Rudolph really had a red nose
Famous fictional Christmas story backed up by science.
Researchers have found that a dense network of blood vessels in a reindeer’s nose do indeed make it rosy.
The animals have 25 percent more capillaries carrying red, oxygen-rich blood in their noses than humans, say researchers from the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and the University of Rochester in New York.
"In colder climates and also when they are higher up in the atmosphere pulling Santa's sleigh, the increase in blood flow in the nose will help keep the [nose's] surface warm," said Dr. John Cullen of the University of Rochester.
Bing: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
The scientists wrote about their findings in the British Medical Journal.
— Read it at Live Science
Photo: Flickr/Getty Images
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