All About The White Tail Deer

 
I cant help but thinking about Rudolf when the word deer is mentioned. I always get this Christmas feeling when ever I do any type of research on deer especially the whitetail deer. Well, lets put my Christmas feelings aside and focus on what this article is really about. Learning about the whitetail deer.

Where Do Whitetail Deer Come From
This medium sized deer is native to the regions listed below:

1. Mexico
2. United States
3. Central America
4. Canada
5. South America

These deer span a wide range of grazing area in these locations. You will find the white tail deer living in wooded areas where they can easily graze.

How The White Tail Deer Looks
If I had the power to change my looks I simply wouldn't. I am just way too gorgeous to do that. But the white tail deer can add or subtract a few layers of shade with its summer look which is tan or brown and then switches to its cool grey winter look. Normally when animals do this color shade thing it is for temperature control as different shades react with sunlight differently. That is pretty cool if you asked me.

The White Tail Deer as white markings around its eyes, nose, throat, stomach and of course on the underside of its tale. Hence the name white tail deer. Well, truth is it could have even been called white eyes and nose deer. But I guess majority voted tail. The male deer is the heavier of the two weighing in at about 160-a little over 300 pounds while the female is between 90-200 pounds. The male has antlers which is used for battle and showing off to the females.  The female has no antlers.

What Does The White Tail Deer Eat?

The white tail is a total vegetarian and you can see the animal grazing on the items listed below.

• Green Plants
• Corns
• Acorns
• Nuts
• Twigs Buds

Life Span
One could say that the white tail deer is no turtle. As turtles tend to have huge lifespans. The life span of a white-tailed deer is 6-14 years in captivity.  In the wild, these deer may experience a shorter life span due to various reasons such as being preyed upon and diseases. The average life span of white tail deer in the wild is 4 to 5 years.

Life Cycle
Yes, the good old cycle of life is carried out by all species. The white tail deer is no different. The deer will mate in November in the northern parts of their range and in January or February in the southern parts of their range. After the female is pregnant and goes through a gestation period of 201 days, she will then give birth to 1-4 fawns. When these little white tail deer are birth, they have a reddish brown color pattern with white spots. These deer are very strong newborns because they can walk right after birth and even forage for their own food a couple days later. The white tail fawns are weaned six weeks later, meaning that they are now able to do everything on their own and may not be at the mothers side.

Female White Tail Fawn Care
The wild is a very dangerous place for a juicy adult deer much less a fawn. The mother will take special precautions such as hiding her young ones when she goes out to feed. Everyday in the deer life is geared towards survival as predators never give up their relentless hunt. The mother is quite smart when she hides her fawns. If she has more than one, she hides them in separate places. This is to ensure some level of survival. If a predator finds one fawn, it may not find another, chances are if all hid at the same place, all will be eaten at the same time. The female fawns usually stick around mommy the longest, say about two years while the males go out after a year to start their own set of little white tails.

Predators
There is no doubt that the white tail deer is the chicken nuggets of many predators.  They are hunted and eaten by the following:

• Gray Wolves
• Mountain Lions
• Coyote
• Bob Cats (Hunts fawns)
• People

Characteristics
The white tail deer is an alert animal, quick and very attentive.  When danger lurks, they will signal each other by snorting and stomping their hooves. This is the signal to tell the other deer to move their butts because danger is near. That danger of course is either another animal or a human hunter.  When they spot danger and on the move, the white tail deer will lift its tail to show the white underside. This is like a "follow here" sign for her young fawns.  The white tail deer can reach speeds of up to 30 miles per hour and are magnificent leapers. It is not easy to outrun a white tail deer. They are also wonderful swimmers.


White Tail Illnesses and Death
The white tail doesn't really have a firewall of a immune system as they can easily get sick when plagues by parasites and insects.  Mites, roundworms and lice can destroy the immune system of the deer causing it to weaken and eventually die.  The weather is also a contributing factor to the death of whit tail deer as the winter brings extreme temperatures unable to be handled by the deer and many will die. They are not as mobile as they would have been in spring time or summer as their narrow legs an pointed hooves makes it hard for them to traverse the snowy grounds.  Thus becoming a much easier target for predators.

The white tail deer are wonderful and graceful creatures, they are part of the planets wildlife and we have to respect that.