Why reindeer are more amazing than you might think

Image source, Getty Images

Reindeer are even more amazing than we thought.

Scientists have just discovered that reindeer could actually be helping to protect the North Pole from climate change.

Image source, PA

Image caption, In this photo, you can see wild reindeer looking for food on an island in the Arctic circle

They can do this by eating plants in the Arctic, according to a science publication called Environmental Research Letters.

Munching on shrubs like this allows the surface of the Earth to be more reflective, bouncing more of the sun's radiation back out into space.

This means that, when the reindeer eat the plants, this could potentially cool the temperature in the Arctic during the summer.

Dr Mariska te Beest, the lead researcher from Umea University in Sweden, said that it might even be possible to manage other animals in a similar way to help climate change even more.

Video caption, Cupid the reindeer visits the elderly in Wiltshire

However, more research needs to be done as the scientists believe you need a lot of animals for it to make a real difference.