Reindeer is an even-hoofed, ruminant mammal, belonging to the deer bloodline.

 Reindeer inhabits tundra and forest-tundra. It was one of the first animals to domesticate. It serves as a means of transport, as well as produces meat and skin. All the year round it lives in a herd, in the open air, and feeds on lichen. Reindeer is closely connected with aboriginal northern peoples of Russia: Nenets, Lapps, Khanty, Enets, Nganasans. People’s living in tundra without reindeer makes no sense. For the aboriginal people reindeer is first of all a friend and a helpmate. It gives the shelter, for the northern habitation called ‘chum’ is covered with deer’s skin; reindeer’s team is almost the only means of transport, besides, it is the most ecofriendly and gentle for tundra way of transportation. The own herd for a nomad is in some way a ‘bankbook in tundra’. This animal is also a guarantor of biological balance; but for the reindeer, fragile ecosystems of the Near Arctic region would be destroyed.