This extremely rare white baby reindeer almost disappears into the snowy background of these magical wintry snaps.

Despite its apparent camouflage, the adorable pure white deer wasn’t shy as it ‘posed’ for pictures in the mountains of Northern Norway.

Photographer Mads Nordsveen, from Oslo in Norway, was on a hiking trip with friends when he spotted the almost mythical creature.

The 24-year-old said: “I was walking in the mountains looking for nice landscapes for my travel photography when out of nowhere I saw this wonderful little creature.

“He came very close to me and we looked at each other straight in the eyes.

“He was quite relaxed when he saw that I was calm and friendly. It was almost as if he posed for the camera.


“He was very curious and fun. Like a little explorer.

“After some minutes the mother of the baby reindeercame out of trees just behind.

“It walked around for some minutes before running back to its mother.

“It was very magical and a fairy tale moment. “Maybe one day we’ll meet again.”


White reindeerhave an uncommon genetic mutation that strips their fur of pigment to allow them to blend into their snowy surroundings.

They’re not albino because their eyes and sometimes their antlers still have dark pigmentation.

A reindeer caught in a sticky and deadly situation was saved after some men traveling by happened to spot him. The reindeer was stuck up to his back in mud in the Yamal Region of Russia.

“I was passing along the Morda Yakha river in the Bovanenkovo ​​region when I saw an unhappy animal,” writes one of the rescuers. “We immediately brought an oar to avoid getting stuck in the mud, rope, tied it to the reindeer’s horns and rescued the animal.”

The reindeer, also known as the caribou in North America, is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic, tundra, boreal and mountainous regions of northern Europe, Siberia and North America.

This includes both sedentary and migratory populations. Rangifer herd size varies greatly in different geographic regions. The Taimyr herd of migrating Siberian tundra reindeer in Russia is the largest wild reindeer herd in the world, with numbers varying between 400,000 and 1,000,000.

What was once the second largest herd is the migratory boreal woodland caribou (R. t. caribou) George River herd in Canada, with former variations between 28,000 and 385,000. As of January 2018, there are fewer than 9,000 animals estimated to be left in the George River herd as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

"Caribou have large feet with four toes. In addition to two small ones, called "dew claws," they have two large, crescent-shaped toes that support most of their weight and serve as shovels when digging for food under snow. These large concave hooves offer stable support on wet, soggy ground and on crusty snow.


The pads of the hoof change from a thick, fleshy shape in the summer to become hard and thin in the winter months, reducing the animal’s exposure to the cold ground. Additional winter protection comes from the long hair between the "toes"; it covers the pads so the caribou walks only on the horny rim of the hooves."

It is not only in Lapland that reindeer are treasured as a vital part of life. In the heart of the Mongolian mountains there is a nomadic tribe of herders who have depended on them for thousands of years.

Belgian photographer Pascal Mannaerts spent days horse-riding across the Ulaan taïga to meet with Tsaatan people and document their unique lifestyle.

The tribe occupy remote subarctic areas in northern Khövsgöl Aimag of Mongolia, moving during the year with the seasons.

Their very existence is entwined with the reindeer, relying on them for milk, cheese and predominantly transportation.

'The tribe live in very simple tents, which are not large with the whole family residing in each,' Mannaerts told.


'The furniture is very basic. There were only two beds for the whole family, a tiny kind of wardrobe, a stove, and that's it.'

Despite their simple existence, the 36-year-old photographer was amazed at their hospitality and the amount of resources they shared with him.

'I was amazed to see how they were actually truly happy. One night, we asked Bolorma, the mother, what makes her happiest in the world. Without hesitation, she replied that this was her children and her flock.'

The Svalbard reindeer have no natural predators and so are very docile animals. They wander right through town and aren’t generally bothered by people being nearby.

 Life in the tundra is hard, but reindeer have it easy thanks to their amazing evolutionary enhancements. Their noses are specially adapted to warm the air they breathe before it enters their lungs and to condense water in the air, which they then use to keep their mucous membranes moist.

Their fur traps air, which not only helps provide them with excellent insulation, but also keeps them buoyant in water, which is critical being as how they often travel across massive rivers and lakes while migrating.

Even their hooves are special. In the summer, when the ground is wet, their foot pads are softened, providing them with extra traction. In the winter, though, the pads tighten, revealing the rim of their hooves, which is used to provide traction in the slippery snow and ice.

Historically, the European/Asian reindeer and American Caribou were considered to be different species, but they are actually one and the same. There are two major groups of reindeer, the tundra and the woodland, which are divided according to the type of region the animal lives in, not their global location.