Five Really Cool Things You Didn’t Know About Reindeer [GALLERY]

Sure, we all know that reindeer are mostly associated with Christmas since they are the chosen animal to guide Santa's sleigh to the homes of little boys and girls around the world, but outside of the mythical stories we've all heard of reindeer, how much do we really know about them?

As you might imagine, reindeer are related to deer, the kind that walks around our neighborhoods. And much like snowbirds who travel south, so do reindeer, except they don't go too far south because they prefer colder weather.

According to the Sightline Institute, reindeer that spend most of their time in British Columbia, Canada have been known to travel south into  Northern Idaho and northeastern Washington state but they're not traveling in massive numbers. Only a dozen or so reindeer have been spotted in Idaho and Washington in recent years.