Deer

NPS Photo/ Jordan Land

White-Tailed Deer

Scientific Name

Odocoileus virginianus

Identification

• 150 lbs (female); 200 lbs (male)
• Their summer coat is generally red-brown while the winter coat is gray-brown. The belly, inner thighs, and underside of the tail are white.

Range and Habitat

White-tailed deer are found throughout most of the continental United States and are one of the most common ungulates (hoofed mammals) in North America.

These deer are incredibly adaptable and can be found in almost any habitat. They prefer forests, farmlands, and river corridors that offer plently of food, water, and cover.

Diet

A white-tailed deer's summer diet typically includes leafy plants, water plants, mushrooms, and fruits. In autumn and early winter, acorns and beechnuts (until buried by snow) and woody plants are important food sources, as well as dried leaves and grasses. After snowfall, their winter diet consists of the twigs and stems of seedlings, saplings and shrubs.

Fun Facts

• White-tailed deer and human both has rods and cones in their eyes, which help absorb light and see color, respectively. Deer have more rods and can see better than humans at dawn and dusk, but they have fewer cones and cannot see reds/oranges. This is why orange is a popular bright color worn by hunters, so they are easily spotted by people but not easily spotted by deer.
• When deer feel threatened, they breath heavily (which is called blowing) before fleeing. This alerts nearby deer that there is a threat present.

 

NPS/ Louise McLaughlin

 

Mule deer are much less common in the area than their relative the white-tailed deer

NPS Photo

Mule Deer

Scientific Name

Odocoileus hemionus

Identification

• 100 lbs (female); 300 lbs (male)
• Recognized by its large, mule-like ears and black tipped tail

Range and Habitat

Mule deer are typically found west of the Missouri River, and their range continues into the western United States. However, some of their easternmost range falls in the MNRR boundary near Charles Mix County, South Dakota.

Mule deer generally live in brushy, evergreen forests as well as grasslands.

Diet

They eat more nutritious plants than grasses. They feed primarily on forbs (flowering, leafy plants), the leaves and twigs of woody plants, and on mast (berries, fruit).

Fun Facts

• The male is a buck, female is a doe, and young is a fawn.
• Gestation period is about 200 days
• Lewis and Clark noted one of their first sightings of mule deer in their journals on September 5th, 1804 when they were in Knox County, Nebraska near the Niobrara River.

 

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