If you forgot page one or two, you may click
here.
| Some of
the most fascinating animals are the deers and their alikes. At
least, I think so. May be you don't. But take a look... |
Creator: Hines, Bob
Buck
doe, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico |
Deer (singular and plural) are the ruminant mammals forming
the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family
include
white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer (caribou),
fallow deer, roe deer and chital.
Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new
antlers each year. In this they differ from permanently
horned animals such as antelope; these are in the same order
as deer and may bear a superficial resemblance.
For most deer in modern English usage, the male is called a
"buck" and the female is a "doe", but the
terms vary with dialect,
and especially according to the size of the species. For many
larger deer the male is a "stag", while for other
larger deer
the same words are used as for cattle: "bull" and
"cow". The male Red Deer is a "hart", especially
if more than five years old,
and the female is a "hind", especially if three or
more years old; both terms can also be used for any species
of deer,
and were widely so used in the past.
Terms for young deer vary similarly, with that of most being
called a "fawn" and that of the larger species "calf";
young of
the smallest kinds may be a kid. A group of deer of any kind
is a "herd". The adjective of relation pertaining
to deer is cervine;
like the family name "Cervidae", this is from Latin:
cervus, "deer".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deer |
Mule
deer, Odocoileus hemionus
Mule
Deer Herd
Photo Heffernan,
David |
The mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, is a deer indigenous
to western North America, named for its large mule-like ears.
There are believed to be several subspecies, including the black-tailed
deer. Unlike its cousin, the white-tailed deer, mule deer
are generally more associated with the land west of the Missouri
River, and more specifically with the Rocky Mountain region
of North America.
The most noticeable differences between whitetails and
mule deer are the size of their ears, the color of their tails,
and the
configuration of their antlers. In many cases, body size is
also a key difference. The mule deer's tail is black-tipped,
whereas
the whitetail's is not. Mule deer antlers are bifurcated; in
other words, they "fork" as they grow, rather than
branching from a
single main beam, as is the case with whitetails. Each spring,
after mating season, a buck's antlers start to regrow almost
immediately after the old antlers are shed. Shedding typically
takes place in mid February, with variations occurring by locale.
Although capable of running, mule deer often prefer to stot,
with all four feet coming down together. |
Mule
Deer Herd
Photo:
Zahm, Gary |
The mule deer is the larger of the two Odocoileus species,
with a height averaging about 100–110 cm at the shoulders
and a nose-to-tail length of about200 cm. Adult bucks normally
weigh 70–140 kg, although trophy specimens may weigh
around 200 kg; does weigh around 57–80 kg. Unlike the whitetail,
the mule deer does not show marked size variation
across its range. |
|
Text
about the Mule Deer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mule_deer
|
Sitka
Black Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis
Sitka
Black Tailed Deer, Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis
Photo:
Hillebrand, Steve
subspecies of mule deer |
The Sitka deer or Sitka black-tailed deer, Odocoileus
hemionus sitkensis, is a subspecies of mule deer, and
similar to
another subspecies the black-tailed deer Odocoileus hemionus
colombianus. Their name originates from Sitka, Alaska.
Sitka deer are characteristically smaller than other types
of black-tailed deer.
Reddish-brown in the summer, their coats darken to a gray-brown
in the winter. They are also good swimmers, and can
occasionally be seen crossing deep channels between islands.
Their average life span is about 10 years but a few are
known
to have attained an age of 15. |
|
Sitka
black-tailed deer, Alaska
Photo: Laubenstein,
Karen
|
Sitka deer inhabit the coastal rainforests of northern
British Columbia, Canada and southeastern Alaska, United
States.
They have also been found on the islands of the Alexander
Archipelago, Prince William Sound, Kodiak Archipelago,
and Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia.
