a group of reindeer running in the fog

World’s largest reindeer herd targeted by poachers for antler velvet

Illegal hunting for meat, fur, and newly grown antlers—along with the warming climate—are depleting wild reindeer on Russia’s Taymyr Peninsula.

Herders gather semi-domesticated reindeer in a corral near Kyusyur, Yakutia. Their wild cousins on the Taymyr peninsula, to the west, undertake a yearly migration of up to 1,800 miles.

Photograph by Max Avdeev

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