AlterNet reports:
We've been getting Rudolph completely wrong.
For a start, Rudolph and team are probably female. All the images I've seen of Rudolph clearly show a reindeer proudly sporting antlers. Reindeer are the only deer where both sexes grow antlers, but the males lose them around Christmas time and regrow them in the spring, ready for the mating season. The only way a male reindeer can hang on to his magnificent headgear through the festive season is to be castrated. Losing the source of the sex hormones upsets the antler cycle--and probably the reindeer too.
We need to talk about that nose as well. The red glow from Rudolph's most famous attribute is probably caused by something more serious than a bad cold. Reindeer noses are a brilliant product of evolutionary adaptation to a harsh environment. The nasal passages contain many elaborate folds covered in blood vessels. When a reindeer breathes in, the abundant blood vessels warm up the air keeping the inside of the reindeer nice and warm even when the air around it is sub-zero. On the way out, the same blood vessels cool the air, minimising heat loss and retaining as much water vapour as possible.
The unfortunate downside of such an intricate nasal arrangement is that it is a very comfortable spot for parasites to lurk. There are 20 parasites unique to mainland reindeer, and many others that are just as happy in reindeer or other ruminants. That red nose is therefore probably due to parasitic infection and increased blood flow to the area where the body is doing its best to fight off invaders.
The article also addresses flying and mentions magic mushrooms, which we discussed during a previous Yule: How Santa Flies, Fits Down Chimneys, and Does Stuff You Can't Do
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You may have heard Cheech and Chong telling about a freak who lived in the projects, hired midgets, and used magic dust. Recently, Stephen Larsen, PhD, Psychology Professor Emeritus at SUNY Ulster, talked to Thom Hartmann as he had before about myths from northern Europe which parallel Clement Moore's narrative of a jolly old elf.
[... a]Norwegian and Scandinavian [sic] shaman had figured out [...] there was a certain type of mushroom [...] a deadly, deadly mushroom. But reindeer can eat it and their livers metabolize the toxin, break it down, and render it harmless without changing the hallucinogen. And so the shaman would cultivate areas where these particular mushrooms grew, [and] these mushrooms have little red caps with white spots all over them, and encourage the reindeer to go eat them. And then they would follow the reindeer around, and wherever they found yellow snow they would gather up the snow and make that into a magic brew and drink that stuff and suddenly they're seeing little guys and flying reindeer.
So, that's how he can make it around the globe in 24 hours and how he can see you while you're sleeping (which is kinda creepy if you think about it).
Symbolic Studies has more on this.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Monday December 25 2017, @03:59PM
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Monday December 25 2017, @04:14PM
Thank you Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Please turn around so we can kick your ass now.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 25 2017, @04:46PM
Lights++
(Score: 3, Insightful) by EvilSS on Monday December 25 2017, @04:56PM (5 children)
So what they are saying is that reindeer blood is highly bioluminescent? More so than any other known bioluminescent source known to us? I mean, if we are being all factual and stuff with this. After all, the legend isn't that his nose is red, it's so red it glows. And quite brightly since it can pierce a foggy night.
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Tuesday December 26 2017, @02:11PM (4 children)
Legend? Yeah, there's no freakin' legend. Rudolph was created by a marketing campaign for Montgomery Ward department store. Like many modern Christmas pop culture things, Rudolph was created to sell crap, the entire goal of the Christmas season for the past century or so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @02:24PM
Someone is getting coal in their stocking.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Tuesday December 26 2017, @11:39PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Thursday December 28 2017, @02:25AM (1 child)
Uh... It's a fact about Rudolph...one missing from the summary (and from most people's knowledge about Rudolph...perhaps those who think Rudolph is based on a "legend")???
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Thursday December 28 2017, @05:04AM
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Monday December 25 2017, @05:34PM (1 child)
Rudolph's Red Nose [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Tuesday December 26 2017, @04:26AM
Like a happy, special...?
Poor little bastard.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Monday December 25 2017, @06:24PM (2 children)
But only a select few were willing to pay the terrible, terrible price for an extended life of service to the holiday spirit.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday December 25 2017, @07:53PM
So Rudolf is like the chief eunuch in the caliphate of Santa?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 27 2017, @07:05AM
...Methane Rose too.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday December 26 2017, @01:57AM
Now, all the neighbors will see who didn't sweep their chimney. And to all those kids whose parents bought a new modern house with electric heat and security systems, good luck!
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]