The nomadic Nenets reindeer herders of Arctic Russia have preserved their traditional culture, way of life, religious beliefs and language spectacularly well compared to the vast majority of tribal and nomadic societies worldwide, leading anthropologists to sometimes discuss what they refer to as “the Nenets phenomenon.” These Asian-featured nomads who speak a language unrelated to Russian migrate year round over thousands of kilometres through the Arctic tundra with herds of up to 10,000 reindeer. They dress in reindeer-fur clothing, live in reindeer-hide conical tents called chums, travel by reindeer-drawn wooden sledges which they make themselves, use reindeer bone tools and sledge parts, make harnesses, ropes and lassos from reindeer rawhide, sew clothing with thread made of reindeer sinew, eat aibat – a meal of raw reindeer meat, organs and warm blood straight from the carcass of a freshly killed reindeer – and sacrifice reindeer to the gods of an ancient shamanistic religion that governs every aspect of their daily lives. Reindeer in their world, in short, equal life.