There are people who think reindeer are fictional

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Yes, apparently plenty of people on Twitter thought that reindeer were just legendary animals like unicorns and dragons. Some were shocked when they heard that reindeer actually exist.

I knew they exist, but they definetly don't fly or have a big glowing red nose.

Reindeer is the European name for Caribou.....or Caribou is the American name for Reindeer.

Pah! Next you'll be telling us Santa isn't real either.

Santa was originally a tiny elf. Fat, but tiny. Smaller than a bowling ball. And his reindeer are also 'tiny' miniatures, on top of being able to fly. But both morphed into normal human and animal sized over the years.

Reindeer range from being totally wild to totally domesticated beasts of burden. Are as real as heifers.

But I am sure there are folks who think that they are made up. Just like some folks think that Transylvania is a mythical place. Hungary and Rumania have fought wars for centuries over which got to rule Rumania. There used to be a young lady on WP who actually lived in Transylvania.

I remember the first time I learned reindeer weren't fictional, I got the toy 2-XL for Christmas. This was a really cool toy, it came with cassette tapes and he'd ask you trivia questions you had to answer, and there was one about reindeer. It's possible I would have grown up not knowing reindeer were real if I didn't have that toy. I guess "flying" reindeer is the clarification that Santa's reindeer are not like real reindeer.

Ah yes, not so young though, I think she was around 200 years old but would never tell us the secret of her longevity except to say it was related to some sort of drink she partook.

I've fed corn to reindeer.
Too bad it wasn't magic.

This just goes to show you how dumb most of the human race really is.

Reindeer are most definitely real. And better than people.

In Canada we call them caribou.

I didn't know this, so I did some googling. Apparently caribous and reindeers are different types of deers, the one mentioned first often being larger than reindeers. But according to wikipedia, North Americans sometimes use the word caribou when talking about wild deers in general, so maybe they're the same thing in that sense?

I believe reindeer can be quite tasty, too. Never tried it myself.

No, North Americans DO NOT refer to all wild deer as caribou. That's inaccurate. There are various different species of wild deer. Caribou refers to reindeer.

Reindeer and caribous are the same species. Most reindeer in Europe and Asia are domesticated. In North America, it's the opposite. Reindeer herding is uncommon, and most reindeer are still wild, and called caribou in North America.

Yes, there are some domesticated caribou in North America, and there are still some wild reindeer herds in Scandinavia and Russia. Generally speaking, most Eurasian caribou are domesticated, most North American caribou are still wild.

I used to think reindeers were legendary animals after I stopped believing in Santa (around age 9) but then I soon learnt that they are real animals.

Correct. Caribou are up in Canada and Alaska. Down here in the lower 48, the main deer is white tail deer. Nobody refers to them as 'caribou'. When its deer hunting season they talk about shooting deer, or 'white tails'. No one utters the word 'caribou'.

Twitter people are a very special bunch.