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Lease our reindeer for your tree lot,
shopping mall or tree farm!
The 8 beautiful
reindeer have moved into a brand new enclosure!
The newest Reindeer was named by customer Vicki Gullett who picked
Selltic as the name!
 
More about our Reindeer
The animals in our enclosure
are domestic reindeer-- not wild caribou. Reindeer, like other ruminants,
eat their food in a hurry and chew their cud while resting. Large hooves
allow their feet to spread on soft ground and in the snow, making movement
for the animal easy. The popping or cracking sound they make while moving is
caused by a snapping of the tendons in the hooves over anklebones.
Moss
and lichen buried under the snow provide the nutrients needed by the
reindeer to survive during the long winters of the Arctic regions. Reindeer
can detect this food up to three feet under the snow, and with those large
hooves, paw and dig for it. The reindeer's coat is thick with a hollow outer
hair covering a dense underfur. It allows the reindeer to withstand the
extreme cold of its northern environment.
Reindeer are native to
northern Europe but were introduced to Alaska in the 1890's from Siberia,
and later from Scandinavia. Our original two reindeer came to Ohio in 1996
from a herd near Cold Water, MI. This herd of 600 was flown from Alaska to
Michigan. There are presently about 3500 reindeer in the lower 48 states.
The Sami people use Reindeer antler, bones and hides in the making of
many useful and decorative items. Some of these can be seen and purchased in
our gift shop.Antlers There is probably no single feature of
reindeer that has fascinated humans more than the Antler. Among mammals the
antler is the only organ that is fully regenerated, and the only organ
composed of bone to be regenerated by any vertebrate. During
regeneration a full complement of hair and fatty glands develops. Nerves
grow at the same rate as the developing antler. The antler is used as a
display of social status, a weapon, a back scratcher and for knocking down
food. The antler growth cycles are directly attributed to seasonal
photoperiods, which influence the flow of the reindeer’s various growth
hormones and steroid activity. When the velvet is shed, nerves around
the pedicle remain functional and re-grow when the antler begins to grow the
following season. The antlers on male reindeer drop in December/January and
begin to grow in March or April. In female reindeer, the antler drops off in
May and begins to grow immediately after the calves are born. Calves begin
to grow antlers several days after they are born. Mature antler is
similar to skeletal bone and the tensile strength is similar to the human
tibia. Antler has a high elasticity and is much less brittle than ivory. It
can absorb a high amount of energy without breaking. Antler is about 25%
calcium, 19% phosphorus, 85 water and 39% organic matter.
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