Seasoned travellers<\/strong><\/p>\nThe S\u00e1mi supplement the diet of their reindeer \u2013 a practice that the DOMESTICATION researchers date to the 11th century.<\/p>\n
These days the supplementary diet is mainly livestock feed and hay, whereas traditionally it included dried tree branches and grasses collected in the summer, according to Salmi.<\/p>\n
By contrast, in Yamal the reindeer are purely grazing animals and finding food for them determines where Nenet families live. The people and their reindeer can travel distances of up to 1\u00a0000 km a year in search of fresh pastures.<\/p>\n
Spring and autumn migrations in this part of Siberia present a colourful sight when a caravan of sleds sets off across the ice with the rest of the herd following. The draught reindeer have red harnesses and, over their backs, rectangular woven blankets, while the sleds are decorated with bells and tassels.<\/p>\n
Combining strength and stamina, the animals can trot at 25 km an hour.<\/p>\n
The sleds are piled with entire households \u2013 from reindeer-skin tents with wooden frames and cooking equipment to clothes and other belongings.<\/p>\n
While modern amenities such as mobile phones, computer screens and snowmobiles are now part of the herders\u2019 lives, the core traditions have remained the same for hundreds of years.<\/p>\n
The S\u00e1mi too have long used reindeer for transport, as attested by the\u00a0DOMESTICATION team\u2019s study of reindeer bones from archaeological sites.<\/p>\n
\u2018Reindeer have been used for transportation since the beginning of reindeer herding 1 000 years ago,\u2019 said Salmi. \u2018Working leaves traces on the animals\u2019 skeleton \u2013 stress-related changes to vertebrae, shoulder joints and hooves which we can see in our analysis.\u2019<\/p>\n
Hazards ahead<\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s this rich\u00a0history that accelerating climate change caused by human activities \u2013 above all the use of energy from fossil fuels and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 threatens to cut short.<\/p>\n
In 2013-2014, Arctic regions had a warmer winter and unprecedented rainfall, which froze to create a crust of thick ice that the reindeer were unable to crack in their effort to find lichen to eat.<\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of them died during the winter and many herder families were forced to leave the tundra.<\/p>\n
Previously a once-in-a-generation event, the weather pattern is recurring every several years and prompting the Nenets to turn to scientists for help in understanding what\u2019s happening.<\/p>\n
\u2018The herders asked us what was causing the extreme weather because its frequency and intensity\u00a0in recent years is beyond their experience,\u2019\u00a0said Professor Bruce Forbes, an expert in applied ecology in permafrost regions at the University of Lapland in Finland.<\/p>\n
Forbes leads CHARTER and has been conducting fieldwork annually in the Arctic for more than 35 years. The project is breaking new ground on climate modelling by incorporating the herders\u2019 observations.<\/p>\n
The plan is to develop ways to warn herders of extreme weather events days in advance. That way the herders could protect their animals and remain on the tundra.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have climate modellers, sea-ice modellers and many different types of experts from nine countries trying to fingerprint the chain of events that lead to hazardous rain on snow events,\u2019 said Forbes.<\/p>\n
Timeless symbol\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe herders are determinedly holding onto their identity as they work with the scientific community to protect their way of life.<\/p>\n
To illustrate the trust that the\u00a0S\u00e1mi have in their animals, Salmi tells the story of a reindeer named Onni \u2013 meaning luck or happiness \u2013 whose herder would let it navigate the way home after a long day of tourist safari rides.<\/p>\n
\u2018He was such a wise reindeer that the herder could fall asleep in the sledge,\u2019 she said. \u2018Onni knew the way, he would always stop before crossing a road and the herder would wake when they were safely home.\u2019<\/p>\n
For their part, the Nenets\u2019 view of reindeer could almost be summed up as the more the merrier, according to Laptander.<\/p>\n
\u2018If you have enough reindeer, then it means you\u2019re a happy person,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
Research in this article was funded by the EU including, in the case of DOMESTICATION, via the European Research Council (ERC). The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.<\/em><\/p>\nWatch the video<\/strong><\/p>\n