Holiday deer decor adorns many yards around the holidays…browsing frozen lawns, perpetually “caught in the headlights”.
Our real native white-tailed deer are still active during the winter, so no matter the season, we should be keeping an eye out for these interesting mammals who may be crossing our paths.
Diet: White-tails (Odocoileus virginianus) are herbivores who are able to eat over 600 different plants. They consume various parts of plants too, such as the leaves, fruit, seeds, twigs, and bark. White-tailed deer follow well-used trails to their bedding and feeding areas. They typically stay in a small home range of about 1-3 square miles, usually in wooded areas, such as our West Meadow conservation property or at Hawk Valley Farm. They feed in the early morning hours and in the late afternoon.
A deer’s diet changes depending on its habitat and the season. It eats green plants and fruit in the spring and summer; corn, acorns and other nuts in the fall. In the winter, it eats the buds and twigs of woody plants. Deer also eat fungi, including mushrooms that are poisonous to us. When a deer’s habitat shrinks due to human development, deer will often eat food from gardens.
Adaptations: The coat of white-tailed deer changes over the seasons as well. Its tan or reddish brown in the summer and grayish brown in winter. Both provide camouflage from predators. When a white-tailed deer is startled, it will raise its tail to expose the white underside as a warning for other deer. Their large ears and excellent hearing help protect them from predators.
The white-tailed deer is a ruminant, so its stomach has 4 chambers for digesting food. This digestive system allows them to eat foods like the woody plants & shrubs. They also have specialized teeth, including sharp incisors for cutting through tough vegetation. Large molars allow them to grind the food that’s been regurgitated.
A deer’s eyes are located on the side of its head, which means they have a vision range of 310 degrees. They also have more rods than cones, so they have sharp night vision, but their vision is not as good in broad daylight. A common myth is that deer are trying to hide when they are found in the road, and freeze — the expression is referred to as ”a deer caught in the headlights”. The deer is actually temporarily blinded when the headlight reaches their eyes, and they freeze to wait until their vision can adjust. A deer’s pupils are elliptical, which allows them to completely cover their eyes when they dilate, allowing more light to reach the retina and improving vision at dawn and dusk when deer are most active.
Did you know that white-tailed deer can jump up to 8 feet and run up to 40 mph? Their running stride can be as much as 25 feet long. They’re also good swimmers and can swim at speeds up to 13 mph.
Characteristics: It has white on its throat, around its eyes and nose, on its stomach and the underside of its tail. The males have antlers, which they tend to shed in the winter. Antlers grow back at a rapid rate in the spring. We don’t often find shed antlers, since they’re usually eaten by rodents and other small animals as they are rich in calcium and other nutrients. Male deer can weigh 150-300 pounds and females can weigh 90-200 pounds.
White-tail deer gather in family groups consisting of a mother and her fawns, which are usually born in May or June. When a doe has no fawns, she is usually solitary, as are the males during mating season. Male bucks can live in groups of 3 or 4 otherwise.
Being generalists, if deer have enough of what they need in their habitat (food, water and shelter), the population can grow quickly. The White-tailed deer can be found in southern Canada and most of the United States. (There are over 60 different species of deer, and they are found on every continent except Antarctica.) Besides humans, deer in Massachusetts are predated by bobcats, coyotes, black bears, and dogs. Their long narrow legs and pointed hooves make it challenging for them to move around in the snow and ice, so it is easier for predators to catch them.
Let us know if you’ve seen any white-tailed deer or evidence of them around Lowell!
