|
| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
White-Tail Deer at the Marshland Conservancy in Rye New York.
The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States (all but five of the states), Canada, Mexico, Central America, and in South America as far south as Peru. It has also been introduced to New Zealand and some countries in Europe, such as Finland and the Czech Republic.
The species is most common east of the Rocky Mountains, and is absent from much of the western United States, including Nevada, Utah, California, Hawaii, and Alaska (though its close relatives, the mule deer and black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), can be found there). Idaho has more deer than any other state. It does, however, survive in aspen parklands and deciduous river bottomlands within the central and northern Great Plains, and in mixed deciduous riparian corridors, river valley bottomlands, and lower foothills of the northern Rocky Mountain regions from Wyoming to southeastern British Columbia. The conversion of land adjacent to the northern Rockies into 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 Prince George, British Columbia. Populations of deer around the Great Lakes have also expanded their range northwards, due to conversion of land to agricultural uses favoring more deciduous vegetation, and local caribou and moose populations. The westernmost population of the species, known as the Columbian white-tailed deer, once was widespread in the mixed forests along the Willamette and Cowlitz River valleys of western Oregon and southwestern Washington, but today its numbers have been considerably reduced, and it is classified as near-threatened.
White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a wide variety of habitats. The largest deer occur in the temperate regions of Canada and United States. The Northern white-tailed deer (borealis), Dakota white-tailed deer (dacotensis), and Northwest white-tailed deer (ochrourus) are some of the largest animals, with large antlers. The smallest deer occur in the Florida Keys and much of Central America and in South America. Deer from Central and South America generally have smaller tails and antlers.
Although most often thought of as forest animals depending on relatively small openings and edges, white-tailed deer can equally adapt themselves to life in more open prairie, savanna woodlands, and sage communities as in the Southwestern United States, northern Mexico, and Colombia and Venezuela. These savanna-adapted deer have relatively large antlers in proportion to their body size and large tails. Also, there is a noticeable difference in size between male and female deer of the savannas. The Texas white-tailed deer (texanus), of the prairies and oak savannas of Texas and parts of Mexico, are the largest savanna-adapted deer in the Southwest with impressive antlers that may rival deer found in Canada and the northern United States. There are also populations of Arizona (couesi) and Carmen Mountains (carminis) white-tailed deer that inhabit montane mixed oak and pine woodland communities that are surrounded by lowland deserts. The Arizona and Carmen Mountains deer are smaller but may also have impressive antlers, considering their size. The white-tailed deer of the Llanos region of Colombia and Venezuela (apurensis and gymnotis) have antler dimensions that are similar to the Arizona white-tailed deer. |
CeltickRanger, jaycee, eng55 has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
|
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1804 W: 65 N: 4799]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(15088)![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 603 W: 11 N: 1627]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(5989)![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 348 W: 3 N: 305]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(974)