Western Siberia, Russia

This scene is an original illustration set in Western Siberia, Russia. It lies in high latitudes, where the climate is subarctic — long freezing winters, brief summers.

A herd of antlered reindeer paws through snow for lichen. A single conical pole-and-hide tent stands to one side with a thin line of smoke rising. Sparse stunted spruce mark the forest edge behind, and at midday the sun sits barely above the horizon.

Why do reindeer paw through the snow in winter?

Reindeer are the only large herbivore that digests lichen, which is what makes winter grazing possible where nothing green survives — and the pawing is how they reach it. A conical tent sheds snow and centres a fire. Stunted spruce thinning out marks the tree line itself, and a noon sun this low fixes the latitude near the Arctic Circle in early winter.

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