Deer
Ococoileus virginianus (whitetail) or Odocoileus hemionus (blacktail or mule deer)
Description - A tan or reddish-brown in the summer and greyish-brown in the winter, the belly, throat, nose band, eye ring and insides of the ears are white. There are black spots on the sides of the chin. The antlers have individual tines that grow upward from each of the main beams.
Distribution - The mule deer has the widest distribution of the deer found in British Columbia, occurring as far north as the Liard River Valley and throughout the interior as far west as the coast mountains. The whitetail deer resides in the lower south-east corner of the province. Found only in BC is the Northwest Whitetail deer.
Biology - Deer are browsers rather than grazers and feed on a variety of vegetation including green plants, nuts and corn, and trees and twigs. Although the deer is a good swimmer and runner (reaching speeds of 35 mph) it falls prey to a number of animals including the cougar, domestic dog, wolf, coyote, lynx, bobcat and bear. Once this species was endangered but it is now more abundant than ever.
Tracks - The mule deer has a distinct "bound" in which all four feet come down together as if on springs. The tracks will vary from a rough "V-shape" while running to a straight line with slower speeds. The track varies according to the surrounding landscape. In soft, woodland areas the print is more pointed and on harder ground where the hoof may be worn, the track may appear with a blunter tip. The hoof print may be described as two paisley shapes facing one another with smaller "dots" of the dew claws at the wider end of these paisleys.
Straddle: 15.5 cm (6.2 in)
Stride: 50 - 61 cm (20 - 24.4 in)
Track: 8.5 cm (3.4 in) long / 6.5 cm (2.6 in) wide
The key difference in distinguishing the gallop of the white-tailed and mule deer is while the mule tends to bound as if on springs, the white-tailed deer "rocks" by swinging its hind feet ahead of the front ones. The white-tailed deer is known to drag its hooves between steps creating troughs between each print. The hoof print itself is nearly indistinguishable from that of the mule deer.
Straddle: 15.5 cm (6.2 in)
Stride: 33 - 50 cm (13.2 - 20 in)
Track: 7 - 9 cm (2.8 - 3.6 in) / 4.5 - 6.5 cm (1.8 - 2.6 in)
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Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates) are often also called deer. Male deer of all species (except the Chinese water deer) 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. The Musk deer of Asia and Water Chevrotain (or Mouse Deer) of tropical African and Asian forests are not true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, respectively. All other animals in Africa resembling deer are antelope.
The word "deer" was originally quite broad in meaning, but became more specific over time. In Middle English der meant a wild animal of any kind (as opposed to cattle, which then meant any domestic livestock). This general sense gave way to the modern sense by the end of the Middle English period, around 1500. Cognates of English "deer" in several other languages still have the general sense of "animal – for example German Tier, Dutch dier, and Scandinavian djur, dyr, dýr. "Deer" is the same in the plural as in the singular.
Deer are widely distributed, and hunted, with indigenous representatives in all continents except Antarctica and Australia, though Africa has only one native species, the Red Deer, confined to the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of the continent.
Deer live in a variety of biomes ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest. While often associated with forests, many deer are ecotone species that live in transitional areas between forests and thickets (for cover) and prairie and savanna (open space). The majority of large deer species inhabit temperate mixed deciduous forest, mountain mixed coniferous forest, tropical seasonal/dry forest, and savanna habitats around the world. Clearing open areas within forests to some extent may actually benefit deer populations by exposing the understory and allowing the types of grasses, weeds, and herbs to grow that deer like to eat. Additionally, access to adjacent croplands may also benefit deer. However, adequate forest or brush cover must still be provided for populations to grow and thrive.
