Odocoileus virginianus

The white-tailed deer, capasurí, white-tailed deer, Virginia deer, Virginia deer or gray deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is a species of artiodactyl mammal in the cervid family. It lives in different ecosystems in the Americas, from the Canadians, in the subarctic region, through the dry forests of the mountainous slopes of Mexico, the humid tropical forests of Central and South America, to the equatorial dry forests of northern Peru and other South American forested areas. Feeds on shrubs and grasses. It is heavily hunted by hunters throughout its range, but is not considered endangered. In some regions their populations have increased due to the scarcity of predators. On June 28, 1993, the National Congress of the Republic of Honduras instituted the white-tailed deer as the national symbol of the fauna of this country. Likewise, Odocoileus virginianus was declared a national symbol of the Republic of Costa Rica on May 2, 1995.

Description

Cry.

The mantle is reddish in spring and summer, and gray to brown in winter. Likewise, in tropical areas, in the low and warm lands, it is ochraceous (yellowish) or reddish in color, and in the high and cold lands it is grayish brown. The tip of the tail is white, which gives it It is used to beat it as an alarm signal.

Sexually dimorphic. In North America, males weigh between 60 and 160 kg, and females between 40 and 105 kg. Including the tail, they are between 1.60 and 2.20 m long, and have a height of between 80 cm and 1 m. Tropical specimens are smaller, weigh less and generally do not exceed 60kg.

Males have branched, backward-sloping antlers, which as adults and depending on age reach between 8 and 64 cm from the base and are renewed every year, in the winter, after mating.

Behavior

Females are in heat during the second half of autumn. The males compete for them and fight against each other. A male copulates with as many females as possible. After seven months of gestation, one to three pups are born.

The range of the Virginia deer ranges from 59 to 804 hectares. It has scent glands around its eyes, on its forehead, and on its feet, which it uses together with urine to communicate, mark its territory, attract the opposite sex, and as a signal of danger. When it feels threatened, it runs with its tail raised for cover, the white flash is believed to act as a visual alarm signal to other deer.

Of crepuscular habits, white-tailed deer can be found in groups of between two and fifteen individuals. The basic social units are the female-pup, groups of juvenile males, and solitary males in the breeding season.

Food

The white-tailed deer is a ruminant and herbivore. It forages among the vegetation to consume leaves, shoots, fruits and seeds, as well as mushrooms: one reason for its adaptability to different forest habitats (the diversity of plant matter on which it can feed). Also during some times of the year they can include in their diet foods such as berries from small trees and shrubs, acorns, mushrooms, and some types of sweet fruits that are available.

Subspecies

Thirty-eight subspecies have been recognized, among which are:

• Odocoileus virginianus borealis (Miller 1900) – east of Canada and northeast of the United States.
• Odocoileus virginianus dacotensis (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Southwest Canada.
• Odocoileus virginianus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780) - Virginia.
• Odocoileus virginianus macrourus (Rafinesque 1817) - Kansas.
• Odocoileus virginianus mcilhennyi (Miller 1928) – Avery Island, Louisiana.
• Odocoileus virginianus taurinsulae (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – Bull Island, South Carolina.
• Odocoileus virginianus osceola (Banqs 1896) – Florida coasts.
• Odocoileus virginianus seminolus (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – inside Florida.
• Odocoileus virginianus clavium (Barbour & G. M. Allen, 1922) – Florida and Cuba cayos.
• Odocoileus virginianus ochrourus (V. Bailey 1932) – Rocky Mountains.
• Odocoileus virginianus leucurus (Douglas, 1829) – Columbia River, Oregon and Washington states.
• Odocoileus virginianus couesi (Coues & Yarrow 1875) – Arizona, southeast of California, New Mexico and northwest of Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus texanus (Mearns 1898) – Texas, Oklahoma, Southeast Colorado and New Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus carminis (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – northern Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus miquihuanensis (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – center of Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus mexicanus (Gmelin 1788) – Puebla y Morelos, Mexico
• Odocoileus virginianus acapulcensis (Caton 1877) – south of Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus veraecrucis (Goldman & Kellog 1940) – Eastern Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus thomasi (Merriam 1898) – Oaxaca and Chiapas, Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus yucatanensis (There are 1872) – Yucatan, Mexico.
• Odocoileus virginianus nelson (Merriam 1898) – Guatemala.
• Odocoileus virginianus truei (Merriam 1898) – Central America.
• Odocoileus virginianus chiriquensis (J.A. Allen 1910) – Panama.

Female O. v. rothschildi.

• Odocoileus virginianus rothschildi (Thomas 1902) – Coiba, Panama.
• Odocoileus virginianus curassavicus (Hummelink, 1940) – valleys and plains of northern Colombia, and Curacao.
• Odocoileus virginianus goudotii (Gay & Gervais 1849) – Andean area of Colombia and Venezuela.
• Odocoileus virginianus margaritae (Osgood 1910) – island of Margarita, Venezuela.
• Odocoileus virginianus apurensis (Brokx, 1972) – llanos colombo-venezolanos and northwest of the Amazon.
• Odocoileus virginianus ustus (Trouessart, 1913) – Andean area of Ecuador and Peru, south of Colombia.
• Odocoileus virginianus tropicalis (Cabrera 1918) – Pacific region in Colombia and Peru.
• Odocoileus virginianus peruvianus (Gray 1874) – Andes del Perú.
• Odocoileus virginianus gymnotis (Wergmann 1833) – Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname.
• Odocoileus virginianus cariacou (Boddaert 1784) – French Guiana and northern Brazil.

The South American subspecies are clearly distinguished from the North Americans by genetic divergences, smaller antlers, absence of a metatarsal gland, and smaller weight and body size. For this reason, some experts have proposed classifying them into two different species and giving the South American species the name of Odocoileus cariacou Boddaert.

As it has been found that despite the smaller geographical area they occupy, the internal differentiation of the Venezuelan deer exceeds that of all the subspecies of North American deer, it has even been proposed that several South American species should be separated and especially Odocileus margaritae Osgood, notoriously smaller and in danger of extinction.

It has also been proposed to classify the páramo deer of the Mérida mountain range (Venezuela) as Odocoileus lasiotis (Osgood 1910), in any case different from the subspecies Odocileus virginianus goudotii from the Colombian Andes, within which it is classified, and from which it is distinguished by having a longer and looser coat, with a dark gray coloration with brown tones, and for not presenting depression in the frontal region of the face, followed by an abrupt elevation of the cranial case, characteristic of Odocileus virginianus goudotii and Odocileus virginianus margaritae.

It has also been proposed to classify the fourteen subspecies of white-tailed deer of Mexico into three groups based on geographic distribution and different types of vegetation, which are:

1. Ecoregion I Northeast, which includes O. v. texanus, O. v. miquihuanensis and O. v. carminis, inhabiting mainly the xerophyte bushes.
2. Ecoregion II Pacific and Central, including O. v. couesi, O. v. mexicanus, O. v. sinaloae, O. v. oaxacensis and O. v. acapulcensis, which occur mainly in temperate pine-dwell forests and dry tropical forests.
3. Ecoregion III Gulf and Southeast, including O. v. veraecrucis, O. v. thomasi, O. v. toltecus, O. v. nelsoni, O. v. truei and O. v. yucatanensis, mainly associated with rainforests and subcaducifolios.

In addition, during certain times of the year they can include in their diet foods such as berries from small trees and shrubs, acorns, mushrooms and some types of fruits that are available.

In popular culture

Since 2011, the White-tailed Deer appears on the back of the ₡1,000 bills of Costa Rica, the country where it was declared a National Symbol.