Environmental Characteristics Of Whitetail Deer
White tailed Deer
She looked left and then right. When she saw it was all clear;, the whitetail deer dashed across the opening with her fawn. She is looking for a safe place for her fawn to play and for her to eat. Whitetail deer depend on their environment for survival, but people can also help them survive with proper management practices.
Whitetail deer are herbivores, leisurely grazing on most available plant foods. Their stomachs allow them to digest a varied diet, including: leaves, twigs, fruits and nuts, grass, corn, alfalfa, and even lichens and other fungi. The typical diet of the whitetail deer does not remain constant all year long. They eat what is easily accessible. In the wintertime food is significantly harder to find, …show more content…
Certain plants within each of these categories benefit deer more than others. Desirable plants should be well interspersed throughout an area, so that the whole area functions as deer habitat. The most important aspect of deer habitat is an adequate abundance and diversity of forbs and woody plants. Forbs are soft-stemmed, broad-leaved, flowering plants and include most flowering plants species. Forbs are the most important deer food plants and include many species that some people call weeds. When deer have diverse choices, they generally prefer certain forbs over most woody plants and grasses. Of the plants eaten, forbs generally are more digestible and have more protein available for deer than woody plants and grasses. Legumes are probably the most important family of forbs in deer …show more content…
Male deer, called bucks, are easily recognizable in the summer and fall by their prominent set of antlers, which are grown annually and fall off in the winter. Only the bucks grow antlers, which bear a number of tines, or sharp points. During the mating season, also called the rut, bucks fight over territory by using their antlers in sparring matches. Female deer, called does, give birth to one to three young at a time, usually in May or June and after a gestation period of seven months. Young deer, called fawns, wear a reddish-brown coat with white spots that helps them blend in with the
She looked left and then right. When she saw it was all clear;, the whitetail deer dashed across the opening with her fawn. She is looking for a safe place for her fawn to play and for her to eat. Whitetail deer depend on their environment for survival, but people can also help them survive with proper management practices.
Whitetail deer are herbivores, leisurely grazing on most available plant foods. Their stomachs allow them to digest a varied diet, including: leaves, twigs, fruits and nuts, grass, corn, alfalfa, and even lichens and other fungi. The typical diet of the whitetail deer does not remain constant all year long. They eat what is easily accessible. In the wintertime food is significantly harder to find, …show more content…
Certain plants within each of these categories benefit deer more than others. Desirable plants should be well interspersed throughout an area, so that the whole area functions as deer habitat. The most important aspect of deer habitat is an adequate abundance and diversity of forbs and woody plants. Forbs are soft-stemmed, broad-leaved, flowering plants and include most flowering plants species. Forbs are the most important deer food plants and include many species that some people call weeds. When deer have diverse choices, they generally prefer certain forbs over most woody plants and grasses. Of the plants eaten, forbs generally are more digestible and have more protein available for deer than woody plants and grasses. Legumes are probably the most important family of forbs in deer …show more content…
Male deer, called bucks, are easily recognizable in the summer and fall by their prominent set of antlers, which are grown annually and fall off in the winter. Only the bucks grow antlers, which bear a number of tines, or sharp points. During the mating season, also called the rut, bucks fight over territory by using their antlers in sparring matches. Female deer, called does, give birth to one to three young at a time, usually in May or June and after a gestation period of seven months. Young deer, called fawns, wear a reddish-brown coat with white spots that helps them blend in with the