Baby Reindeer Loves Hugs!

I'm Coyote Peterson, and I know we're all getting really excited for the holidays, so today, I've got an extra special surprise. Get ready to meet Blitzen, the baby reindeer. You ready for your morning walk? Oh yeah, he's ready to go. Better go back that way, whoa, here we go. It's inside, just, oh, watch your cameras. Oh. That's a good boy. Oh, there he goes, whoa. Over the past few months, we have released several episodes that were filmed in Haines, Alaska at Steve Kroschel's Wildlife Sanctuary. I had the chance to splash around in a river with a mink, got a GoPro camera incredibly close to a weasel, palled around with a baby red fox, and even went face-to-face with a wolverine. We had pretty much finished filming when Steve asked if we wanted to meet an orphaned baby reindeer. The answer was obvious, as we simply couldn't pass up sharing this adorable animal with you just in time for the holidays. Yum, yum, yum, yum. All right, look at that. Now, this is a baby reindeer. In the wild, this is more known as a caribou, but a semi-domesticated caribou is properly referred to as a reindeer. These animals have been used to pull sleighs up in the north, and of course, to control a sleigh, you need to have reins, hence the name reindeer. You see right now, Blitzen's just feasting away on this fireweed. A baby like this needs to consume a ton of food. They grow rather quickly, and you can see, even at this age, he already has his antlers growing in, and they're so soft right now, just covered in this fluffy velvet. He's had a lot of plants to eat already this morning, and he's starting to get a little sleepy. Almost time for his nap, and like most babies, he spends a lot of time during the day resting. This is really comforting to him right now, just a little scratch on the side of the neck. You gotta watch your eyes next to those antlers, though. Fortunately, they're still pretty dull, so you take a hit in the face, and I'm gonna be okay. And I don't wanna talk too loudly. Obviously, I'm real close to the animal's ears, and they have very sensitive hearing. They need that sensitive hearing to be able to hear any sort of predator, like a bear or a pack of wolves coming out when they're up there on the tundra. Woof, woof! That would be a wolf. Ooh, oh yeah, it's got the caribou out here. Don't worry, Blitzen. We're not gonna take you by that wolf. I may say that I am walking a reindeer, but the truth is, the reindeer's walking me. See that? We're gonna go back that way. Woof, here we go. Oh, that's the treat right there, huh? Yum, yum. This is called Old Man's Beard, and it's called Old Man's Beard, because you can see it hangs down from tree limbs, and it looks just like a beard. And this is the first time that Blitzen has ever had Old Man's Beard, and he seems to absolutely love it. And in the wild, a tree branch would be hanging down like this. You see they have the Old Man's Beard hanging off the branch, and the caribou would come up to feed just like this. This is completely natural for this animal right now. You can see he's just enjoying a breakfast of Old Man's Beard. Kinda peek through here for you. Hey, how's that breakfast, Blitzen? Pretty good? Okay, kind of in the danger zone here, right underneath the reindeer, but I wanted to get a close look at these hooves. You see how they're crescent-shaped like that, and spread wide apart? That is so that their hooves are like snowshoes, and when they're out there walking on the tundra, that helps them stay on top of the snow. Bet you never thought you'd see me underneath a reindeer, did you? All right, let's go back up here by its head, and kinda in the danger zone here. Now, let's take a look at this animal's coat. You see how soft and fluffy it is right now? That's because he's actually shedding out his winter coat, and his summer coat is growing in. So soft and fluffy. Oh, look at Dad, his little nose just rested on my arm. I think he's had enough food this morning. He's probably getting tired. Babies like this do sleep quite a bit. He may be getting tired. I can feel his head getting heavy on my arms. Oh, what a cute deer. Now, Blitzen's eating a lot of plants this morning. Let's see if he would like some milk. Oh, look at Dad. Yep, clearly he's into milk. And one really interesting thing about most caribou species is that both the males and the females grow antlers. Now, the males have a much larger rack than the females, and eventually, oh, careful, look at how hungry he is. Eventually, Blitzen's antlers will grow into this enormous, beautiful rack. Wow, look at how fast this reindeer drinks milk. That is crazy. Yum, yum, yum, yum, oh my gosh. You are good at chugging milk. That is one thing for sure. I can see why Santa probably doesn't bring you into the house and eat all of his milk and cookies, wouldn't you? And just like that, we have run out of milk. So, everybody wanted to know why I grew a beard before Alaska. I figured I'd fit in perfectly, and as you can see, this reindeer loves, oh, burped right in my face. This reindeer loves cuddling up against my beard. Oh, he's going to sleep right now, I think. Well, how excellent was this? Spending the morning hanging out with a baby reindeer. I'm Coyote Peterson, be brave, stay wild, happy holidays. We'll see you on the next adventure. If you thought Blitzen was the cutest animal in Alaska, make sure to go back and watch as I play tug-of-war with a baby red fox. And don't forget, subscribe, so you can join me and the crew on this season of Breaking Trail. Can I have some? It's very musty tasting, you know that? And it's sticking to my lip. Ah, it's gross.