Reindeer and the quest for Scottish enlichenment
In the hall of animal oddities, the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) is the only mammal with a color-shifting tapetum lucidum and the only ruminant with a lichen-dominated diet. These puzzling traits coexist with yet another enigma––ocular media that transmit up to 60% of ultraviolet (UV) light, enoug...
| Published in: | i-Perception |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2023
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695231218520 https://doaj.org/article/f5da3bc5eece4a1d96ac60e71125ccfb |
| Summary: | In the hall of animal oddities, the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) is the only mammal with a color-shifting tapetum lucidum and the only ruminant with a lichen-dominated diet. These puzzling traits coexist with yet another enigma––ocular media that transmit up to 60% of ultraviolet (UV) light, enough to excite the cones responsible for color vision. It is unclear why any day-active circum-Arctic mammal would benefit from UV visual sensitivity, but it could improve detection of UV-absorbing lichens against a background of UV-reflecting snows, especially during the extended twilight hours of winter. To explore this idea and advance our understanding of reindeer visual ecology, we recorded the reflectance spectra of several ground-growing (terricolous), shrubby (fruticose) lichens in the diets of reindeer living in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland. |
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