Reindeer and the quest for Scottish enlichenment

• Published in: i-Perception
• Main Authors: Nathaniel J. Dominy, Catherine Hobaiter, Julie M. Harris
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SAGE Publishing 2023
• Subjects: Psychology; BF1-990; Arctic; The Cones; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1177/20416695231218520; https://doaj.org/article/f5da3bc5eece4a1d96ac60e71125ccfb

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.