When I was a little tad, I remember my grandfathers telling me of the old days, before the Depression, when they both farmed with horses. There were a few pictures around of the beasts: big, strong plow horses with magnificent thick, arched necks, broad chests, and huge hooves made for digging into wet spring soils to pull a plow or a harrow. I always wished I’d seen those amazing animals for myself.
But I also remember, back in those long-ago days, wondering why Santa Claus used reindeer to pull his sleigh when such big, strong beasts were available. Well, it turns out that old Kris Kringle had a good reason; reindeer are in fact perfectly suited for pulling sleighs.
What makes reindeer the perfect animal to pull Santa’s sleigh?
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center Executive Director Sarah “Howie” Howard says they are biologically engineered for this…