Sitka deer can be both migratory and residential depending
on their habitat, but during winter months they primarily
reside in
old or mixed age forest growth below 450 m). The rut peaks
in mid-November and fawns are born in the early June and
weigh 2.7–3.6 kg. Bucks could weigh up to 55–90
kg and does could weigh 35–45 kg. |
Sitka
black-tailed deer, Alaska
Photo: Laubenstein,
Karen
|
Sitka deer primarily eat green vegetation. However during
the intense Alaskan winters, they will also feed on woody
vegetation and lichen. Sitka deer have no upper incisors,
and digest vegetation through grinding plant material between
their upper and lower molars. All Odocoileus are ruminants,
in that they have a four chambered stomach which allows
them to "ruminate" (re-chew) their food, and contains
bacteria specialized in breaking down cellulose.
Since this bacteria is so specialized, they have tremendous
difficulty digesting strange material and can die of starvation
with their bellies full of food. Sitka deer like bunch berry,
foam flower, trailing raspberry, fern leaf golden thread,
vaccinium, hemlock/cedar, and salmon berry bush. |
|
Text
about the Sitka: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitka_deer
|
Musk
Ox , Ovibos moschatus
Musk
Ox , Ovibos moschatus
Photo:
Bowman, Tim |
The Muskox or Musk Ox, Ovibos moschatus, is an Arctic
mammal of the family Bovidae, noted for its thick coat
and for
the strong odor emitted by males, from which its name derives.
This musky odor is used to attract females during mating
season. Muskoxen primarily live in Arctic North America and
Greenland, with small introduced populations in Sweden,
Siberia and Norway. |
Musk
Oxen
Photo Keller,
Jo |
Both sexes have long curved horns. Muskoxen stand 120 cm high
at the shoulder on average, with females measuring 135
to 200 cm in length, and males 200 to 250 cm . Adults, on average,
weigh 285 kg and range from 180 to 400 kg.
Their life expectancy is 12–20 years. The thick coat and
large head often suggests a larger animal than the muskox truly
is,
but heavy zoo-kept specimens have weighed up to 650 kilograms.
Muskox
- overview
BBC
Natural History Unit, BBC Sound Effects Center
www.arkive.org
|
Their coat, a mix of black, gray, and brown, includes long guard
hairs that almost reach the ground. Rare "white muskoxen"
have been spotted in the Queen Maud Gulf Bird Sanctuary. Muskoxen
are occasionally domesticated for wool, meat and milk.
The wool, is highly prized for its softness, length, and insulation
value. Prices for yarn range between US$40 and $80 per 28 g. |
Musk
Oxen on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska
Photo:
Robin West |
The world population is estimated at between 80,000 and 125,000,
with an estimated 68,788 living on Banks Island
Muskoxen live in herds which number from 12–24 in the winter
and 8–20 in the summer. They do not hold territories but
they do mark their trails with pre-orbital glands. Male and
female muskoxen both have separate age based hierarchies with
mature oxen being dominant over juveniles. Dominant oxen tend
to get access to the best resources and will displace
subordinates from patches of grass during the winter.
Muskox
herd with young
BBC Natural History
Unit, BBC Sound Effects Center
www.arkive.org
|
Muskoxen bulls assert their dominance in many different ways.
One is a "rush and butt" in which a dominant bull
rushes a
subordinate from the side with its horns and will warn the subordinate
so it can have a chance to get away. Bulls will also
roar, swing their heads and paw the ground. Dominant bulls sometimes
treat subordinate bulls like cows. A dominant bull
will casually kick a subordinate with its foreleg, something
they do to cows during mating. A subordinate bull can change
his status by charging a dominant bull. |
|
Text
about the Musk Ox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskox
|
Pronghorn,
Antilocapra americana
Scenic
view of several pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, grazing,
prairie and mountains in background.
Photo:
Hagerty, Ryan; |
The pronghorn, Antilocapra americana, is a
species of artiodactyl mammal endemic to interior western
and central North
America. Though not an antelope, it is often known colloquially
in North America as the prong buck, pronghorn antelope,
or simply antelope, as it closely resembles the true antelopes
of the Old World.
