Finnish forest reindeer

Finnish forest reindeer
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Rangifer
Species:
Subspecies:
R. t. fennicus
Trinomial name
Rangifer tarandus fennicus
(Lönnberg, 1909)

The Finnish forest reindeer (Finnish: metsäpeura, Russian: лесной северный олень), also known as Wild Forest Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus fennicus) or European forest reindeer is a rare subspecies of the reindeer native to Finland and northwestern Russia. They are found primarily in Russian Karelia and the provinces of North Karelia, Savonia and Kainuu in Finland, though some range into central south Finland. They are distinct from the semi-domesticated mountain reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in their larger size, longer legs and preference for dense boreal forest habitat, where they are rarely seen by humans, over the open tundra. The Finnish herd migrates seasonally back and forth across the long Russo-Finnish border.