ODOCOILEUS VIRGINIANUS: HABITAT, FEEDING, REPRODUCTION - BIOLOGY - 2025

The Odocoileus virginianus or white-tailed deer is a placental mammal belonging to the Artiodactyla order. The tip of its tail is white and it raises it in situations where it feels threatened. The light flash that is produced acts as an alarm signal for other deer.

Its habitat is very varied. This species can be found from the Canadian subarctic forests to the dry forests of Peru. In this geographical route we must include the dry forests of Mexico and the humid forests of Central and South America.

Source: Rafael Marrero Reiley

The males have antlers, which are shed in the months of January to March. Later, in April or May, they come out again. The antlers are branched and slightly inclined backwards, reaching between 8 and 64 cm.

The fur on its back can depend on the season of the year and varies between subspecies. However, it generally tends to be gray in the winter and have a reddish hue in the summer.

The Odocoileus virginianus has a developed sense of sight and its hearing is acute. However, they fundamentally depend on their sense of smell to detect the danger that lies in wait for them.

Communication

White-tailed deer communicate in a variety of ways, with sounds, smells, and body language. The vocalizations vary as they reach maturity. Young call their mothers with a high-pitched squeak, but when they are adults this sound becomes a loud growl.

Mature males have a snorting and growling pattern. With this, the animal asserts its dominance, showing aggression and hostility.

Another way to communicate is by using its white tail. When scared, they raise their tails to make their presence felt to the other deer in the area.

Taxonomy

Animal Kingdom.

Subkingdom Bilateria.

Chordate Phylum.

Vertebrate Subfilum.

Tetrapoda superclass.

Mammal class.

Subclass Theria.

Order Artiodactyla.

Family Cervidae.

Subfamily Capreolinae.

Genus Odocoileus

This genus is divided into two species:

Species Odocoileus hemionus.

Species Odocoileus virginianus

Its size can be between 1.50 and 2 meters and its tail measures between 10 and 28 centimeters. Their fur varies according to the seasons; in summer and spring it is reddish, and in winter it has gray or brown tones.

Hair color is also different depending on the locality that you live in. In tropical areas it is ocher or reddish, and in cold lands it has brown or grayish tones.

The species is sexually dimorphic. In North America, males weigh 160 kilograms, while females reach a maximum of 105 kilograms. The tropical species are smaller, not exceeding 65 kilos.

Habitat

White-tailed deer adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Large ones, such as those belonging to the subspecies O. v. Borealis, the O. v. Ochrourus and the O. v. Dacotensis, inhabit Canada and North America.

The smallest deer are found in the Florida Keys and wooded areas of the Neotropics.

In the northeastern range, white-tailed deer live in forests and spend the winter trying to avoid deep snows and low temperatures.

In Central America they are distributed in tropical and subtropical dry forests, seasonal mixed deciduous forests, savanna, and wetland habitats.

The South American subspecies live in two types of environments. The first type lives in savannas, dry forests, and riparian corridors in Venezuela and eastern Colombia. The second group inhabits mountain grasslands and mixed mountain forests of the Andean range, from Venezuela to Peru.

In the Southwest, the thermal and concealment cover is done by inhabiting places where woody plants, tall grasses and cacti are found, as well as rocky areas and canyons.

Stations

Source: Rafael Marrero Reiley

During the mild winter, white-tailed deer roam through various habitats. When the temperature drops to extremes, they are concentrated in the wood forests, with large evergreens. They can also be found in mature coniferous forests.

In the spring and fall, these animals prefer grasslands. The main reason is that there are a great abundance of herbs there. Wetlands can also be a source of food, as can agricultural land.

Age and gender

If not in the reproductive stage, female and male white-tailed deer segregate. At that time they are in different habitats. This spatial segregation is usually more marked before delivery.

The differences in habitats between the sexes expose the different nutritional requirements. These depend on size, reproductive status, social behavior, and region.

Both males and females select places with dense vegetation, although males prefer more open ones. Females with young are usually located in savannas covered with woody plants.

Feeding

The Odocoileus virginianus are herbivorous animals. They are opportunistic, being able to consume almost any type of vegetable that they get on their way. Their diet depends on the season of the year and the availability of the food source. They can eat legumes, shoots, leaves, cacti, roots, grasses, herbs, and grasses.

