Whitetail Deer

Description:

The white-tailed deer is well-known for the habit of flipping its tail up over its back, revealing the tail’s white underside and white buttocks. In summer, the white-tailed deer has a reddish pelage, or fur, on its back and sides and is whitish beneath. In winter the upper parts turn greyish. Full grown male deer frequently exceed 1 m at shoulder height and 110 kg in weight, with exceptional individuals weighing up to 200 kg in the northern part of their range.

Habitat:

Abundant food makes almost any forested or bushy area suitable for white-tailed deer during the summer, but as snow deepens the deer concentrate in "deer yards," or areas that provide food and shelter from storms and deep snow.

Notes:

Deer reproduce quickly. A healthy herd is capable of almost doubling its numbers during one favourable year. The doe leaves its fawn unattended for hours at a time. People sometimes mistakenly believe they have been deserted by their mothers. In fact, a doe will rarely desert her fawn, and the little animals should not be touched. Human scent on the fawn may cause the doe to desert it.