Mammal Web Page

The White-tailed Deer
all pictures from: www.google.com http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/pictures/Odocoileus_virginianus.html
Kingdom	Anamilia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Ariodactyla
Family	Cervidae
Genus	Odocoileus
Species	Odocoileus virginianus

Description

The coat of the White tail-deer is grayish in the winter and reddish in the summer. They have white fur that is close to their nose, it circles around their eyes, inside their ears, and over their chin and throat . Also, the white fur is on the upper inside of their leg and it is beneath their tail. The males have antlers which they shed from January-March. The antlers grow back in by April, losing their velvet by August-September. Their fawns (babies) are born with white spots and weight between 1.5-2.5 kilograms. Their coats become grayish, losing their spots by their first winter.

Habitat

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The white-tailed deer are able to survive in a variety of terrestrial habitats. They have been seen in the boreal forests of Northern Maine. They have also been seen in the swamps of southern Florida. The perfect white-tailed deer habitat includes dense forests and ledges.

Range

The white-tailed deer has a very small home range, usually 1or 2 kilometers. They inhabit most of Southern Canada. They inhabit most of all of the U.S.A. except for 2or3 states. They have been seen in Bolivia.

Food

The White-tailed deer feed on the vegetation available in their home range. In the North America , they eat the buds and twigs of maple, poplar, birch, trees, and saffarass tress along with many shrubs. In South America they eat huaja brush, yucca, prickly pear cactus, comal, ratama, and various shrubs . They utilize conifer needles in the winter as a prime food source. They are crepuscular, which means they feed around dawn and dusk.

Life Cycle

The white-tailed deer has a life span of 9 to12 years. The male (buck) usually leave their mother at 1 year old and try to find a mate almost immediately. The females stay with their mothers for approximately 2 years. Males stay away from other males, and the females usually stay with their fawns for the winters. White-tail deer have been known to live 10 years in the wild. While some have lived for 20 years in captivity.

Survival

For survival the White-tailed deer needs to have ledges, coniferous trees and, thickets of deep brush and water to survive. They use the ledges to help watch out for predators. They use the coniferous and thickets of deep brush for their food source. They also use the coniferous trees and thickets of deep brush e to hide from predators.

Facts

Facts
The white-tailed deer has 1 or 2 fawns a years.
The white-tailed deer can run up to 30 m.p.h.
The white-tailed deer are also very good swimmers.
Females are solitary when they don't have fawns.
They raise their tails to warn other deer that a enemy is nearby.
Their stomachs have 4 chambers for digesting food.

Human Impact

The White-tailed deer have a positive and negative impact on humans. The white-tail deer are hunted for sport and food. Trophy male deer are hunted for their rack of antlers which can be stuffed and hung on the walls of homes or camps in the woods. The negative impact for humans is they eat many crops and raise havoc on farms that farmers need to sell and support their family.