# Hoof and foot loads for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus)

> How do reindeer stay on top of deep snow? Measuring living reindeer in Finland and the footprints of wild forest reindeer in the snow, this study found that counting the dew claws more than halves the load on each square centimetre. It also shows that a galloping reindeer on one foot presses about four times harder than one standing still.

Summary by Kersey Lawrence, Original Wisdom. Updated 9 November 2026. Page: https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1990-nieminen-hoof-foot-loads-reindeer/

## Citation and access

- **Authors:** Mauri Nieminen
- **Year published:** 1990
- **Journal or source:** Rangifer
- **Full citation:** Nieminen, M. 1990. Hoof and foot loads for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Rangifer 10(3) (Special Issue No. 3): 249–254.
- **DOI:** 10.7557/2.10.3.865
- **Access status:** Open access (CC BY)
- **PDF:** https://www.originalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/1990_Nieminen_hoof-and-foot-loads-for-reindeer.pdf

## Tags

- **Species:** Mammals > Reindeer
- **Region:** Europe > Finland
- **Tracking:** Gaits; Snow tracks; Track measurements; Tracking; Tracks
- **Behaviour and ecology:** Behaviour; Movement
- **Methods and technology:** Descriptive statistics; Linear regression
- **Data type:** New field data
- **Observer qualification:** Not reported
- **Discipline:** Behaviour and ecology; Wildlife tracking
- **Year published:** 1990

## Detailed keywords

- **Species:** Studied: semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) and wild forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus). Compared from the literature: wild Fennoscandian mountain reindeer and wild Norwegian mountain reindeer, caribou (Rangifer tarandus), black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and moose.
- **Location and habitat:** Finland: Kaamanen Reindeer Research Station (semi-domesticated reindeer, freely grazing with supplementary feeding); Kuhmo and Salamajärvi national park (wild forest reindeer footprints on hard snow). The paper links wild forest reindeer to taiga, where snow is usually very deep and soft.
- **Topics:** adaptation to snow (chinophiles); hoof area; foot area (hoof plus dew claws); dew claw length and area; hoof load and foot load (load on ground, body weight divided by the area supporting it); load when standing on 4 feet versus moving on 3, 2 or 1 feet; walking and heavy diagonal gallop support patterns; footprint measurements on hard snow; differences between front and hind feet, sexes, ages, and wild and semi-domesticated reindeer; leg length. Inconsistencies in the paper: (1) the results text, abstract and Table 1 show bigger hooves and feet on the front legs, but the Conclusions say hind legs have bigger hooves and feet; (2) the correlation between live weight and hind foot area is r = 0.664 in the abstract but r = 0.644 in the results text; (3) Nasimovich is cited as 1955 in the text but listed as 1985 in the references.
- **Statistics or models:** Means with standard errors; correlations between live weight and hoof and foot areas (r values with n = 60 and P < 0.001); a regression of total foot area (on 4 feet) against live weight (Fig. 4). Hoof and foot areas calculated by the method of Kelsall and Telfer (1971).
- **Data type:** New field data: 60 living semi-domesticated reindeer measured and weighed in winter 1988; footprints of 26 wild forest reindeer measured on hard snow, 1985 to 1988.

## Synopsis

### 1. What they did

Reindeer spend over 40% of each year in snow, and their broad, crescent-shaped hooves, working dew claws and bristly hair help them stay on top of it. How far an animal sinks depends on its “load on ground”: its weight divided by the area of hoof or foot carrying it. The author set out to measure this for reindeer in Finland, as no study had compared it between reindeer populations.

- Living reindeer. In winter 1988, at the Kaamanen Reindeer Research Station, he weighed 60 semi-domesticated reindeer (8 female and 13 male calves, 10 young females aged 2, 9 young males aged 2 to 3, and 20 adult females). The left front and hind feet were pressed onto a hard surface in a natural position and their outlines drawn, for the hoof alone and for the whole foot (hoof plus dew claws). Lengths were measured to the nearest millimetre.

- Checking against footprints. To make the areas as correct as possible, he measured clear reindeer footprints on hard snow for the spacing between the hooves and the distance from the back of the hooves to the dew claws.

- Wild forest reindeer. He measured clear footprints on hard snow of 26 identified wild forest reindeer (7 calves, 11 adult females and 8 adult males) in Kuhmo and Salamajärvi national park, 1985 to 1988.

