When you get hundreds of reindeers together and try to move them around, they turn into one gigantic sentient-seeming swarm that spins around together.
Norwegian photographer Jan Helmer Olsen took this footage with a hexacopter drone. The video comes from a region called Kautokeino, where traditional Norwegian herders called the Sami live and work.
The Sami have switched from traditional herding techniques to more modern ones:
During the 1900’s reindeer herding becomes more extensive and meat production becomes increasingly important. In the 1960’s, the Sámi reindeer herders started to introduce new technologies – the so called snow mobile revolution in their work with reindeer. Later came other mechanical aids and today such tools are major feature of modern reindeer herding. This has had a variety of impacts on reindeer husbandry and as herders no longer ski or walk with reindeer, the relationship has changed somewhat.
Today’s reindeer herding requires large areas, reindeer are often frightened and are forced to flee from natural pastures. Today’s reindeer are not watched year-round and reindeer wander freely during certain periods.
