Santa's Reindeer Are Actually Female And Duh Of Course

Or castrated. Merry Christmas!

Okay, real talk: Santa has the easy job on Christmas. He gets to sit back while a team of reindeer haul ass all around the world.

Vladimir Melnikov / Getty Images

And those reindeer, it turns out, are female. Obviously.

Maximshebeko / Getty Images

The reason is pretty straightforward: Only female reindeer have antlers in wintertime.

"Reindeer — here we call them caribou — are one of the few species of Cervidae where the males and females both have antlers," explained Andrew Hebda, the zoologist at the Nova Scotia Museum.

"Once [the males] finish breeding the antlers fall off and they regrow them."

Females, on the other hand, keep their antlers until they give birth in the spring.

"So if you come across a reindeer with antlers this time of year, it’s female," said Hebda.

You go, girls!

Cat Reynolds @catreynoldsnyc

MALE REINDEER LOSE THEIR ANTLERS IN WINTER AND FEMALES DON'T THEREFORE SANTA'S SLEIGH IS ACTUALLY PULLED BY A TEAM… https://t.co/7rk0uk0s2Z

06:27 PM - 11 Dec 2017

Honestly this raises a lot of questions.

✨GlitterHusky✨ @jessvang

Armed with the information we have regarding Santa’s reindeer being female, is this a new lesbian power couple? Ask… https://t.co/I6Pri2hV2Y

11:26 AM - 13 Dec 2017

The other possibility is that Santa's reindeer are castrated, since castrated males keep their antlers too.

Sarkophoto / Getty Images

Livestock are sometimes castrated, but it's hard to say what the case is here.

"I can’t comment on Santa’s motivations," said Hebda. "You should get in touch with him and find out."

Women doing the hard work without acknowledgment? Yeah, we've heard that one before.

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While we had him, we also asked Hebda how reindeer flight works.

"You’d have to talk to an aeronautical engineer, or someone who knows about magic, and neither are my area of expertise," he said.