- Loads. Hoof load and foot load were each reindeer’s live weight divided by the combined area of all 4 hooves or feet. Loads were also worked out for moments when a reindeer stands on only 3, 2 or 1 feet, as happens when walking and galloping.

### 2. What they found

Hoof and foot size

- Front hooves and feet were bigger than hind ones.

- Male calves and young males had bigger hooves and feet than female calves and young females.

- Wild forest reindeer footprints gave bigger hoof and foot areas than semi-domesticated reindeer: for example, foot areas of 200.3 cm² for calves, 230.4 cm² for adult females and 258.6 cm² for adult males, against 165.3 cm² (front feet) for semi-domesticated calves and 214.1 cm² for adult females. Their dew claws were also longer.

- Heavier reindeer had bigger hooves and feet (correlations of r = 0.64 to 0.84 between live weight and hoof or foot area).

Loads on four feet

- Standing on all 4 feet, semi-domesticated calves had a hoof load of about 235 g/cm² and a foot load of about 85 g/cm². Adult females had 268 and 102 g/cm².

- Calves and young reindeer had the lowest loads.

- Counting the dew claws as part of the foot gave loads well under half the hoof-only loads.

Loads when moving

- A walking reindeer is carried by only 2 or 3 feet at a time; in a heavy diagonal gallop, by only 1 or 2.

- Foot load rose from about 85 to 102 g/cm² standing to a maximum of about 358 to 443 g/cm² when galloping on 1 foot.

- For comparison, other studies report reindeer hoof loads of about 125 to 180 g/cm² standing, 500 g/cm² walking and 1000 g/cm² trotting, and 390 to 659 g/cm² for standing moose.

### 3. What they concluded

- Semi-domesticated reindeer, and especially wild forest reindeer, are well adapted to travel through deep, soft snow.

- Wild forest reindeer are 10 to 15 cm taller than mountain and semi-domesticated reindeer, with longer legs and bigger feet. Their long legs and low load on ground are important adaptations to the taiga, where snow is usually very deep and soft.

- Hoof and foot loads show how hard snow must be to carry a reindeer. If it is too soft, the reindeer sinks and uses more energy walking.

- Load on ground is usually given for an animal standing still on 4 feet. It has practical value only when given for 1, 2, 3 or 4 feet, to match how the animal is moving.

- The author notes that the wild forest reindeer figures, taken from footprints, probably include some measurement error. The effects of speed on foot load were not considered.

### 4. How tracking was or was not used

Footprints were part of the method. The wild forest reindeer were measured only from their clear footprints on hard snow, and footprints of reindeer were also used to check the spacing between hooves and the position of the dew claws behind them. The paper does not say how the 26 wild forest reindeer prints were identified to individual, age or sex. The walk and gallop diagrams (Fig. 2) show which feet are on the ground at each moment.

### 5. Tracker or observer certification

Not reported. The paper does not say who found or measured the wild forest reindeer footprints, or how the individuals, ages and sexes were identified from them.

### 6. Other technologies, skills or innovations

- Hoof and foot outlines drawn with each foot pressed down on a hard surface in a natural position, and areas calculated by the Kelsall and Telfer (1971) method.

- Loads worked out for 1, 2, 3 or 4 feet on the ground, using the support patterns of walking and galloping.

### 7. Implications for conservation (from the paper)

- Long legs and low load on ground are key adaptations of wild forest reindeer to deep, soft taiga snow.

### 8. Implications for tracking (Original Wisdom's observations)

_These are Original Wisdom's observations, not the authors'._

- The dew claws matter in snow: with them counted, the area carrying a reindeer is more than double the hoof alone. Dew claw marks in snow tracks are part of how the animal stays afloat, and the paper measured their position from footprints.

- A moving animal presses much harder on the ground than a standing one (about four times as hard on one foot in a gallop as standing on four), which may help explain differences in track depth between gaits in the same snow.

## Cite this summary

Lawrence, K. 2026. Summary of: Hoof and foot loads for reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) (Nieminen, 1990). Original Wisdom, Tracking Literature. https://www.originalwisdom.com/tracking-literature/1990-nieminen-hoof-foot-loads-reindeer/