Adult males are 1.3–1.5 m long from nose to tail, stand
80–105 cm high at the shoulder, and weigh 36–70
kg.
The females are the same heights as males but weigh 41–50
kg . The feet have just two hooves, with no dewclaws.
The body temperature is 38 °C.
Pronghorn
social interaction
©
BBC Natural History Unit
www.arkive.org
|
Each "horn" of the pronghorn is composed of a
slender, laterally flattened blade of bone that grows from
the frontal bones
of the skull, forming a permanent core. As in the Giraffidae,
skin covers the bony cores, but in the pronghorn it develops
into a keratinous sheath which is shed and regrown on an
annual basis. Unlike the horns of the family Bovidae,
the horn
sheaths of the pronghorn are branched, each sheath possessing
a forward-pointing tine (hence the name pronghorn).
The horns of males are well developed.
|
Pronghorn
Antelope
Photo:
Leupold, James C. |
It can run exceptionally fast, being built for maximum predator
evasion through running, and is generally accepted to be the
fastest land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. The top speed
is very hard to measure accurately and varies between
individuals; it is variously cited as up to 70, 86, or 100
km/h. It is often cited as the second-fastest land animal,
second only
to the cheetah. It can, however, sustain high speeds longer
than cheetahs.
Pronghorn
running
©
BBC Natural History Unit, Audio credits © Master
Tracks, © BBC Natural History Unit
www.arkive.org
|
It has a very large heart and lungs, and hollow hair. Although
built for speed, it is a very poor jumper. Their ranges are
often affected by sheep ranchers' fences. However, they can
be seen going under fences, sometimes at high speed.
For this reason the Arizona Antelope Foundation and others
are in the process of removing the bottom barbed wire from
the fences, and/or installing a barb-less bottom wire. |
A
Peninsular Pronghorn, Antilocapra americana peninsularis,
National Bison Range located in Moiese, Montana.
Photo:
Hagerty, Ryan
|
The Baja California Pronghorn or Peninsular Pronghorn,
Antilocapra americana peninsularis, is a critically endangered
pronghorn, endemic to Mexico. The wild population is estimated
at 200.
The Peninsular Pronghorn has been on the Endangered Species
List since 1975. |
|
Text
about the Pronghorn: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronghorn
|
Elk,
Cervus canadensis
Bull
elk
Photo: Zahm, Gary |
The elk or wapiti, Cervus canadensis,
is one of the largest species of deer in the world and one
of the largest land mammals
in North America and eastern Asia. In the deer family, Cervidae,
only the larger moose, Alces alces, which is
called
an "elk" in Europe, and the sambar, Rusa unicolor,
rival the elk in size. Elk are similar to the Red Deer, Cervus
elaphus, found in Europe, of which they were long
believed to be a subspecies. However, evidence from a 2004
study of the
mitochondrial DNA indicates they are a distinct species.
Elk range in forest and forest-edge habitat, feeding on grasses,
plants, leaves, and bark. Although native to North America
and Eastern Asia, they have adapted well to countries where
they have been introduced, including Argentina, Australia,
and
New Zealand. Their great adaptability may threaten endemic
species and ecosystems into which they have been introduced. |
Bull
elk bugling in the Gibbon Meadow in the Yellowstone National
Park
Photo: Bauer,
Erwin & Peggy |
Male elk have large antlers which are shed
each year. Males also engage in ritualized mating behaviors
during the rut,
including posturing, antler wrestling (sparring), and bugling,
a loud series of vocalizations which establishes dominance
over other males and attracts females.
Elk are susceptible to a number of infectious diseases, some
of which can be transmitted to livestock. Efforts to eliminate
infectious diseases from elk populations, largely through
vaccination, have had mixed success.
