Life Of Deer

🦌 Life of a Deer

Gestation: Female deer (does) are pregnant for about 6.5 to 7 months.
Fawns: Usually give birth to 1–2 fawns, often in late spring or early summer.
Newborns: Fawns are born with white spots for camouflage and can stand within an hour.
Hiding behavior: Fawns lie motionless in tall grass for the first weeks, visited by their mother for nursing.
Nursing: Fawns nurse frequently and begin nibbling on vegetation within a few weeks.

Weaning: Fawns are usually weaned by 8–12 weeks.
Mobility: They start following their mother and learning how to find food and avoid danger.
Winter survival: Young deer face high mortality in their first winter due to predators, cold, and food scarcity.
Spots disappear: Fawns lose their white spots by 3–4 months of age.

Growth: Young deer continue growing, and males begin growing their first set of antlers.
Learning: They refine survival skills like foraging, hiding, and escaping predators.
Independence: Some deer may stay close to their mother through the first year; others leave to find new territory.
Mating readiness: Females may breed at 1.5 years; males may try to breed at 1 year but are usually not dominant enough.

Mating (Rutting) Season: Occurs in autumn. Males (bucks) fight for mating rights by locking antlers and displaying dominance.
Territorial behavior: Bucks mark territory with scrapes and scent glands.
Antlers: Bucks grow and shed their antlers every year; they regrow larger each season.
Parenting: Only the mother raises the young. Bucks do not help.
Herds: Deer may live in small groups. Females often stay with other females; males are more solitary or join bachelor groups outside the rut.

Aging: Older deer may lose body condition, teeth wear down, and antlers may grow irregularly.
Survival: Life becomes harder with age due to predators, injury, and competition.
Lifespan:
- In the wild: 4–8 years average due to predators and environment.
- In protected areas or captivity: up to 15–20 years.

🌲 Habitat and Range

Deer are highly adaptable and found in:
- Forests
- Grasslands
- Wetlands
- Mountains and even near human settlements
They are native to every continent except Antarctica and Australia.

Predators: Wolves, coyotes, bears, mountain lions, and humans.
Vehicles: Deer-vehicle collisions are a major cause of death in suburban areas.
Habitat loss: Urban expansion reduces safe natural areas.
Starvation: Harsh winters can lead to food scarcity.

Deer play an important ecological role as herbivores, influencing plant growth and feeding predators.
In some regions, overpopulation causes ecological imbalance, so wildlife management (like controlled hunting) is used.