In their habitat, these animals require water and forage, among which are grasses, bushes, and masts. Depending on the season, they might include berries, acorns, corn, soybeans, mushrooms, and some fruits.

The white-tailed deer can vary the components of the diet, in response to the variations in the nutritional levels of the plants that it achieves in each season.

One of the plant species that has the highest energy and protein content are herbs and shrubs. The grasses are consumed by this species due to its high fiber content, something important for rumination. Your stomach has special characteristics that allow it to eat mushrooms.

Digestion

The white-tailed deer is a ruminant animal. After chewing the food well, they swallow it, to later be regurgitated. The digestive mass is chewed again and swallowed again.

The stomach is multicavitary, divided into four chambers, each with its specific function. This allows the deer to eat plants of different characteristics.

Microbes intervene in gastric digestion, which vary according to the seasons, due to the change in diet in each of these periods of the year.

The first two cavities, the rumen and the reticulum, are in charge of fermentation, degradation and absorption of the vegetables that were ingested. In the omasum, the third cavity, the water is absorbed. These three parts of the stomach are lined with an aglandular-type mucosa.

The last compartment, the abomasum, is similar to the monocavitary stomach, being lined by a glandular mucosa.

Intestinal digestion occurs in the cecum, which is a part of the large intestine. There, the bacteria carry out the fermentation of the stomach plant material, in order to metabolize the cellulose.

Behavior

Females protect their young. When they go out to look for food, they leave it hidden. While they wait, the fawns lie flat on the ground, camouflaged in the forest. Furthermore, the young try to retain feces and urine, to avoid attracting predators.

When the females are in heat, the males fight over them. They face the other males, fighting them with their strong antlers. Male deer do not protect the harem of females.

White-tailed deer possess several scent glands. The aroma of the substance that they secrete are used for communication between members of the species, to mark the territory and as an alarm signal. During heat, the scent becomes stronger, allowing the male to attract the female.

The Odocoileus virginianus are considered the most nervous and shy of all the members of the Cervidae family. They are grouped into three types of companies.

One where the females and their young are found, another with juvenile males and the one formed by the solitary males that are able to reproduce. If in danger, they can swim across large streams, escaping their predators.

Reproduction

Most Odocoileus virginianus, especially males, mate when they are two years old. However, some females can do so when they are seven months old. They are polygamous animals, although the male can stay with a single female for several days or weeks.

The females are polystrous, entering a very short period of heat, approximately 24 hours. If mating does not occur, a second estrus occurs, approximately 28 days later.

The mating season is from October to December and gestation lasts approximately 6 and a half months. During heat, males make distinctive sounds, which can be roaring or bellowing.

At this time, males often get into fierce fights with the intention of obtaining the right to mate with females. In these combats they use their powerful antlers and emit bellows as a sign of power. The winner can join with all the females of the territory where they live.

The sexual appetite of males during heat is intense, allowing them to copulate with as many females as they can. The males that were defeated will have to wait for the leaders to finish copulating with the females of the harem, before they can mate.

Childbirth

Source: Rafael Marrero Reiley

When the females are close to giving birth, they look for a solitary place, away from the rest of the group. There they lie down in a horizontal position to wait for the moment of birth. The female eats the placenta and immediately cleans the fawn with her tongue.

The white-tailed deer generally has only one calf at each calving. During the first hours, the fawn will be able to get up and walk. The bond between mother and child lasts until 2 years.

References

1. Dewey, T. (2003). Odocoileus virginianus. Animal Diversity Web. Recovered from animaldiversity.org.
2. Wikipedia (2018). White-tailed deer. Recovered from en.wikipedia.org.
3. Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) (2018). Species: Odocoileus virginianus. Recovered from fs.fed.us.
4. ITIS (2018). Odocoileus virginianus. Recovered from itis.gov.
5. Michelle L. Green, Amy C. Kelly, Damian Satterthwaite-Phillip, Mary Beth Manjerovic, Paul Shelton, Jan Novakofski, Nohra Mateus-Pinilla (2017). Reproductive characteristics of female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in the Midwestern USA. Science direct. Recovered from sciencedirect.com.