Gift to the museum from M. V. Flint - the anomalous horns of the reindeer and the horns of the East Caucasian tur

We are deeply grateful to Mikhail Vladimirovich Flint for addition of interesting exhibits to the collections of the Darwin Museum. Mikhail kindly donated to the museum the anomalous horns of the reindeer, which were found in the 1960s in Chukotka, and the horns of the East Caucasian tur (the Dagestan tur) previously kept in his family.

Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus Linnaeus, 1758) is the only member of the genus Reindeer. It differs from other deer in that: 

• both males and females have horns 
• it forms large herds

It lives in the tundra and taiga of Eurasia and North America and on a number of islands of the Arctic Ocean. There are wild and domesticated reindeers. According to the IUCN Red List the species is classified as vulnerable.

The Dagestan tur (Capra cylindricornis Blyth, 1841) lives on the rocky slopes of the Eastern Caucasus mountains in Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan where it is reaching 4,200 meters above the sea level. There these animals are found in meadows and on rocky surfaces, as well as in wooded areas. Like all mountain goats they are perfectly able to climb. In summer turs are usually found in higher areas than in winter.

Male’s horns reach length of 1 meter and are large diameter which is very impressive.