Science proves Santa's reindeer are actually all female

A Christmas miracle 

Chelsea Ritschel
in New York
Thursday 14 December 2017 16:32 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

As Christmas quickly approaches and our ears fill with the sounds of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," it is impossible to ignore the festive spirit surrounding the year-end.

And one Twitter user, Cat Reynolds, has given us even more reason to celebrate.

She posted that all of Santa's reindeer - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph - are female, an observation that immediately went viral.

According to experts, Reynolds' tweet is likely accurate - because male reindeer shed their antlers at the end of the mating season in early December, while females sport their thinner antlers throughout the winter.

And given that the reindeer are typically depicted with their antlers in tact, we're pretty confident in saying that females power Santa's annual Christmas delivery.

Some Twitter users did try to spoil our moment by pointing out that castrated males would not actually lose their antlers, but we'd like to think that it doesn't really sound like a scenario that Santa would resort to...

Most people, however, were willing to believe - praising the strong female reindeer who pull Santa's present-laden sleigh.

After all, with the word of the year announced to be "feminism," finding out that Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, etc. are all female is pretty fitting.

Other Twitter users, however, don’t seem to be sharing the same enthusiasm. On Reynolds initial tweet, hundreds of Twitter users who are clearly on the naughty list responded with doubt and disbelief. One person even stated, "But you know reindeer are a fairytale right...." before other Twitter users informed him that reindeer do, in fact, exist in real-life.
In the end though, it does not matter what the haters say - Twitter and science have spoken and on December 25th, Santa will deliver your presents with the help of strong female reindeer.
If you disagree, you may get coal.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in