Some cultures revere the elk as a spiritual force. In parts
of Asia, antlers and their velvet are used in traditional
medicines. Elk are hunted as a game species; the meat is leaner
and higher in protein than beef or chicken. |
Roosevelt
elk at Gold Bluffs Beach
Photo:
Blake, Tupper Ansel |
There are at present four recognized subspecies in North
America, the Roosevelt elk, Cervus canadensis roosevelti,
(picture above), Tule elk, Cervus. canadensis nannodes,
(picture below), Manitoban, Cervus canadensis manitobensis
and Rocky Mountain, Cervus canadensis nelsoni.
The Eastern elk, Cervus canadensis canadensis, and
Merriam's Elk, Cervus canadensis merriami subspecies
have
been extinct for at least a century.
The elk is a large animal of the artiodactyle ungulate order,
possessing an even number of toes on each foot, similar to
those
of camels, goats and cattle. It is a ruminant species, with
a four-chambered stomach, and feeds on grasses, plants, leaves
and bark. During the summer, elk eat almost constantly, consuming
between 4 and 7 kilograms daily.In North America,
males are called bulls, and females are called cows. In Asia,
stag and hind, respectively, are sometimes used instead.
|
Tule
Elk at San Luis National Wildlife Refuge |
Elk are more than twice as heavy as
mule deer and have a more reddish
hue to their hair coloring, as well as large, buff
colored rump patches and smaller tails. Moose
are larger and darker than elk; bulls have distinctively
different antlers.
Elk gather in herds, while moose are solitary. Elk cows
average 225 kilograms , stand 1.3 metresat the shoulder,
and are
2 metres from nose to tail. Bulls are some 40% larger
than cows at maturity, weighing an average of 320 kilograms,
standing 1.5 metres at the shoulder and averaging 2.5
metres in length.
The largest of the subspecies is the Roosevelt elk,
found west of the Cascade Range in the U.S. states of
California,
Oregon and Washington, and in the Canadian province of
British Columbia. Roosevelt elk have been reintroduced
into
Alaska, where the largest males are estimated to weigh
up to 600 kilograms.
Only the males have antlers, which start growing in the
spring and are shed each winter. The largest antlers may
be 1.2 metres long and weigh 18 kilograms. Antlers are
made of bone which can grow at a rate of 2.5 centimetres
per day. While actively
growing, the antlers are covered with and protected by
a soft layer of highly vascularised skin known as velvet.
|
Tule
Elk Bulls
Photo:
Gary R Zahm
|
During the fall, elk grow a thicker coat of
hair, which helps to insulate them during the winter. Males,
females and calves of Siberian and North American elk all
grow thin neck manes; female and young Manchurian and Alashan
wapitis do not.[15] By early summer, the heavy winter coat
has been shed, and elk are known to rub against trees and
other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. All elk
have small and clearly defined rump patches with short tails.
As is true for many species of deer, especially those in mountainous
regions, elk migrate into areas of higher altitude in the
spring, following the retreating snows, and the opposite direction
in the fall. Hunting pressure also impacts migration and
movements. During the winter, they favor wooded areas and
sheltered valleys for protection from the wind and availability
of tree bark to eat. Roosevelt elk are generally non-migratory
due to less seasonal variability of food sources.
The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) elk herd numbers over
200,000 individuals and during the spring and fall, they take
part in the longest elk migration in the continental U.S.
Elk in the southern regions of Yellowstone National Park and
in
the surrounding National Forests migrate south towards the
town of Jackson, Wyoming where they winter for up to six
months on the National Elk Refuge. Conservationists there
ensure the herd is well fed during the harsh winters. Many
of the
elk that reside in the northern sections of the GYE migrate
to lower altitudes in Montana, mainly to the north and west. |
|
Text
about the Elk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk
|
Moose,
Alces alces
Bull
Moose
USFWS |
The moose (North America) or Eurasian
elk (Europe), Alces alces, is the largest extant species
in the deer family.
Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males;
other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic
("twig-like") configuration. Moose typically inhabit
boreal and mixed deciduous forests of the Northern Hemisphere
in
temperate to subarctic climates. Moose used to have a much
wider range but hunting and other human activities greatly
reduced it over the years. Moose have been re-introduced to
some of their former habitats. Their diet consists of both
terrestrial and aquatic vegetation. The most common moose
predators are wolves, bears,
and humans.
