Reindeer Blog » Iceland

Track Icelandic Reindeer Online!

Philip Burgess — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:01:52 +0000

(Souece – Iceland Review, mbl.is) It is now possible to monitor the movements of reindeer on the website of the East Iceland Nature Center (NA). GPS monitors have been placed on 12 females for research purposes, which transmit their location on a daily basis.

“A new world has opened up to us: how the animals behave, what land they use and where they go,” Skarphédinn G. Thórisson, a NA employee and the project’s leader, told mbl.is.

The project, which was launched in 2008, is Thórisson’s Master’s thesis from the Agricultural University of Iceland (AUI) in Hvanneyri.

In 2009, NA and AUI received a grant from Rannís, the Icelandic Center for Research, to purchase 15 GPS monitors and 12 thereof were placed on selected animals in the beginning of 2009.

The information will be used to organize the harnessing of the reindeer stock, not only regarding how many animals can be shot and where, but also regarding how landowners should be benefitted.

The 12 females carrying GPS monitors are all part of the so-called Snaefell herd, which roams the eastern highland off Fljótsdalur valley, and the Álftafjördur herd, which stays around the eponymous fjord and near-lying areas.

However, most of the GPS monitors have since gone silent as the battery only lasts for a limited time. “Today four females transmit daily,” Thórisson said, adding that he hopes the silent monitors will continue to register information which can be uploaded to a computer after they have been recovered.

The project’s purpose is also to monitor how reindeer are influenced by human intervention, such as the presence of power plants. Landsvirkjun, the national power company, pays part of the research cost. The project concludes in 2012.

On na.is, visitors can click on the names of the reindeer that are being monitored and follow their movements (see “Hreindýr med GPS” in the right column and click on “Ána”, for example).

Iceland’s Reindeer and the Volcano…

Philip Burgess — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:20:36 +0000

While the world has heard a lot about the impact of the Icelandic volcano on air traffic and the economy, what about its impact on Iceland’s reindeer?

In the last few weeks, the world could hardly have failed to have heard about the Icelandic volcano with the difficult to pronounce (for non Icelandic speakers) name. Air traffic has been disrupted across Europe and airlines have lost over a billion dollars in lost revenue. The impact on the regions climate is unclear but has been the topic of much speculation.

The Reindeer Portal contacted Iceland’s reindeer expert Skarphéðinn G. Þórisson of the Náttúrustofa Austurlands (East Iceland Natural History Institute), in Egilsstadir for an update of the impact of the volcano on the country’s reindeer. Read the full article here on the Reindeer Portal.

(Photo by Ólafur Sigurjónsson)

Icelandic Minister for Environment Takes Reindeer to Heart

Philip Burgess — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:37:17 +0000

(pic: Páll Stefánsson) In areas of reindeer husbandry in Norway, Sweden or Finland, it is difficult to imagine that a reindeer that wandered onto a farm would get much hospitality. Harder still to imagine is that a Minister for Environment might get involved to argue that the reindeer must be protected and allowed to live, over the wishes of their national Environment agency. Even the farmer concerned wants to rescue ‘Lif’, an orphaned reindeer calf. Yet, that is exactly what has happened in Iceland, which as we all know is a little bit different. Read the full story here.

Many may not know that there are reindeer on Iceland at all, where a small scattered wild herd (no herding here) is concentrated in the East of the island and is subjected to an annual commercial hunt.

Reindeer Attacks Human..Hreindýr réðst á starfsmann við kálfamerkingar

Philip Burgess — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:04:44 +0000

(Iceland -Original story Morgunbladid mbl.is)

The staff at East Iceland Natural History Institute is quite busy these days making reindeer calves and counting wild reindeers in the eastern part of Iceland. One staff member was lucky to get away alive when a reindeer attacked him.

The reindeer, a doe with a newborn calf, attacked Reimar Ásgeirsson when he tried to approach the offspring to mark it.

“The doe ran towards me with, trying to stab me. I just managed to grab her horns before she reached me and slide sideward, so only the other horn stabbed my coat,” Ásgeirsson told Morgunbladid.

The cow tried repeatedly to stab Ásgeirsson but he managed to run away.

Another employee of East Iceland Natural History Institute, Gustaf F. Eggertson, took an outstanding picture of reindeers swimming over Jökla, a glacial river which runs though the eastern highlands. It is known that reindeers can easily cross rivers, but there are few eye witnesses.

Enlish translation from Iceland Review