White Tailed Deer Research Paper

983 Words2 Pages

White-Tailed Deer
Odocoileus virginianus, is the scientific name of the white-tailed deer ("Species Description: White-tailed Deer"). White-tailed deer are reddish brown in the summer and grayish brown in the winter. They get their name from the white strip of fur they have from the top of their stomachs to the tip of their tails. White-tailed deer can get up to about four to six feet in length. According to Nature Works, "males weigh between 150 and 300 pounds and females weigh between 90 and 200 pounds." The whitetails in the northern part of North America are normally larger than the ones in the southern part. The uniqueness of the white-tailed deer is illustrated through its life cycle, characteristics, habitat, and diet.
First, the average life cycle of a deer is about two to five years. According to The Biology of a Whitetail Deer, "The whitetail …show more content…

White-tailed deer sleep during the day only for a few hours. They are an extremely adept species with excellent eyesight, hearing, and agility. According to Island Creek Ecology, "Deer can leap over eight feet high and thirty feet long". Nature Works states, "They can run at speeds of up to 30 mile an hour". Deer make their bed with leaves in the shape of an oval. White-tailed deer will snort or stick their tail up when they are alarmed. Around February, bucks shed their antlers. During the spring, they grow new ones covered in velvet, but then lose the velvet in August (“White-tailed Deer” Island Creek Ecology). According to The Biology of a Whitetail Deer, “The velvet supplies blood to the growing antlers to protect and feed them”. A male deer’s antlers come in when they are one year old. Whitetail deer with only a couple of antlers are called spikes. The Biology of a Whitetail Deer states, “in a whitetail buck the antlers typically reach optimal development around 5 to 6 years of age”. Bucks mark their territory by rubbing their antlers against

More about White Tailed Deer Research Paper

Open Document