--- title: "White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) | AnimalTracks.wiki" description: "A fawn holds in its waste until its mother returns, and she swallows whatever it passes so predators find no sign of it." image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/white-tailed-deer-1.webp" published: "2026-09-29" updated: "2026-09-29" --- # White-Tailed Deer (*Odocoileus virginianus*) > **Status**: Checked against 4 sources, listed under Sources below. > **Tagline**: A fawn holds in its waste until its mother returns, and she swallows whatever it passes so predators find no sign of it. > **Soundtrack Vibe**: Neo-Classical & Baroque Chamber // Antonio Vivaldi, "The Four Seasons: Autumn (Allegro)" > **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/28QJotQoD4XH5rV3vp5rsq) > **Vibe Match**: A white-tailed deer runs on a yearly calendar: antlers start in April, a thick winter coat comes in September, and fat is packed on in autumn. Vivaldi's Four Seasons gives each season its own concerto. ## Biological Superpowers & Stats - **Taxonomy**: *Odocoileus virginianus* - **Danger Level**: Medium - **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2016-2.rlts.t42394a22162580.en)) - **Superpower**: A white tail raised as a danger signal - **Habitat**: Woods, farmland, swamps and desert scrub from southern Canada to Bolivia - **Diet**: Grasses, leaves, acorns, fruits, grains, and twigs and buds of woody plants - **Tags**: mammal, ungulate, hoofed, herbivore, forest, adaptable ## Natural History & Behavior ## The fawn that holds it in A newborn white-tailed deer weighs 1.5 to 2.5 kg. Its reddish-brown coat is dappled with white spots, which give it excellent camouflage against detection by predators in the summer. Its mother leaves it in dense vegetation while she feeds. The fawn lies flat with its neck outstretched and holds in its feces and urine until she returns. Then she eats whatever the fawn passes, to deny predators any sign of it. Early fawn losses tend to be high. In Maine, about 130 fawns are born for every 100 does, but only 65 to 90 of them usually survive their first five months. ## The white flag Adults stand 80 to 100 cm at the shoulder and weigh 57 to 137 kg, and bucks are bigger than does. Their long legs let them leap, bound, turn and run at up to 40 miles per hour. They also swim well. Wide-set eyes help them pick out subtle movement, and large ears rotate toward suspicious sounds. They depend mainly on smell to detect danger. > **The tail alarm** When a deer raises its white tail, it flashes a danger signal to other deer nearby. ## Antlers, coats and stored fat Bucks grow new antlers every year. Antlers are made of bone, and they start to grow in April wrapped in velvet, a network of skin tissue and blood vessels. The velvet is shed in late August or September, and the hard antlers drop off between late December and early March. A deer also grows two coats a year. A short reddish one keeps it cool in summer. In September it molts into a winter coat with a woolly layer underneath and long hollow guard hairs on top, which the deer can raise to thicken the coat against winter winds. In autumn it also packs fat under the skin, between the muscles and inside the hollow bones of its legs. That fat can be 10 to 25% of its body weight by late fall. ## From Maine to Bolivia The range covers most of southern Canada and the mainland United States except two or three western states, then reaches through Central America to Bolivia. Deer live in the big woods of northern Maine, the swamps of Florida, farmland, and the cactus and thornbrush deserts of southern Texas and Mexico. They eat grasses, ferns, mushrooms, leaves, fruits, acorns, grains, and twigs and buds of woody plants, and they take more twigs and buds when better food is short. A deer can live to 20 years, though few in the wild last that long. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Why do deer flash their white tails? It is an alarm. Raised, the white tail is a danger signal to any other deer in the area. Animal Diversity Web adds that a startled deer waves its tail from side to side as it flees. *(Source: [Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife]())* ### How long do white-tailed deer live? Up to 20 years, and rarely that long in the wild. Does typically outlive bucks. *(Source: [Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife]())* ### Do female deer ever grow antlers? Sometimes, though it is rare. The does that do are usually older, between 5 and 15 years, and they grow spikes covered in velvet. Most of them remain fertile. *(Source: [Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife]())* ### Are white-tailed deer endangered? No. The IUCN Red List rates the species Least Concern. *(Source: [Gallina & Lopez Arevalo 2016]())* ## Sources 1. [Dewey (2003). Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer). Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]() 2. [White-tailed Deer. Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.]() 3. [Gallina & Lopez Arevalo (2016). Odocoileus virginianus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T42394A22162580.]() 4. [Hubbard & Nielsen (2009). White-Tailed Deer Attacking Humans During the Fawning Season: A Unique Human-Wildlife Conflict on a University Campus. Human–Wildlife Interactions.]() *Published September 29, 2026. 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