During his visit to Finland, President Ts. Elbegdorj asked
for help in revitalising the country’s waning reindeer herding livelihood.
Reindeer have been raised in Mongolia for about 3,000 years, but their numbers
have dwindled to just over 1,000 animals. During a meeting with Prime Minister
Mari Kiviniemi, President Elbegdorj asked if Finland could provide Mongolia
with Finnish reindeer semen to be used for artificial insemination, to bring
more genetic diversity to the largely in-bred national herd. Ms. Kiviniemi
referred him to Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sirkka-Liisa Anttila, who
promised both reindeer semen and embryos to help diversify the gene pool.

Mauri Nieminen, head of the Finnish Game and Fisheries
Research Institute, told Elbegdorj that sending semen is possible but it is not
easy. It is usually done only for research purposes. It is theoretically
possible to artificially inseminate reindeer, but there are complications
involved. “Reindeer are semi-wild animals,” Nieminen pointed out. “It is not
easy to determine when a reindeer is in heat, and especially when it reaches
the climax, which is when the semen should be collected.” This autumn’s period
of heat is already over, which means that new reindeer sperm would not be
available until next year. The semen would be frozen for transport.

Nieninen notes that it might actually be easier to
deliver live reindeer to Mongolia than reindeer semen. Russia has sent reindeer
to Mongolia in past years, and Finnish reindeer have travelled to European
countries and to Japan. Finnish reindeer are considered quite suitable for
Mongolia, and should breed well.

The Mongolian reindeer population is currently so small
that inbreeding is inevitable. Only a third of them are female.