The concept of a team of reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh through the air is a relatively modern tradition dating back to Clement Clarke Moore's poem of 1822 poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas". Better known today as "The Night Before Christmas" he describes Saint Nicholas being pulled by a team of eight reindeer named Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner & Blitzen. Their companion Rudolph didn't join the team until 1939 when Robert L May wrote the poem/story about the red nosed reindeer.

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw him, you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. Then one foggy Christmas Eve Santa came to say: "Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" Then all the reindeer loved him as they shouted out with glee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, you'll go down in history!

Of course, real reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) can't fly, but a day old calf can out-run a man. Reindeer are semi-domesticated animals which live in the arctic and sub-arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia. They have been herded for centuries by the arctic peoples who raise them for their meat, hides, antlers and, to a lesser extent, for milk and transportation. In traditional fashion the herders migrate with their reindeer between coast and inland areas according to an annual migration route, and the herds are keenly tended.

Reindeer have wide hooves to stop them from sinking into the snow and their coat is one of the thickest and densest of any animal. They are so well-insulated that even when lying in the snow, they don't give off any heat and thus don't melt the snow. They are the only deer in which both males and females have antlers though the males shed theirs after the rutting season.

During the winter, the reindeer's diet is mainly moss and lichen; in summer it diet broadens to include herbs, grasses, cotton grass, leaves, twigs, bulbs, shoots, and, of course, fungi.