The first written account of Santa Claus having reindeer was in 1821, and since then most people have assumed the reindeer were male sa国际传媒� but a scientist says those people would be wrong.

Andrew Hebda, a zoologist at the Nova Scotia Museum, says while both male and female reindeer have antlers, only the females have their antlers during the winter months.

sa国际传媒淏eing members of the deer family, the males grow their antlers a little bit earlier and just after mating season, which is just about finished now, they drop off. So over a winter yousa国际传媒檒l never see a male with antlers,sa国际传媒� Hebda said.

Pregnant females use their antlers to dig through the snow in search for food, and lose them just before giving birth, he said.

Itsa国际传媒檚 most likely, he said, that Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen are all female.

sa国际传媒淎ny reindeer right now with antlers is a girl,sa国际传媒� he said.

New focus has been placed on their gender in part because of a New York City Twitter usersa国际传媒檚 assertion this month they are sa国际传媒渁 team of strong, powerful, underrated women.sa国际传媒�

The tweet, relying entirely on the antler theory of gender, proved very popular sa国际传媒� it has garnered more than 680,000 likes and more than 200,000 retweets.

MALE REINDEER LOSE THEIR ANTLERS IN WINTER AND FEMALES DON'T THEREFORE SANTA'S SLEIGH IS ACTUALLY PULLED BY A TEAM OF STRONG, POWERFUL, UNDERRATED WOMEN!!!!! YOU GO, GIRLS!! I SEE YOU!!!

sa国际传媒� Cat Reynolds (@catreynoldsnyc)

A Chicago Zoological Society blog post echoes the contention that the antlers tell the tale.

sa国际传媒淭his isnsa国际传媒檛 to say Santa only had female reindeer, but the nine flyers were girls,sa国际传媒� it said.

sa国际传媒淟etsa国际传媒檚 be honest, unlike Santa, reindeer donsa国际传媒檛 live forever, so Santa needs both male and female reindeer, no? Because boy reindeer donsa国际传媒檛 give birth to future generations of magical flying reindeer.sa国际传媒�

Hebda says theresa国际传媒檚 another option sa国际传媒� castrated male reindeer donsa国际传媒檛 lose their antlers.

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sa国际传媒淭hatsa国际传媒檚 always a possibility. Itsa国际传媒檚 a question of whether Santa has followed a code of practice for proper raising of animals in castration is perhaps up in the air at the moment, but thatsa国际传媒檚 a possibility,sa国际传媒� Hebda said.

Hebda said European reindeer are cousins of the North American caribou. There have been some introductions of reindeer into North America sa国际传媒� most recently into Newfoundland, he said.

While Hebda can talk about reindeer gender, hesa国际传媒檚 not prepared to explain how they fly.

And while many children leave milk and cookies out for Santa on Christmas Eve, Hebda said thatsa国际传媒檚 not a good choice for the reindeer.

And he said carrots may also be too rich of a treat to leave out for Santasa国际传媒檚 reindeer. He suggests lichens, leafy greens and dried mushrooms instead.

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