Why Rudolph's nose is red

In the arctic, reindeer have evolved to keep warm - but like all animals, sometimes they need to cool down. Unlike humans, they cannot sweat, so have to use their nose as a heat exchanger.

Medical researchers from Rotterdam, in The Netherlands, and zoophisiologists from Tromsø, in Norway, have collaborated to have a look at the blood vessel structures within the nose which allow the reindeer to do that.

Watch the video to find out how studying this microcirculation is helping with our understanding of disease, as well as thermoregulation.

Read the science behind the story: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bm...

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  Science & Technology

[Emanuel Hoogeveen]

Yeah while interesting, I think this kind of missed the point that Rudolph stood out among reindeer. I don't think the story goes "Rudolph the hot nosed reindeer, and his friends with malfunctioning heat-regulatory systems".

[Jasper van Boven]

ik wil er 1 als huisdier!!!

[borednow]

At 3:58 she says the guy is from rotterdam but in the credits it says amsterdam????????

[Dale Schultz]

utter twaddle in terms of the redness of the nose, if the thermal imaging had happened to pick GREEN to show high temperature, then I suspect the headline would not be that they have green noses!

[BlitzenXmasX]

I love reindeers!!! Cutest animals in the world!!! Just so adorable !!

Oh fun fact, Rudolph's Father is Blitzen.

[Oryanne Turunen]

But they made fun of his nose, so obviously his was different haha.

[Tom Bartels]

rde nose

[RonKleinOne]

The other reindeers laughed and called Rudolph names because they were badly raised. ( mal eleve ) it seems they were all asleep during the charm school classes that all arctic reindeers attend.

[Oryanne Turunen]

So wouldn't all of Santa's reindeer have red noses? Would something make Rudolph's nose more red than the others? I mean, the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names about it, so his must've been different.