ARKHANGELSK, November 18. /TASS/. Scientists began research, including genetic studies, on a reindeer subspecies in Novaya Zemlya. Reindeer used to live on the archipelago in the time of mammoths, the Laverov Federal Research Center for Integrated Arctic Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences' Urals Branch) told TASS. Ivan Mizin, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Biology Resources and Ethnography, made his first expedition to the archipelago's Yuzhny Island. The scientist's project is supported by the Presidential Nature Foundation's grant.

"To date, the Novaya Zemlya subspecies of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus pearsoni) population and genetic structures have been poorly studied. The species is on the Arkhangelsk Region's Red Data Book. Under the project, we plan monitoring in the center of the range of this subspecies, isolated in the archipelago, assessing the dynamics of animal numbers and conditions. The scientist plans to determine the animals' birth and mortality rates, their seasonal movements, key pastures and their conditions," the center said.

To implement the project, the center has purchased equipment for extreme Arctic conditions: a portable solar panel and a power plant to charge equipment to observe animals. The scientist made his first field trip to the Yuzhny Island to see the area's conditions and to collect first data on the reindeer population in autumn - before the animals migrate to winter pastures.

Cautious deer

During the expedition, the scientist managed to obtain for the first time up-to-date information about deer on the Kostin Shar Strait's east coast in the area of the island's two largest lakes, Nekhvatova Pervogo and Nekhvatova Vtorogo, and the Yuzhnaya Tainaya River.

"We have covered 100 kilometers by an all-terrain vehicle to inspect vegetation in that part of the archipelago where animals migrate, and we have recorded the presence of reindeer. We've managed to observe 17 animals in four encounters: four males, 12 females and one juvenile," the scientist said. "Five times along the route in the tundra we found discarded horns of individuals of various ages, including well-developed horns - 124 cm along the length of the rod and 120 cm between the outermost appendages."

The expedition managed to photograph almost all the animals, except for one group of three deer, which quickly crossed the road in front of the vehicle to hide somewhere. "Nevertheless, through binoculars I've managed to assess those animals' conditions," the zoologist added.

According to the scientist, deer demonstrate they prefer to avoid meeting people and equipment. The females would run away in small groups, trying to keep long distances. A herd of animals behaved likewise - when having spotted the vehicle some 800 meters away, they walked up the hills. A single male reacted quite calmly at a distance of 200 meters to the presence of a human, but then did walk aside.

The pastures' conditions were assessed as "good," capable of providing enough food for big deer herds, which very soon are due to leave summer grazing areas. The scientist collected a few biology samples for genetic tests. Novaya Zemlya's unstable weather, sleet and fogs affected the field work, but still the expedition managed to complete all the tasks.

The project's purpose is to offer details for further protection of the Novaya Zemlya reindeer and the animals' possible rational use for people living on the archipelago.