38 Facts About White-tailed deer

White-tailed deer, known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia.

High populations of white-tailed deer exist in the Edwards Plateau of central Texas and all of Pennsylvania.

The conversion of land adjacent to the Canadian Rockies to agriculture use and partial clear-cutting of coniferous trees, resulting in widespread deciduous vegetation, has been favorable to the white-tailed deer and has pushed its distribution to as far north as Yukon.

Some areas no longer carry White-tailed deer, so assessing the genetic difference of these animals is difficult.

The White-tailed deer can be recognized by the characteristic white underside to its tail.

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An indication of a White-tailed deer age is the length of the snout and the color of the coat, with older White-tailed deer tending to have longer snouts and grayer coats.

White-tailed deer is highly variable in size, generally following both Allen's rule and Bergmann's rule that the average size is larger farther away from the equator.

The individual White-tailed deer's nutritional needs for antler growth is dependent on the diet of the White-tailed deer, particularly protein intake.

White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a wide variety of habitats.

The smallest White-tailed deer occur in the Florida Keys and in partially wooded lowlands in the neotropics.

In places such as Glacier National Park in Montana and several national parks in the Columbian Mountains and Canadian Rocky Mountains, as well as in the Yukon Territory, white-tailed deer are shy and more reclusive than the coexisting mule deer, elk, and moose.

Central American white-tailed deer prefer tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, seasonal mixed deciduous forests, savanna, and adjacent wetland habitats over dense tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests.

The Andean white-tailed deer seem to retain gray coats due to the colder weather at high altitudes, whereas the lowland savanna forms retain the reddish brown coats.

The introduction was successful, and the White-tailed deer have recently begun spreading through northern Scandinavia and southern Karelia, competing with, and sometimes displacing, native species.

White-tailed deer eat large amounts of food, commonly eating legumes and foraging on other plants, including shoots, leaves, cacti, prairie forbs, and grasses.

White-tailed deer is a ruminant, which means it has a four-chambered stomach.

Each chamber has a different and specific function that allows the White-tailed deer to eat a variety of different foods, digesting it at a later time in a safe area of cover.

White-tailed deer typically respond to the presence of potential predators by breathing very heavily and fleeing.

In certain parts of eastern North America, high White-tailed deer densities have caused large reductions in plant biomass, including the density and heights of certain forest wildflowers, tree seedlings, and shrubs.

In northeastern hardwood forests, high-density White-tailed deer populations affect plant succession, particularly following clear-cuts and patch cuts.

Ecologists have expressed concern over the facilitative effect high White-tailed deer populations have on invasions of exotic plant species.

White-tailed deer have many forms of communication involving sounds, scent, body language, and marking.

White-tailed deer possess many glands that allow them to produce scents, some of which are so potent they can be detected by the human nose.

At high population densities, farmers can suffer economic damage by White-tailed deer feeding on cash crops, especially in corn and orchards.

High densities of White-tailed deer can have severe impacts on native plants and animals in parks and natural areas; however, White-tailed deer browsing can promote plant and animal diversity in some areas.

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White-tailed deer have long been hunted as game, for pure sport and for their commodities.

Rites and rituals in preparation for White-tailed deer hunting, and in celebration for an auspicious hunt are still practiced in area today.

Venison, or White-tailed deer meat, is a natural, organic, and nutritious form of lean animal protein that can be obtained through responsible and regulated White-tailed deer hunting.

In New Zealand, the United States, and Canada, white-tailed deer are kept as livestock, and are extensively as well as intensively farmed for their meat, antlers, and pelts.

Motor vehicle collisions with White-tailed deer are a serious problem in many parts of the animal's range, especially at night and during rutting season, causing injuries and fatalities among both White-tailed deer and humans.

White-tailed deer serve as intermediate hosts for many diseases that infect humans through ticks, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever.

Infected White-tailed deer can shed virus via nasal secretions and feces for five to six days and frequently engage in activities conductive to viral spread, such as sniffing food intermingled with waste, nuzzling noses, polygamy, and the sharing of salt licks.

The new COVID variant had infected a person who had close contact with local White-tailed deer, potentially marking the first instance of White-tailed deer-to-human transmission.

The white-tailed deer is the inspiration of the professional basketball team the Milwaukee Bucks.

Climate change is affecting the white tailed White-tailed deer by changing their migration patterns and increasing their population size.

Consequently, as climate change warms up the Earth, these deer are allowed to migrate further north which will result in the populations of the white-tailed deer increasing.

For example, when the White-tailed deer moved north in Alberta, gray wolf populations increased.

Ticks are parasitic to white-tailed deer transmit diseases causing irritation, anemia, and infections.