Unlike most other deer species, moose are solitary animals
and do not form herds. Although generally slow-moving and
sedentary, moose can become aggressive and move surprisingly
fast if angered or startled. Their mating season in the
autumn can lead to spectacular fights between males competing
for the right to mate with a particular female. |
Bull
moose rests in vegetation
Photo: Burger, Carl |
In North America, the moose range includes almost all of
Canada (excluding the arctic), most of Alaska, northern New
England and upstate New York, the upper Rocky Mountains, northeastern
Minnesota, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and
Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Within this massive range, the
most diverse range of subspecies exist, containing habitat
for
four of the six subspecies. In western portions of the continent,
moose populations extend well north into Canada (British
Columbia and Alberta) and more isolated groups have been verified
as far south as the mountains of Utah and Colorado
and as far west as the Lake Wenatchee area of the Washington
Cascades. In 1978, a few breeding pairs were reintroduced
in western Colorado, and the state's moose population is now
more than 1,000 with great potential to grow. |
Bull
moose
Photo: Lockhart, Mike |
Between the 1980s to 2010s, population has
changed dramatically, predicated on the regrowth of plentiful
food sources,
abandonment of farmland, better land management, cleanup of
pollution and natural dispersal from the Canadian Maritimes
and Quebec. South of the Canadian border Maine has the most
of the population with a current headcount of about 30,000
moose and dispersals from Maine over the years have resulted
in healthy, growing populations each in Vermont and New
Hampshire, notably near bodies of water and as high up as
1.000m above sea level in the mountains. In turn dispersals
from
northern New England have resulted in a growing population
of roughly 1,000 moose in Massachusetts (where it has been
absent since the early 18th century) plus reports of new dispersals
to eastern New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Moose were successfully introduced on Newfoundland in 1878
and 1904 where they are now the dominant ungulate,
and somewhat less successfully on Anticosti Island in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence.
There are an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000 moose in Canada,
with 150,000 in Newfoundland in 2007 descended
from just four that were introduced in the 1900s. United States:
probably around 300,000, of which 2/3 are in Alaska. |
Description
A male moose takes a rest in a field during a light rainshower.
Photo: Hagerty, Ryan |
The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many
types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to
consume 9770 Calories per day to maintain its body weight.
Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation,
mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh
shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants
are
rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume
a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy,
these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements,
and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic
plant
life. In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick
salt that is used as a snow and ice melter. A typical moose,
weighing 360 kilograms, can eat up to 32 kg of food per
day.
Moose lack upper front teeth, but have eight sharp incisors
on the lower jaw. They also have a tough tongue, lips and
gums,
which aid in the eating of woody vegetation. |
Moose |
On average, an adult moose stands 1.4–2.1 m high
at the shoulder, which is more than a foot higher than the
next largest
deer on average, the Elk. Males
(or "bulls") weigh 380–700 kg and females
(or "cows") typically weigh 200–360 kg
The head-and-body length is 2.4–3.2 m, with the vestigal
tail adding only a further 5–12 cm. The largest of
all the races
is the Alaskan subspecies, Alces alces gigas, which
can stand over 2.1 m at the shoulder, has a span across
the antlers
of 1.8 m and averages 634.5 kg in males and 478 kg in females.
Typically, however, the antlers of a mature bull are between
1.2 m and 1.5 m . The largest confirmed size for this species
was a bull shot at the Yukon River in September 1897 that
weighed 820 kg and measured 2.35 m high at the shoulder.
Behind only the bison, the Moose is the second largest land
animal in both North America and Europe |
Moose and Calf
Creator Jerry, Danielle G |
Moose are mostly diurnal. They are generally
solitary with the strongest bonds between mother and calf.
Although moose
rarely gather in groups, there may be several in close proximity
during the mating season.
