Mammal


The White-tailed deer
Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Mammalia
Order	Artiodactyla
Family	Cervidae
Genus	Odocoileus
Species	virginius

picture

Description

The white-tailed deer has a white tail and a white behind. When it's tail is lowered it is brown with a white fringe. In the summer the white-tailed deer has a reddish pelage on it's back and sides, and white underneath. In the winter the upper parts are grayish. Fawns have spots that eventually disappear. The deer also have a white patch on their throat. Male deer get a set of horns called antlers. Antlers start growing in early summer..

www.vet.uga.edu/ivcvm/

1999/Quick/Quick.htm

Habitat

The best white-tailed deer habitat is along streams. A woody cover is another good area, but not essential. Grasslands are also suitable for the whitetail deer. Croplands are another reliable year-around source for the white-tailed deer because it has everything. You may find whitetail deer in all the areas listed, but you will mostly find them in wooded areas.

Range

The white-tailed deer can be found in southern Canada and throughout most of the United States with the exception of South-west Alaska and Hawaii.

Food

White-tailed deer are herbivores, or plant eaters. They eat green plants, corn, acorns, other nuts, buds, and twigs of woody plants. They don't eat meat at all. Yet they are sometimes food for others.. Some natural predators are humans, bobcats, lynx and other meat eaters.

www.arizonahighways.com/WildlifePortfolio/ BABIES/BABIES.htm

Life Cycle

Whitetail deer produce young once a year, in May or June. The white-tailed deer gestation takes between 200-210 days. The doe usually always has one fawn the first time around. Other times a doe can have one, two, or even three babies, but usually two. At three to four weeks the fawns start eating solid food. Males reach puberty around 18 months. At a year and a half, babies start breeding. In the wild deer can live from 9 to 12 years. In captivity they can live up to 20 years.

Animal Survival

The white-tailed deer needs their tails for survival because if one deer sees or smells danger it puts up it's tail. When the other deer see it up they run away from the danger. If they didn't have their tails to signify danger there would be a lot more dead deer.

www.someonesentyouagreeting.com/ createcard1.asp?PostCar...

interesting facts

~Deer are able to run up to 40 miles per hour, jump 9 foot fences, and swim 13 miles per hour.

~Their teeth are specially designed to chew tough foods.

~When they hold their tails up it means "danger" and they run.

www.muratasystem.or.jp/~dbjack/ Dead_Whitetail_Doe.jpg

human impact

Humans hunt the whitetaile deer for fun and for meat. Deer even have their own hunting season where THEY get hunted. It usually takes place around September-November. A century ago deer were hunted almost to extinction all in the east.

Book references	North American Deer, World Book 2002, edition "D", volume 5, pg. 85
online References	F.L. Miller. Hinterland who's who. 1989,1/30/03, unknown email address. How to get there: Google: White-tailed deer: Canadian Wildlife service, Hinterland who's who(2nd "white-tailed deer" on the 1st page of google)