2) Wild Forest Reindeers (Rangifer tarandus ssp. fennicus) live in central and eastern Finland and in Russian Karelia. Total population is nowadays about 4350 animals. In addition to those there are still 1500 in Arkhangelsk and 2500 in Kom (the question of the taxonomic status of wild reindeer of Arkhangelsk province and Komi Republic is open and requires special research). [2]

Based on the above, I recommend removing Rangifer tarandus from the Finnish, Swedish and Russian Check Lists, and adding Rangifer tarandus tarandus to Norwegian Check List and the Rangifer tarandus fennicus To Checklists of Finland and Russia.

What is the status of Rangifer tarandus tarandus in Sweden, is uncertain. Have those Norwegian Mountain Reindeers ever migrated to Sweden?

References:

[1] Birgitte Uldevadet, University of Tromsø
https://web.archive.org/web/20070611235100/http://www.sami.uit.no/srh/norge.pdf#page=14)

[2] State Forest Enterprise of FInland
http://www.suomenpeura.fi/en/home-page.html

Publicado el febrero 14, 2017 12:54 TARDE por highlatitudenaturalist