### animal | vertebrate | mammal | ungulate:

Deer
* abound all over as well as raccoons, fox, and a few mountain lions.
* adapt physiologically as well as behaviorally to the changes of season.
* also eat weed.
* are a fact of life for gardeners in much of the country
  - fecund species, and they produce multiple offspring when stressed
  - fixture in the meadows, and bobcats and coyotes sometimes venture out in the daylight
  - food specie like cows pigs, and chickens
  - lot faster than elk and can leap much higher
  - main food source for cougars, which are a protected species in California
  - monophyletic group
  - natural part of Indiana and a valuable resource
  - road hazard, particularly in the early morning and late evening, night hours
  - species that have been born and bred for the sole purpose of being killed for recreation
  - successful species because of their adaptability to most environments
  - unique group of mammals recognized for their grace and beauty
* are abundant and readily seen
  - in the fall, winter and spring
  - abundant, as well as small mammals and birds
  - active and in rut
  - all around the region,as are racoons,skunks,groundhogs,and squirrels
* are also more susceptible and suffer a more severe form of the disease than commercial cattle
  - notoriously problematic for homeowners, especially in winter
  - among the wildlife that use the hedgerow for food
  - an ancient Chinese symbol of longevity
* are an important preferred host for the adult ticks
  - source of food for many people
  - apparently in a negative energy balance and lose weight during most winter
  - beautiful and shy animals, but beware of their hooves
* are born with four baby teeth and develop baby incisors and premolars in their first months
  - teeth on their lower jaw
  - browsers that are attracted to the tender growth of strawberries in both spring and fall
  - browsers, feeding mainly on leaves
  - busy caring for newborn fawns
  - by far the most common, and most commonly wasted hides in North America
* are common in Michigan
  - throughout the state, but are particularly abundant in southern counties
* are common, along with the occasional moose
  - as are songbirds, hawks, and vultures
  - commonly brown or tan, with some species displaying piebald coloring
  - considered ruminant animals or animals that chew their food twice
  - crazy about many flowering plants
* are creatures of habit and usually stay in a small home range, about one square mile
  - crepuscular in their activity patterns
  - crepuscular, which means they are most active at dawn and dusk
  - definitely different in what they eat from area to area
  - especially active at night
  - examples of competition within a species
  - excellent swimmers as well as jumpers
* are extremely adaptive garden pests
  - common and can be seen year round
  - plentiful in many areas
  - productive animals
  - fast runners and swimmers
  - fat and their fur is best before winter
  - featured in many family, corporate, governmental and educational coats of arms
  - frequently on roadsides now
  - fringe animals
  - ghostlike in their effortless movements
  - great at the high jump but have trouble judging distance
* are herbivores and are very adaptable to changing foraging conditions
  - eat grass, leaves, shoots and bark off trees
* are herbivores, and they consume an amazing variety of plant material, mostly at dawn and dusk
  - they eat plants
  - highly adaptable to changes in their environment
  - host or carriers of brainworm without suffering any ill effects
  - hunted using a variety of methods but two are particularly popular
  - incredibly numerous and absolutely everywhere at all hours of the day and night
  - just like humans with allergic reactions to some chemicals
  - mobile, often traveling several miles each day
* are more active in the daytime when the moon is visible
  - likely to be looking for danger inland
  - of a problem in spring when they eat tender new growth
  - vulnerable to coyotes during deep snow periods
* are most abundant during winter months
  - active around dawn and dusk
  - hungry early spring and late winter because natural food supplies are gone
  - likely to be out and about around dusk and dawn
  - social during winter- when food is scarce
  - vulnerable on the opening day of the season
  - native wildlife and are regulated by the Wildlife Code of Missouri
  - notable jumpers and can easily clear fences up to six feet tall
  - notorious garden eaters
  - now heavier and produce more fawns
  - numerous, as well as elk in the early spring and fall
* are often a major staple in cougar diet along with some smaller prey
  - habitual in their activities
  - one of the reasons that the ancient woodland has so many diverse species of native plants
  - opportunistic feeders
  - particularly vulnerable during deep snow conditions when coyotes often pack up to hunt
  - perhaps the worst menace to anyone rying to grow fruit trees
  - picky eaters and they have an order of preference for eating plants
* are plentiful in a forest which always provides good hunting
  - the Texas hill country
  - polygamous, meaning that a buck can breed many does
