The picture to the left is a female. She can have one to two fawns per year.
Scientific Name: See above
Type: Mammal
Diet: The white-tailed deer is an herbivore or plant eater. It follows well-used trails to its feeding areas. It feeds in the early morning hours and in the late afternoon. A deer's diet changes depending on its habitat and the season. It eats green plants in the spring and summer. In the fall, it eats corn, acorns and other nuts. In the winter, it eats the buds and twigs of woody plants.
Group Name/Family: Cervidae
Average Life Span: Most live 2-3 years due to hunting. Normal life span is 20 years but few live beyond 10 years old.
Size: Shoulder height is from 30 to 40 inches. Length is 60 to 85 inches long.
Weight: 120 to 301 pounds
Whitetails are active around the clock, (click here) but less so during daylight hours. Most often, white-tailed deer are on the move at dawn and dusk. They commonly graze from dawn to a few hours later, the word describing that behavior is crepuscular. This behavior can prove hazardous to humans during the breeding season in the fall. Commuters to and from work often encounter deer on the move at this time of year which can result in serious accidents. Drivers should pay special attention October through December when traveling through zones marked with deer crossing signs.
There will always be a love-hate relationship between White Tailed Deer and people. They are important as a grazer that maintains the undergrowth in a forest, but, their numbers can't become so high that they overrun the forest and cause damage to trees in large numbers. The sport of hunting often helps maintain a healthy population. So, they are definitely an indicator species in their abundance with a balance to their numbers.
