F. J. P rez-Barber a and I. J. Gordon 357 Growth, voluntary food intake and digestion in farmed temperate and tropical deer. T. N. Barry, P. R. Wilson and G. Semiadi 369 Health, disease and welfare Deer health and disease. The welfare of deer. Caribou characterise the north of the boreal forest and the tundra, whereas moose dominate in coniferous and mixed forests growing further south. White-tailed deer are typical of the deciduous forests of the east while mule deer replace them in the mountainous terrain of the west.
Wapiti possess the smallest range, mostly adjacent to the prairies to the west.
We determined the current status of each species with the help of a questionnaire mailed to all jurisdictions harbouring deer. Most reports of threatened populations concerned caribou whereas many jurisdictions declared overabundance of white-tailed deer and wapiti. Hunting was allowed for all species when they abounded in a jurisdiction. In terms of biomass, white-tailed deer and wapiti yielded the highest harvests, with 55 and 39 kg km 2 of range, respectively. The average standing biomass of deer in winter ranged between 28 kg km 2 in Nevada to 901 kg km 2 in Indiana.