Mating occurs in September and October. The males are polygamous
and will seek several females to breed with.
During this times both sexes will call to each other. Males
produce heavy grunting sounds that can be heard from up
to 500
meters away, while females produce wail-like sounds. Males
will fight for access to females. They either assess which
is
larger, with the smaller bull retreating, or they may engage
in battles, usually only involving the antlers.
Female moose have an eight-month gestation period, usually
bearing one calf, or twins if food is plentiful, in May
or June.
Newborn moose have fur with a reddish hue in contrast to
the brown appearance of an adult. The young will stay with
the
mother until just before the next young are born. The life
span of an average moose is about 15–25 years.
|
Read more about the
moose in Eurasia, click here.
|
Text
about the Moose: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose
|
White-tailed
deer, Odocoileus virginianus
White-tailed
Buck
Photo:
Stehn, John |
The white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus,
also known as the Virginia deer or simply as the whitetail,
is a medium-sized
deer native to the United States (all but five of the states),
Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far
south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand
and some countries in Europe, such as Finland, Czech Republic,
and Serbia. In the Americas, it is the most widely distributed
wild ungulate.
In North America, the species is most common east of the
Rocky Mountains, and is absent from much of the western
United States, including Nevada, Utah, California, Hawaii,
and Alaska (though its close relatives, the mule
deer and
black-tailed deer, Odocoileus hemionus, can be found
there). It does, however, survive in aspen parklands and
deciduous
river bottomlands within the central and northern Great
Plains, and in mixed deciduous riparian corridors, river
valley
bottomlands, and lower foothills of the northern Rocky Mountain
regions from South Dakota and Wyoming to southeastern
British Columbia, including the Montana Valley and Foothill
grasslands. |
White-tailed
Deer
Photo:
White, Philip K. |
The conversion of land adjacent to the northern
Rockies into agriculture use
and partial clear-cutting of coniferous trees (resulting
in widespread
deciduous vegetation) has been favorable to the white-tailed
deer and has
pushed its distribution to as far north as Prince George,
British Columbia. Populations of deer around the Great Lakes
have also expanded their
range northwards, due to conversion of land to agricultural
uses favoring
more deciduous vegetation, and local caribou and moose populations.
The westernmost population of the species, known as the
Columbian
white-tailed deer, once was widespread in the mixed forests
along the Willamette and Cowlitz River valleys of western
Oregon and southwestern
Washington, but today its numbers have been considerably
reduced, and
it is classified as near-threatened. The white-tailed deer
is well-suited for
its environment. |
Conifer |
White-tailed
Deer, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Massachusetts
|
The deer's coat is a reddish-brown in the
spring and summer and turns to a grey-brown throughout the
fall and winter.
The deer can be recognized by the characteristic white underside
to its tail, which it shows as a signal of alarm by raising
the tail during escape. There is a population of white-tailed
deer in the state of New York that is entirely white (except
for
areas like their noses and toes)—not albino—in
color. The former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York,
has the
largest known concentration of white deer. Strong conservation
efforts have allowed white deer to thrive within the confines
of the depot.
The white-tailed deer is highly variable in size.The average
size seems to be larger further away from the Equator.
North American male deer (also known as a buck or stag)
usually weighs 60 to 130 kg but, in rare cases, bucks in
excess of 160 kg have been recorded. The female (doe) in
North America usually weighs from 40 to 90 kg.
White-tailed deer from the tropics and the Florida Keys
are markedly smaller-bodied than temperate populations,
averaging
35 to 50 kg, with an occasional adult female as small as
25.5 kg. Length ranges from 95 to 220 cm, including a tail
of 10 to
36.5 cm, and the shoulder height is 53 to 120 cm. Including
all races, the average summer weight of adult males is 68
kg
and is 45.3 kg in adult females.
