Common name: White-tailed deer
Scientific name: Odocoileus virginianus
Conservation Status: Least Concern
At the zoo: A herd of 7: Mars (male, 12y), Buttercup (female, 12y), Daffodil (female, 11y), Violet (female, 11y), Osage (male, 2y), Aspen (male, 2y), and Reed (male, 1y). They can be found at the eastern end of the zoo beside the train trestle.
Habitat: From southern Canada south through most of the United States, Mexico, Central and South America. From temperate forests to the savannas of Central and South America.
Diet:
Will eat almost any vegetation available in their habitat including grasses, leaves, fungi, shrubs, buds, twigs, and even conifers in the winter when food is more difficult to find.
Median Life Expectancy:
10 years
Biology:
White-tailed deer are an extremely adaptable species. They survive in such a wide variety of habitats that their range spans across most of North and Central America, and parts of South America. Their range has recently expanded northward due to rising global temperatures. Their ability to adapt to different environments has resulted in a variety of subspecies, and their diversity is reflected in size, colour, antler growth, biochemical, and behavioural variation. Deer communicate with scent glands which become particularly potent among males during the breeding season, or rut.
White-tailed deer have keen eyesight and hearing. In addition to humans, their predators include coyotes, wolves, bears, cougars, and jaguars. For almost a week after it is born, a fawn does not give off any scent and is covered in white spots to camouflage from predators. Sometimes when people find a fawn alone they fear that it is abandoned or orphaned, but the doe is often close by and listening for danger. She keeps her distance to avoid attracting enemies with her scent.
White-tailed deer can impact habitat conditions for other wildlife. Forest communities have been impacted where there has been an overabundance in the deer population.
Fun Fact:
Did you know that the white underside of their tail is used as a flag to alert other deer to danger?!