  - primarily forbs eaters while cattle are primarily grass eaters
  - quick and agile animals
  - reddish brown in summer and grayish in winter
  - ruminants and have multi chambered stomachs similar to cows
  - ruminants, meaning that they bring their food back up to chew it again
* are ruminants, meaning they are equipped with a four-chambered stomach
  - have four-chambered stomachs
* are selective feeders and seek out preferred plant species
  - skittish and move more quickly when they hear a hunter approaching
  - so adaptable they are found in every county
  - sociable, but only within their own sex
* are social and often move in herds dominated by an older female
  - animals and often move in herds dominated by an older female
  - creatures and, much like man, have a definite social structure
  - still plentiful in the mountains around, but the bear are comparatively scarce
  - strict vegetarians
  - susceptible to the disease as well as sheep, pigs and cattle
  - territorial and usually have a home range of one square mile
  - the main prey together with smaller animals, including insects, according to local species
* are the most commonly seen mammals
  - important game mammal in the eastern United States
* are the only animals that grow antlers
  - have antlers
  - common large mammal while mink and otters come ashore occasionally
  - primary hosts for the adult deer ticks, and are key to their reproductive success
* are their main food source
  - primary food sources, and the presence of deer indicates likely presence of cougars
  - true edge species and do best where there mix of stands of various ages
  - ubiquitous, as well as the squirrel
  - ungulates, which means that they have two-toed hoofs
  - unpredictable
  - vegetarians, feeding primarily on buds, leaves, branches, and fruits of trees and shrubs
* are very abundant in many parts of the country
  - adaptable and are becoming a common problem in urban home landscapes
  - common and quite tame
  - easy to hunt down
* are very much aware of the signs they leave in the snow
  - like goats
  - susceptible to motorists in spring as they feed on roadside greenery
  - visible, even in daytime
  - very, very big squirrels
  - well-adapted to notice and meet danger
  - what is know as a a fecund species, and they produce multiple offspring when stressed
  - widespread and common
  - woodland ruminants
* are, after all, an essential part of the make up of ancient woodland
  - the most popular big-game animal among Canadian hunters
  - of course, susceptible to rabies
* attract hunters.
* become accustomed to being fed at feeding sites and soon lose their fear of humans
  - reliant when fed
* belong to a suborder of hoofed animals called ruminants, i.e. cud-chewing animals.
* blend very well with their environment but are very sensitive to every sound or movement.
* breed once a year.
* browse the foliage and twigs
  - plants and ruffed grouse eat the leaves and twig tips
* browse the twigs and leaves, rabbits eat the bark, and honeybees are attracted to the flowers
  - young leaves
  - in the winter and the leaves and succulent growth during spring and summer
  - twigs, buds and leaves
* browse the young shoots
* browsing in orchards causes serious economic losses.
* build layers of fat during the summer and fall to prepare for winter.
* carry a brainworm that is potentially fatal to moose.
* come through in packs of three or four late at night.
* concentrate their feeding on woody materials when herbaceous plants are unavailable.
* consider poplars a delicacy.
* consume the undergrowth and destroy young plants.
* cover much of the country and are one of the most hunted game.
* definitely prefer some plants over others.
* depend on scent more than anything else
  - their sense of smell to avoid predators, including man
* detect the smell of natural enemies by the scent of their urine.
* do unpredictable things.
* eat California bay laurel leaves, shoots and twigs, which are very high in protein.
* eat a tremendous variety of foods in the wild
  - variety of plants to fulfill their nutritional requirements
  - all sorts of things
  - backyard plantings
  - blue maidencane
  - different things in the winter than they do in the summer
  - grass, leaves, buds, berries, bark, wild grapes, apples and acorns
  - grasses
  - many of the same things rabbits do and are also common around yards
  - quickly to avoid being found by predators
* eat the acorns and browse the foliage
  - fir needles
  - grass and browse on the bushes
  - highly nutritious mushroom as a supplement to their diet
  - tender shoots of a number of different varieties of shrubs
  - terminal bud of white pine causing the tree to die or grow with trunk deformities
  - weeping willows, but the hardy trees are deer-tolerant
* emerge from the forests and eat the greens in gardens, as deer do everywhere in closed seasons
  - late in the day
* fall over dead when shot and geese drop from the sky.
* find shelter in areas protected from the weather by hemlock, pine and spruce trees.
* generally eat grass, clover, berries, and other vegetation
  - produce their first set of antlers in the first spring after they are born
* grow antlers for their annual rut.
