Reindeer Crossing the Finnmark Tundra

Reindeer Crossing the Finnmark Tundra is an original illustration set in Finnmark Plateau, Norway. It lies in the polar circle, where the climate is subarctic — long freezing winters, brief summers.

A loose herd crosses wind-brushed autumn tundra, the foreground adults showing branching antlers and compact bodies with pale flanks. Low shrubs have turned red and gold across the open ground, and the horizon is unbroken by trees.

Why do female reindeer grow antlers too?

Both sexes carry antlers in this species, which is unusual and lets females defend feeding craters in snow through winter. Hooves splay wide to spread weight on snow and boggy ground, then harden in winter to cut through crust. Tundra turning colour above the tree line marks the end of a very short growing season at high latitude.

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