(Believe it or not, all of these are actually true.)

1.  Reindeer can lie down on snow without melting it.

2.  They grow a new set of antlers every year, which grow through spring and summer and naturally fall off in winter.

3.  Reindeer are covered in hair from the tip of their nose to the bottom of their feet. Even their antlers grow a layer of fur called velvet.

4.  In extremely cold weather, reindeer can lower the temperature in their legs to just above freezing to minimise loss of body heat.

5.  Their feet make a clicking sound when they walk, caused by a tendon slipping over a bone. This is how they keep track of each other when visibility is poor.

6.  Male reindeer have an inflatable pouch of skin under their throat which amplifies their roar during the rutting season (reindeer love-making time).

7.  1 calendar year = 7 reindeer years. (So to them, our adoptions last 7 years!)

8.  Reindeer have special bones in their nose which increase the surface area of the nostrils so that cold air they inhale is warmed by their body before it gets to their lungs.

9.  A day-old calf can outrun a grown man.

10. In Finland, people used to measure distance in terms of how far a reindeer could run without having to stop for a pee.

If that doesn’t make you want to adopt one, we don’t know what will.

The message inside reads:

“This year the adoption scheme has reached its 21st year. We would like to thank you all for taking part in securing the future of the Cairngorm reindeer herd.”

Reindeer have actually been living in the Cairngorms for much longer – since 1952.

Read about the full history of the herd here.

Bernard

Blondie

Borneo

Brae

Crann

Dixie

Dougal

Fern

Grunter

Hopper

Jagger

Lulu

Minto (R.I.P. – we adopted his sister Carn instead)

Oz

Paintpot

Ringo

Sequin

Sholto

Tjakko

Toll

Vuoma

Here’s to re-adopting them in Christmas 2010!

Meet the newest members of the BD family.

Blondie

Pure white young female.

Birthday:  11 May 2006  |  Mother:  Glacier

Although named after a band, Blondie is deaf as a post! She has blue eyes, is very independent, and loves to roam free on the mountains.

Dixie

Dark-coloured young female.

Birthday:  7 May 2006  |  Mother:  Tjakko

Dixie is very friendly just like her mum, and only grows one antler just like her gran, Cherry. She is very tame and inquisitive but also extremely greedy.

Dougal

Dark-coloured Christmas reindeer.

Birthday:  11 May 2003  |  Mother:  Hazel

We decided on Dougal because we love Father Ted. (He’s probably as intelligent as Father Dougal McGuire.) He’s a strong adult reindeer who grows beautiful rounded antlers.

Hopper

Dark-coloured young female.

Birthday:  7 May 2007  |  Mother:  China

Hopper is very friendly and pretty, always the first to greet the herders on the mountains, but is very pushy for food!

Jagger

Dark-coloured male.

Birthday:  2 May 2006  |  Mother:  Chime

Jagger is friendly and grows big antlers. He is always one of the first around the bag at hand-feeding time. Can be a bit cheeky.

Oz

Dark-coloured male.

Birthday:  11 May 2005  |  Mother:  Ferrari

Oz is Ferrari’s youngest calf of 10. His colouring is unusual considering most of his family are white. He is very tame and loves to hand-feed.

Paintpot

Light-coloured male.

Birthday:  7 May 2008  |  Mother:  Shine

Paintpot earned his name because of the unusual markings on his  face and his one dark leg. He is very friendly and sometimes like to live in his own little world!

Ringo

Normal-coloured male.

Birthday:  10 May 2006  |  Mother:  Jade

Ringo is slightly timid but hand-feeds with a bit of encouragement. He’s one of the smallest in his year but grows good antlers.

Toll

Normal-coloured Christmas reindeer.

Birthday:  2 May 2003  |  Mother:  Coral

Quite bold and cheeky, Toll eagerly hand-feeds from visitors. His name is pronounced “towel”. We adopted him so we could make South Park jokes. “You’re a towel!”