Deer have dichromatic (two-color) vision; humans have trichromatic
vision. So what deer do not see are the oranges and reds
that stand out so well to people. |
White-tailed
Deer
Photo:
Berg, W. J. |
Although most often thought of as forest
animals depending on relatively small openings and edges,
white-tailed deer can
equally adapt themselves to life in more open prairie, savanna
woodlands, and sage communities as in the Southwestern
United States and northern Mexico, These savanna-adapted
deer have relatively large antlers in proportion to their
body
size and large tails. Also, there is a noticeable difference
in size between male and female deer of the savannas.
The Texas white-tailed deer (texanus), of the prairies
and oak savannas of Texas and parts of Mexico, are the largest
savanna-adapted deer in the Southwest, with impressive antlers
that might rival deer found in Canada and the northern
United States. There are also populations of Arizona (couesi)
and Carmen Mountains (carminis) white-tailed deer
that
inhabit montane mixed oak and pine woodland communities.
The Arizona and Carmen Mountains deer are smaller but may
also have impressive antlers, considering their size. |
White-tailed
deer buck, Odocoileus virginianus
Photo:
N. & M.J. Mishler |
Whitetail deer eat large varieties of food, commonly eating
legumes and foraging on other plants, including shoots,
leaves,
cacti, and grasses. They also eat acorns, fruit, and corn.
Their special stomach allows them to eat some things that
humans
cannot, such as mushrooms and Red Sumac that are poisonous
to humans. Their diet varies by season according to
availability of food sources. They will also eat hay, grass,
white clover, and other food that they can find in a farm
yard.
Whitetail deer have been known to opportunistically feed
on nesting songbirds, field mice, and birds trapped in Mist
nets.
The white-tailed deer is a ruminant, which means it has
a four-chambered stomach. Each chamber has a different and
specific function that allows the deer to quickly eat a
variety of different food, digesting it at a later time
in a safe area of
cover. The Whitetail stomach hosts a complex set of bacteria
that change as the deer's diet changes through the seasons.
If the bacteria necessary for digestion of a particular
food (e.g., hay) are absent it will not be digested.
There are several natural predators of white-tailed deer.
wolves, cougars and American alligators are the more effective
natural predators of adult deer. Bobcats, lynxes, bears,
wolverines and packs of coyotes usually will prey on deer
fawns.
Bears may sometimes attack adult deer while lynxes, coyotes,
wolverines and bobcats are most likely to take adult deer
when the ungulates are weakened by winter weather. The general
extirpation of natural deer predators over the East Coast
(only the coyote remains widespread) is believed to be a
factor in the overpopulation issues with this species.
Many scavengers rely on deer as carrion, including New World
vultures, hawks,
eagles,
foxes, and corvids (the latter three
may also rarely prey on deer fawns).
|
|
Text
about the White-tailed Deer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_deer
|
Piebald
deer running, Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
|
A genetic variation (defect) produces the piebald condition
in white-tailed deer, not parasites or diseases. Piebald
deer are
colored white and brown similar to a pinto pony. Sometimes
they appear almost entirely white. In addition to this
coloration,
many have some of the following observable conditions:
bowing of the nose (Roman), short legs, arching spine
(scoliosis),
and short lower jaws. This genetic condition is rare with
typically less than one percent of white-tailed deer being
affected.
Source: http://www.buckmanager.com/2007/07/17/piebald-deer-what-are-they/ |
Herd
of deer, two of which are considered piebald due to
their large, white markings.
|
Seneca County, New York maintains the largest
herd of white deer. White pigmented white-tailed deer
began populating
the deer population in the area now known as the Conservation
Area of the former Seneca Army Depot.
The U.S. Army gave the white deer protection while managing
the normal colored deer through hunting. |
red
deer, Odocoileus virginianus
Young
red deer fawn, Odocoileus virginianus, at John
Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, PA.
Photo:
Pflug-Felder, Karen |
That
brings us to the end of page 3 of this North American
Wildlife tour.
As per February 21st, 2012, the next 3 or more pages
are not yet ready,
but you may try page
four right now.
|
|
