Their longer legs, wide hooves and narrower V-shaped antlers facilitate movement through deep snow and wooded habitats.

[3] In 1700, in Russia the population was concentrated in Kandalaksha (Kantalahti) and Lake Onega (Äänisjärvi)) but hunting and reindeer farming wiped them out in that area as well.

from the Early Pleistocene of Omsk, Russia dates back to 2.1-1.8 Ma and suggests northern Eurasia as a center of reindeer origin (Bondarev et al.

[9] Its pedicles (antler bases), unlike modern reindeer, are inclined backward and set parallel to each other, demonstrating the primitive morphology for archaic cervids.

Van Kolfschoten et al. (2011)[10] reported fossils of reindeer in Europe from the early Middle Pleistocene of Germany, France, and England.

It equals in size the modern forest North American subspecies R. t caribou and R. t. terranovae... Its long metapodials [carpal and tarsal bones) with narrow epiphyses indicate adaptation to the wooded landscape” (Croitor 2010).

[12] In contrast, all known Middle and Late Pleistocene reindeer of Eurasia — except the forest forms mentioned above — share with the advanced American barren-ground caribou a peculiar specialized antler shape with the short distance between the first and second tines.

Its “relatively short limb bones, simple long antlers with small palmations and large cheek-teeth mark it as an open-landscape grazer.” (Croitor 2018)[12]  Its food habits may have been similar to those of the fossil reindeer from Alaska that displayed a heavy occlusal tooth wear for young and adult animals that reflects a very abrasive diet (Rivals & Solounias 2007).

[17] Miller Jr. (1912),[18] recognizing its consistent morphological differences from tundra reindeer—larger body, longer legs and “skull with nasal bones narrow and highly arched; teeth relatively small”—elevated it to full species, R. fennicus.

In shape they stand close to the tundra type antlers, but are more massive with some tendency for palmation.”He described the “Altai reindeer” as similar to Finnish forest reindeer, but with “a light-coloured (sand to fox red) woodland form with a dark face and small antlers…” In a 1998 update, he named fennicus, valentinae and phylarchus as subspecies but was uncertain about the status of angustirostris.

[27] Other taxonomists have confirmed the statistically significant morphological differences of forest reindeer, especially the proportionately longer legs (e.g., Puputti and Niskanen 2009).

Genetic analysis of all wild caribou and reindeer ecotypes in the world, at the coarsest level of refinement, K = 2, clearly separated North American woodland caribou from all others;  K = 3, however, revealed a third distinctive genetic cluster in Finnish forest reindeer and PCA (principal components analysis) confirmed a distinctive Fennoscandian group apart from the Eurasia-Beringia clade.

This clustering and PCA analysis omitted Greenland and Svalbard reindeer, which were too different genetically to be included in the analysis (Yannic et al. 2013)[34] These considerations led to the renaming of the Finnish forest reindeer as a full species Rangifer fennicus Lönnberg, 1909, in a recent revision by a single author, something not supported in the field.

One of its main goals is to reintroduce forest reindeer to its original habitats in Suomenselkä: National Parks of Lauhanvuori and Seitseminen were chosen as the reintroduction sites.

Zoo employees also participate in planning the daily care of the animals living in the on-site enclosures, and provide wildlife veterinarian assistance.

[37] The Finnish forest reindeer has been part of European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA)'s population management plan since a studbook of the species was founded in 1998.