Reindeer gets presidential namesake

Obama the reindeer avoids the spotlight, deliberately turning away from the camera.

As summer nears its end, fourteen reindeer calves are frolicking in the sun at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm, bunching together playfully, and eating lots of grain. Now that the calves are past the danger phase of early life, the animals have been allotted names to replace the numbers assigned to them at birth.

A standout in the name game is a shy little fellow named Obama, in honor of President Barack Obama. Unbeknownst to Obama, his presidential moniker is a first for the Reindeer Research Program, which gets its names from nominations submitted by people all over the world. Participants send suggestions to the Reindeer Research Program website and the staff chooses from the pool. “We’ve never had a Bush or a Carter or a Clinton,” said RRP technician Darrell Blodgett. ‘This is a first.”

Over 500 suggestions were sent to RRP this year, with the Obama entry coming from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. The same person submitted Palin for a female reindeer, but that one was put on the shelf for this year. When choosing names, the RRP staff usually try to match each reindeer’s personality to a name. For example, Samson is the biggest boy of the lot, weighing in at 174 pounds, and Moochie is the first one to hit the feed bucket.

A special name this year, Artemis, went to the world’s first known reindeer born after being artificially inseminated with previously frozen semen. His nickname, appropriately, is “Artie.”

As to why the gang selected “Obama” they just figured the time was right. Obama the reindeer doesn’t appear to be a natural born leader or particularly enjoy making executive decisions, but he seems happy enough with his new name.

Research Technician Rob Aikman works with the reindeer day in and day out and knows all the calves by name already. When weighing the animals or managing their charts he refers to them by their birth number but in general handling he uses the names.

The babies are born in April and May, but are not named until they have been weaned from their mothers. The animals begin eating grain to supplement their diets once they are a couple of days old.

Of the seventeen calves that arrived this spring, three died, which is about the normal ratio in captivity, Aikman said. The remaining have proven a healthy lot, which is very pleasing to the RRP staff.

To see the other reindeer names, visit the RRP website. School children are welcome to enter names each spring.

RRP conducts research in meat science, range management, nutrition, reproductive health, disease prevention, and radio telemetry. The program has been active at UAF since 1981.