SVALBARD, NORWAY— Santa may need more than just nine reindeer to pull his sleigh this year, as researchers find the iconic Arctic animals are shrinking in size. <br /> <br />According to a study presented at the British Ecological Society, an adult reindeer in Svalbard in the Norwegian Arctic weighed 55 kilograms in 1994. In 2015 one weighed just over 48 kilograms, a 12 percent decrease. <br /> <br />Before, the animals could simply brush snow off and eat moss and lichen during the region’s eight-month-long winters. But with temperatures going up, rain that falls on existing snow ends up freezing a hard layer of ice on the ground that keeps the reindeer from their food, in effect starving them. <br /> <br />Lack of nourishment has lead to stunted growth and has caused pregnant females to either abort their babies for survival or give birth to smaller calves. <br /> <br />In summer, warmer weather brings in an abundant food supply that results in more, yet smaller reindeer, as well as more competition for scarce food during winter. <br /> <br />Scientists believe there’s a possibility that even higher temperatures could lead to shorter winters, making food more available for reindeer to produce heavier offspring, according to Science Magazine. For now though, that remains a distant hope.
