2016-12-19

[public] 695K views, 12.5K likes, dislikes audio only

MinuteEarth

Thanks to http://www.audible.com/minuteearth for sponsoring this video!

Reindeer meat could’ve entered North American cuisine and culture, but our turn of the century efforts to develop a reindeer industry were stymied by nature, the beef lobby, and the Great Depression.

Reddit AskScience Link: http://bit.ly/RedditReindeer

Thanks also to our supporters on https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth

___________________________________________

Help translate this video: http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?v=owNMCTmbG9w&ref=share

FYI: We try to leave jargon out of our videos, but if you want to learn more about this topic, here are some keywords to get your googling started:

Reindeer - the smaller, (semi-)domesticated version/subspecies of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus)

Caribou - the wild, north American subspecies of Rangifer tarandus (Rangifer tarandus granti and others).

Wild reindeer - the wild, European/Asian subspecies of Rangifer tarandus.

Herding - bringing animals together into a group, maintaining the group, and moving the group from place to place

Rain-on-snow event - exactly what it sounds like! Rain that falls on snow, freezes into a thick layer of impenetrable ice over pastures, and causes mass starvation of reindeer (or caribou)

___________________________________________

Credits (and Twitter handles):

Script Writer: Alex Reich (@alexhreich)

Script Editor: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida)

Video Illustrator: Ever Salazar (@eversalazar)

Video Director: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida)

Video Narrator: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida)

With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Emily Elert, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg

Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder

Image Credits: Rangifer tarandus - Alexandre Buisse

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20070818-0001-strolling_reindeer.jpg

_________________________________________

Like our videos?

Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd

Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ

Also, say hello on:

Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6

Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC

And find us on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n

___________________________________________

If you liked this week’s video, we think you might also like:

Alaska Fish & Game Dept website for “Santa's Reindeer” species - http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=santasreindeer.main

A virtual guide to reindeer and the people who herd them - http://reindeerherding.org/

The Great Canadian Reindeer Project - http://www.canadashistory.ca/Magazine/Online-Extension/Articles/The-Great-Canadian-Reindeer-Project

How one storm killed 61,000 Russian reindeer in 2013: http://www.popsci.com/sea-ice-loss-is-imperiling-reindeer-herders-way-life

___________________________________________

References:

Special thanks to Professor Greg Finstad of the University of Alaska Fairbanks for lending his advice, expertise, and patience to the making of this video!

Christie, A., & Finstad, G. L. (2009). Reindeer in the “Great Land”: Alaska's Red Meat Industry. Journal of Agricultural & Food Information, 10(4), 354-373. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10496500903245651

Daniel, C. R., Cross, A. J., Koebnick, C., & Sinha, R. (2011). Trends in meat consumption in the USA. Public health nutrition, 14(04), 575-583. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3045642/pdf/nihms-253312.pdf

Dubner, S. J. (2010, December 9). Beef or Chicken? A Look at U.S. Meat Trends in the Last Century [Blog post]. Retrieved December 1, 2016, from http://freakonomics.com/2010/12/09/beef-or-chicken-a-look-at-u-s-meat-trends-in-the-last-century/

Finstad, G. L. (2016). Personal Communication.

Finstad, G. L., Bader, H. R., & Prichard, A. K. (2002). Conflicts between reindeer herding and an expanding caribou herd in Alaska. Rangifer, 22(4), 33-37. https://www.ub.uit.no/baser/septentrio/index.php/rangifer/article/viewFile/1668/1559

Finstad, G. L., Kielland, K. K., & Schneider, W. S. (2006). Reindeer herding in transition: historical and modern day challenges for Alaskan reindeer herders. Nomadic Peoples, 10(2), 31-49. http://reindeer.salrm.uaf.edu/resources/journal_articles/Nomadic_Peoples10(2)31-49.PDF

Stern, R. O., Arobio, E. L., Naylor, L. L., & Thomas, W. C. (1980). Eskimos, reindeer, and land. https://scholarworks.alaska.edu/bitstream/handle/11122/1205/Bulletin59.pdf?sequence=1

Willis, R. (2006). A New Game in the North: Alaska Native Reindeer Herding, 1890–1940. Western Historical Quarterly, 37(3), 277-301. http://oit-fhs-pws1.oit.duke.edu/Fellowships/Willis.pdf