North Carolina Week: White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
It’s the last day of North Carolina Week, time to bid adieu—for now—to our Carolinian mammal friends. Looking back at us as we wave goodbye is this white-tailed deer.
White-tailed deer live from Canada to Central America, including nearly all of the United States. They are, according to Animal Diversity Web, the jumpiest, most nervous of our deer, and they swish their tails when they’re anxious. They have scent glands on the bottoms of their feet and on their legs, and for them, the scents these glands produce are a form of communication. The deer are solitary much of the year, but they do form small groups in the winter.
Thanks for visiting some of North Carolina’s beautiful mammals with me at The Daily Mammal! Now on to the rest of the world…
What a great way to end your time dedicated to North Carolina. I think the White-Tailed Deer is the most beautiful of the deer family and you did a great job in capturing it.
gorgeous, as usual. You might be interested in this video where a helicopter pilot uses the wind he is kicking up with the ‘copter to save a deer trapped on river ice… yup, he quite literally blows the deer across the ice to shore and the deer runs away!
Is it true that deers can be easily met on the streets of little towns of Eastern Coast?
There are a lot of white-tailed deer in my heavily populated yet wooded neighborhood of Charlotte, North Carolina. Last autumn, I observed six deer from my window. In late winter, I see the evidence of where deer have been eating shrubs in my yard. They like to feast on the Indian hawthorns and euyonomous shrubs.
Humanus, I think LTCDirect answered your question below, but yes, it is true, in some little towns, anyway. They tend to come out, in my experience, around dusk.
Joe, I saw that video last year, I think, on the news! It’s amazing—very clever and very nice of the pilot.
Fishing Guy, thanks for this comment and all your support! I really enjoyed the North Carolina week. Maybe I’ll do another state-themed week soon.