White-tailed Deer

 
 

So well known it needs little description.  Recognized by its long legs, moderately long and well-haired tail, and antlers in males.  Summer coat is reddish brown to tan, with white in the face, throat, and belly.  In winter, they are grayish to grayish brown, and this second coat tends to be thicker, with modified, insulating hairs.  Fawns have spots.  Antlers can be quite massive; as in most deer, they begin growing in spring, with antlers coverec in "velvet," a plushlike soft skin that provides blood to the developing bone.  As breeding season approaches in late summer, the velvet starts to fall off and males rub trees to help it along and to polish their antlers.  Whitetail antlers are made of long tines and typically have no palmation like fallow deer antlers.  Whitetails breed during fall, with males setting up territories using rubs (on trees) and scrapes; they also may spar or fight with other males over females or areas, but usually this is brief rather than prolonged.  Males also attract females with scrapes, basically an area that they have scraped away the leaves, urinated in, and left marks from other glands nearby.  When a female is in heat, she may visit a scrape and urinate in it herself; males check scrapes often during the breeding season, and when they smell a receptive female they will follow her trail and attempt to catch up with her.  After breeding season, the antlers fall off and are used for their calcium and other minerals by deer as well as rodents.  Whitetails are found throughout most of North America.  They were once almost decimated by early settlers, but have since rebounded through game management practices and the opening of forested areas.  They have adapted well to a variety of habitats, and can live very close to humans, which has resulted in problems for gardens and collisions with cars.  They tend to prefer wooded areas, but they utilize the edges and borders more than the interior.  Fragmentation of habitat has thus helped them well.  They have a restricted home range, usually no more  than 1.5square miles.