You can walk in a straight line and get to that food, and you conserve energy in the process,” Dominy said.
“If you’re a reindeer, you can see it and you have an advantage because then you’re not wandering around the landscape. They found reindeer moss absorbs UV light, meaning the white lichen that humans have trouble seeing against the snow stands out as dark patches to the animals. Researchers traveled to the Cairngorms mountains in the Scottish Highlands, which hosts more than 1,500 species of lichen as well as Britain’s only reindeer herd. (Ed Murray /NJ Advance Media via AP, File) Andrews in Scotland report that reindeer eyes may have evolved to allow them to easily spot their preferred meal. Finding food in a cold, barren landscape is challenging, but researchers from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and the University of St. FILE - A reindeer named Thunder stands in Branchburg, N.J.
