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Taxonomy:
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Cordata
Class:
Mamalia
Order:
Atiodactyal
Family:
Cervidae
Sub-family:
Capreolinae
Genus:
Odocoileus
Odocoileus is a genus of medium-sized deer of the family Cervidae, containing two species native to the Americas. The name is sometimes spelled odocoeleus and the word is from a contraction of the odonto- and coelus meaning hollow-tooth.
Species:
O. virginianus
Common Name:
White-tailed Deer
Range:
North America, Central America and Northern South America
Adult Height at Shoulder:
1.7 to 3.9 feet
Adult Mass in Summer:
Male: 150 lbs, Female: 100 lbs
Description:
White-tailed deer have an all white tail and ears that are much smaller than
their black-tailed cousins. Also, their antlers are truly unique because not two
deer have look a like antlers, which branch from a single main beam. Antlers
begin growing in March or April and reach maturity in August. While antlers
are growing, they′re covered in a living vascular skin called velvet, which
supplies the bone with oxygen and nutrients. After the antlers reach maturity,
the velvet is shed and the bone dies which then becomes the mature antler.
Habitat:
These deer are a highly adaptable species which thrive in a large variety of
habitats. Some areas that provide the most suitable environment include a
mixture of hardwoods, croplands, brushlands, pasturelands and a habitat
interspersed with brushy areas, croplands, meadows, and forested woodlots.
Subspecies
Florida Key deer (Odocoilues virginianus clavium)
Virginia white-tail (Odocoilues virginianus virginianus)
Seneca White Deer (Odocoilues virginianus leucism)
A small herd (about 300) of white, white-tailed deer in Seneca, New York.
Now living in a commercial Nature Park opened in 2017. These deer are
not albino, but instead have leucism, which is an abnormal genetic
condition that carries a set of recessive genes for all-white coats.
There are numerous other sub-species, too numerous to list here.
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