Reindeer Lapbook

 

We’ve done a few lapbooks before, but this is the first one that I’ve done all the research and set up by myself.  I’m going to provide all the required info here in this blog post, and the lapbook parts will be available by download. 

This is how we set up our lapbook!  It’s not quite finished.  The large reindeer coloring page is one the back.

 

 

Reindeer

In North America the Reindeer is commonly referred to as Caribou despite that they are of the same genus.

Reindeer Classification: Rangifer tarandus
Kingdom – Animal
Phylum – Chordata (having backbones)
Class – Mammal (live birth, warm blooded, fur, milk for young)
Order – Artiodactyla (even-toed, hoofed animals)
Sub-Order – Cervidae
Family – Capreolinae
Genus – Rangifer
Species – R. tarandus

Reindeer live in the artic and subarctic regions and usually in tundra and taiga.  In the present they are mostly found in Norway, Finland, Siberia, Greenland, Alaska, and Canada.

Antlers:
Reindeer are the only mammals in which the male and female grow antlers.  The adult males lose their antlers in December, young males in early spring, and females in the summer.

Diet:
Reindeer are ruminants (meaning they have a 4 chambered stomach).  They eat lichens (reindeer moss in particular), leaves of willows and birches, sedges, and grasses.

Predators:
Golden Eagle, Brown Bears and Polar Bears, Gray Wolf.

Migration:
Reindeer are the longest terrestrial mammal.  They travel up to 5000km (3100 mi) a year.  They can swim and will cross rivers and lakes while migrating.

Vision:
Reindeer are the only mammals who can see ultraviolet light.  This is thought to help during the winter in the artic while searching for food.

Fur:
Reindeer have two layers of fur: the undercoat and overcoat.  The undercoat is made of thick wooly fur.  The overcoat is made of long hair that is hollow inside.  It provides insulation during the winter.  The reindeer’s fur thins during the summer months.

Hooves:
In the summer the reindeer’s hooves are spongelike to provide traction on rocks.  In the winter the hooves shrink and harden so they can cut into ice.  They are also able to dig into the snow and ice to get to reindeer moss with the harder hooves (A process called cratering)

Life cycle:
Baby – fawn
Female – doe
Male – buck
Group – herd

Vocabulary:
Ruminant
Buck
Doe
Fawn
Bellow
Herd
Cud
Lichen
Migration
Herbivore
Cratering

Information gathered from wikipedia.org.
Reindeer

To Download the Reindeer Lapbook, go HERE and scroll to the bottom!

 

Also, check out other Reindeer Pages!
Reindeer Pack, Glyph. and Color-by-number Vocab
Reindeer Pack by 3 Dinosaurs
Reindeer Pinterest Page
Reindeer Books