Reindeer are shrinking due to global warming

Paris

IF SANTA is recruiting helpers to haul Christmas presents around the world this year he had better take a few extra, said researchers on Monday who warned that reindeer are shrinking.

Over the past 16 years, the weight of adult reindeer in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic has dropped by 12 per cent, likely due to global warming, said study findings presented to a meeting at the British Ecological Society (BES) in Liverpool. By the time that they reached adulthood, reindeer born in 2010 weighed just over 48 kg, compared to 55 kg for those born in 1994.