* have a flee reflex to run away from something unusual
  - good night vision, which is useful in the early morning and near dusk
  - great sense of hearing
  - high reproductive potential, and depressed populations normally recover rapidly
  - keen sense of smell
  - large and varied diet and eat practically all plant species at one time or another
  - preference for certain shrubs
  - relatively low frequency range of hearing similar to cows
  - set of baby teeth just like humans
  - tremendous impact on hay and alfalfa, major forage for dairy cows
  - typical prey animal eye
* have an excellent sense of smell
  - innate ability to blend with their surroundings
  - annual patterns, it seems
  - antlers that grow, fall off and re-grow annually
  - different personalities, just like dogs, cats, people, etc
* have excellent senses of smell and vision, as well as very good hearing
  - sight and smell
  - few predators in Indiana
  - fewer plants to eat
  - instincts that drive hunters crazy
  - interdigital and tarsal glands on their legs
  - keen eyesight and hearing
* have large ears that rotate to pick up sounds
  - eyes and long ears
  - long noses
* have many predators, or natural enemies
  - no upper incisors so they make a rather messy cut
  - problems with many diets that livestock consume easily
  - sharp hooves and can strike swiftly and without warning
  - similar habits as moose in the summer months
  - strong likes and dislikes
  - suitable habitat in the national forest
* incorporate both physical and behavioral adaptations for survival.
* lack upper incisors and they leave a ragged edge on the branch.
* learn quickly
  - to fear it
* leave their fawns for hours in places they consider safe.
* live predominantly on the edge of a forest.
* living in good habitat at worst tend to be only mildly affected by winter.
* make another vocalization during times of acute distress
  - trails when they forage, both on site and to and from their beds
  - up the majority of a cougar's diet
* never die of natural causes
  - turn into elk
* occur at all elevations in summer, whereas elk prefer the higher forests.
* often avoid trees and bushes which have been hung with small bars of soap
  - cause considerable damage to fruit trees
  - cross the golf course early and late in the day
* often eat hosta foliage when food is scarce
  - the fruit
  - have twins and birds lay many eggs in a clutch
  - move in groups
  - pause or bed down within the oak's island of habitat
  - stay yarded until the spring thaw
* often travel in family groups of does and fawns
  - small groups, and communicate with each other by stamping their feet
* prefer a variety of agricultural crops including both grains and vegetables
  - deciduous woodlands with occasional clearings
  - to eat in fringe areas and are seen on the Drive
* provide the lion's primary food source.
* quickly learn which areas have dogs and children and adjust their feeding schedule accordingly.
* ravage the neighbours plants and are sometimes considered a pest.
* remain active at dawn and start to move again at dusk
  - very visible along roadsides and in fields
* reproduce quickly.
* require an abundance and variety of nutritious foods for growth, reproduction, and maintenance
  - extensive trails to elude predators
* rub their antlers against small trees and bushes in an effort to peel off the velvet.
* see best at night, as they have more light-detecting cells in their eyes than humans
  - motion better than they see detail
  - slightly differently than do humans
* seem to be able to determine which foods or plants are most nourishing
  - moving about more after the thick ice crust disappeared
* serve as hosts for the tick.
* sometimes signal each other by making pawing sounds.
* stand quietly or bed down in cover when inactive.
* take weeks or months to adapt to new food types.
* tend to avoid some plants and relish others.
* tend to be creatures of habit, however
  - more active at night than during the day
  - favour open habitat of fields and the 'low browse' that results from forestry
  - feed early, then bed up in the hills above the fields during mid-day
  - go for nursery-grown plants that fertilizer makes more nutritious
  - leave it alone because it is aromatic
  - maintain well-defined patterns of movement that are governed by the season
  - move along waterways, fence rows, field edges and wooded corridors
  - occur in the same places over time
  - run straight and fast leading the field on a wild and long gallop
* understand the difference between dominance and leadership.
* usually avoid small, penned-in areas
  - do well when apples, oats, or acorns are given as diet supplements
  - stay in the same area called a home range
* walking into the wind often change direction when it shifts.
* wander freely.
+ Deer, Behaviour
  * Deer have many predators. Wolves, cougar, dogs and people will eat deer. They are always looking, listening and smelling for danger. They can usually run faster than their predators
  - Evolution
  * Deer are a monophyletic group. They originated in the northern hemisphere and arrived in some Gondwana continents much later. The Red Deer are found in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa, and some deer arrived in South America via the Great American Interchange. Below the Sahara, Africa belongs to the antelopes, which occupy a niche similar to the deer