Light-coloured female.

Birthday:  4 May 2003  |  Mother:  Polo

Carn is the one on the left. She’s quite shy but very friendly. She is also a sister of Sequin, who we’ve also adopted.

We are very upset by this news. It is especially sad because Minto was just 3 years old. He was one of our first adoptions and was really friendly to us when we visited the herd in Scotland.

As we have already adopted one of his sisters, Sequin, we have decided to transfer our adoption of Minto to his other sister, Carn.

We will post again soon to introduce her, along with our other upcoming nine adoptions.

After a ridiculously busy couple of months of non-reindeer-related work (sigh), we’ve just logged on to the blog to find hundreds more clicks of Reindeer Love waiting for us!

(If you love this antler heart wreath, it’s available to buy for just $160.00 – along with many other antler accessories – here.)

So we’ve finally reached our target of 1000 clicks – enough for 20 reindeer adoptions! Thanks to everyone who has been spreading the word. Because of you, 10 more reindeer will soon be very happy indeed, just like this chap:

The moment this post is finished, we shall be phoning the Reindeer People in Cairngorm and adopting left, right and centre! (That’s an expression, not the names of the reindeer.)

As soon as our adoption packs arrive in the post, we’ll give the usual introduction to the new members of our herd, so check back in a few days to meet them all.

After an incredibly busy week, it is now Friday evening and, instead of making a quick getaway from the office, we’re finally writing this post to introduce the four newest additions to the BD paddock (the reindeer we’ve adopted for the click milestones of 400, 450, 500 and 550).

In the time it has taken us to get round to writing this, we have now reached an amazing 600 clicks! Thanks to everyone who has clicked so far.

So, with another reindeer already in the bag (so to speak), we take great pleasure in welcoming the following four lovely lady reindeer to our growing herd.

Fern

 Normal-coloured young female.

Birthday:  5 May 2007  |  Mother:  Sequin

Very pretty like her mother, Fern loves to handfeed and is very tame. We have also adopted her mother, Sequin. Our first mother and daughter pair!

Sequin

 Light-coloured female.

Birthday:  9 May 2002  |  Mother:  Polo

Sequin is pretty and friendly and grows nice antlers, although she can be a bit greedy.

Lulu

 White female.

Birthday:  28 May 2006  |  Mother:  Nugget

Lulu (yes, named after the singer) is very friendly and grows pretty antlers. In fact, one of her previous antlers is now adorning our desk.

Tjakko

 Dark-coloured female.

Birthday:  8 May 2004  |  Mother:  Cherry

Tjakko’s name is Swedish, pronounced “Choco”. She is tame and friendly, loves Ikea and is a big fan of Ulrika Jonsson.

Well, we finally just got round to ringing the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre to adopt our next four reindeer (sorry, we’ve been very busy this week). We asked the lovely herder who spoke to us to pick some females who are calving (that means pregnant).

When looking through the list of our current adoptions, we realised they are all male! This wasn’t intentional – the Centre normally suggests males for adoption because you’re more likely to meet them if you visit the herd in Scotland, as the females tend to stay further away on the mountains.         But we figured since we have 8 boys already, it would be nice to adopt a few girls.

Our adoption packs will arrive in a few days, at which point we’ll post again to  introduce the newest members of the family.

Thanks to everyone who has shown their support and clicked our Reindeer Love Counter, we’ve now had enough clicks to adopt a total of 11 reindeer! (And that’s not including Bernard.)

The last time we rang the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre, just before Christmas, we adopted 7 for our first 350 clicks. That means we’re due for another 4 adoptions, so we’ll be calling them today.

We are now over halfway to our target of 1000 clicks and 20 reindeer! So if you’d like to help us get there, send your friends the link to this blog and invite them to join our Facebook group.

Love from everyone at BD, Bernard, Borneo, Brae, Crann, Grunter, Minto, Sholto and Vuoma.