Mule Deer Buck 11
by Renny Spencer
Title
Mule Deer Buck 11
Artist
Renny Spencer
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A mule deer buck with velvet covered antlers.
https://www.britannica.com/animal/mule-deer
"Mule deer, (Odocoileus hemionus), a medium-sized, gregarious deer of western North America that derives its name from its large ears. Mule deer also have striking pelage markings, large antlers, and scent glands. Large bucks rarely exceed 95 kg (210 pounds); does weigh about a third less. Mule deer belong to Capreolinae, the New World subfamily of the deer family, Cervidae (order Artiodactyla). They are found from the Arctic Circle in the Yukon to northern Mexico. The smaller coast, or black-tailed, deer (O. hemionus columbianus) is found along the Pacific coast from Alaska to northern California. Although mule deer and black-tailed deer are the same species, the mule deer’s mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the maternal line, is very close to that of the white-tailed deer and not of the more primitive and ancestral black-tailed deer. Consequently, the mule deer is apparently a rather recent form that arose from hybridization of female white-tailed and male black-tailed deer."
Uploaded
October 13th, 2020
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