Those crazy scientests and hypothesizers are at it again! This time, it's to tackle the question of whether or not Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was a female. What relevance does this have to anything? Absolutely none. Just something to enjoy over the holidays. Merry Christmas!

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, is the lead guy hauling the sleigh as Santa makes his annual one-night trip around the world.

 

As the much-emailed account goes, male reindeer generally shed their antlers long before December 25, whereas the females retain theirs until at least January. The reindeer are always depicted as having antlers, so Santa's outriders must all be females.

 

But is there a scientific basis to this theory?

 

A hard look at the evidence suggests that at least some of Santa's reindeer were females (the ones giving the directions, no doubt), some may have been young bulls, and some may have been neutered males. And Rudolph got to be the lead guy because he had a snout full of parasites.