White-tailed Deer:

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White-tailed Deer

• History and Population Research
• By Kevin Fussell

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General Information

• Odocoileus Virginianus
• Found all across the U.S.
• Lives throughout all of
  
• Florida

• Known for its long tail
• Buck (male) - antlered
• Doe (female) - antlerless

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General Information (contd)

• Bucks can get up to six feet long
• and three to four feet tall
• Weight ranges from 100 to
• over 300 lbs.
• One of most popular big-game animals
• Family to black-tailed and mule deer

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Anatomy

• Ruminant (cud-chewing) animals
• Four-chambered stomachs
• Bucks antlers are composed of bone
• 1st set of antlers by 18 months
• New set each year

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Anatomy (contd)

• Vision is best at night
• See at a low resolution during daylight
• Deer have excellent hearing
• Life expectancy is 15 to 20 years
• Two purposes of coat

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Habitat

• Mostly thought of as woodland species
• Sometimes live in edge habitat
• Home range of about one mile
• Need cover to hide

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Social Lives

• Females exclude males after maturity
• Bucks and does travel separate
• Exception is during breeding season
• Breeding season, or rut, is between
• December and January
• A Bucks neck swells and he is
• very active during rut

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Social Lives (Contd)

• Female gestation is 200 days (7 months)
• One fawn is typical in Florida
• Sometimes up to three are born
• Fawns are able to walk within
• a few hours after birth
• In Florida, the doe
• population is larger
• than the buck pop.

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Diet

• Primarily Herbivores
• Feeding habits vary from locations
• Preferred, Marginal, and
• Starvation foods
• Spring and Summer
• foods
• Winter foods

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Where the Math Comes In
or

• Rate of change

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Final Population Equation

• Population in time t

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Works Cited
Murray J.D., Mathematical Biology An
Introduction. 1989, 1993. p 1-3. httpfacstaff.uw
a.edu/jmccall/BY103/whitetail_deer.htm.
Whitetail Deer. p 1-3. 10/11/05.
http//canoecreekranch.com/whitetail_deer_pop.htm.
Whitetail Deer. pg 1. 10/11/05. http//www.white
tails.com/facts.html. Whitetail Deer. p 1-3.
10/11/05. http//www.mvhs.edu/mvhsproj/deer/deer
.html. The Maryland Virtual High School. Deer
Population. P 2. 11/08/05. http//www.hsus.org/wi
ldlife/a_closer_look_at_wildlife/deer. html.
Deer. p 1-2. 10/12/05. http//www.floridaconservat
ion.org/viewing/species/wtdeer. htm. White-tailed
Deer. p 1-2. 10/12/05.