Mammals of Fort Bowie NHS

Mule Deer live in a broad range of habitats - forests, deserts, and brushlands. Mountain populations migrate to higher elevation in warmer months, looking for nutrient-rich new-grown grasses, twigs, and shrubs. They maintain separate summer and winter ranges, connected by a migratory pathway. In milder climates, they do not migrate. They live in small social groups of about three, except during the winter, when large groups may come together to feed in open meadows. Females tend to stay close to where they were born. Males disperse farther, establish their own territories, and compete for access to females during the October and November breeding season. The males lose their antlers after breeding and grow new ones yearly, with each set becoming larger than the previous one. Newborns, with spotted coats, are well-camouflaged.

Adaptation: The remarkable evolution of running adaptations is evident in comparing the same (homologous) wrist and hand bones of the Mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus (image on the left), with a primitive type of versatile hand, like that of a Hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus (image on the right).

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Mammal Species of the World
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The White-tailed Deer is distinguished from the Mule Deer by the smaller size of its ears, the color of its tail, and most strikingly, by antler shape. In Whitetails, the main beam of the antlers grows forward rather than upwards, and each tine develops as its own separate branch rather than being split into a forked pair. The two species also run differently when they are alarmed. Mule Deer stot, a boing-boing-boing motion in which all four feet leave and hit the ground with each bound, whereas White-tailed Deer spring forward, pushing off with their hind legs and landing on their front feet. Today White-tails are very widespread in North America: there may be as many as 15 million in the United States. These Deer are adaptable browsers, feeding on leaves, twigs, shoots, acorns, berries, and seeds, and they also graze on grasses and herbs. In areas where they live alongside Mule Deer, the species naturally separate ecologically, the Whitetails staying closer to moist streams and bottomlands, the Mule Deer preferring drier, upland places.

Links:
Mammal Species of the World
Click here for The American Society of Mammalogists species account
  More images, video and sound of the Key deer, a subspecies less ↑

There are only three species of Peccaries in the world, all in South America. Only Collared Peccaries also live in North America. Their range includes a great variety of habitats, and they eat all kind of vegetation, including cactus. They live in highly social and communicative groups. Grooming is an important social behavior, and they have at least 15 different types of calls signaling alarm, submission, and aggression. Territorial groups of 15-50 animals stay together, and cooperate to defend the herd, but they form subgroups that disperse to feed. An alpha male is the dominant animal in the herd. Peccaries often have twins.

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Mammal Species of the World
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