WATCH: This aerial footage shows a 'reindeer cyclone' in all its glory

Taken in Russia’s Kola Peninsula, mind-blowing footage captured by a drone camera shows a herd of reindeers circling around each other in a “cyclone” like formation.  

In the video, the reindeers can be seen running in a circle one after the other while the fawns are right in the middle. It is pertinent to mention here that the threatened reindeer run in the formation to making it impossible to target an individual.

 

Reindeer Cyclones are a real thing… a swirling mass of threatened reindeer stampeding in a circle making it impossible to target an individual.. here the fawns are in the middle

This herd is on Russia’s Kola Peninsula, in the Arctic Circle
pic.twitter.com/0Y2UwBKuOh

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) March 30, 2021

Experts said that the purpose behind this swirling formation is to protect the herd from any kind of predatory attack. It confuses the animal in question as it is not able to track its prey at all.

The footage was captured by a Russian photographer named Lev Fedoseyev in Murmansk. This was right before a veterinarian was about to give them anthrax vaccinations. It was filmed on March 24.

Experts said that the reindeer can run up to 80 kilometers per hour. In the spring, they tend to form a “superherd” that consists up to 5,00,000 such animals.

The video went viral soon after it was shared on social media and garnered over 2 million views so far.

“Reindeer Cyclones are a real thing… a swirling mass of threatened reindeer stampeding in a circle making it impossible to target an individual.. here the fawns are in the middle,” the caption said. Originally, the clip was posted on the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography Peter the Great or ‘Kunstkámera’ ‘s Facebook page.