Download cervidae

Hoofed Animals
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The deer family is cervidae. If the
family is anything other than cervidae,
it is not in the deer family.
Black-tailed Deer
Young
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Odocoileus
Doe and fawn
Species: columbianus
Found
in Dimorphism:
the Pacific Northwest,
Sexual
especially in Oregon, Washington,
and British Columbia.
Native to North America
Buck : only males
grow antlers
Preferred Habitat:
Forests and edge
Feeding: Blacktails are browsers in winter and early
spring and then mix in grasses and a wide variety of
herbs, as well as browse, in summer and fall.
Breeding: Blacktails are polygamous. They use scent to
locate each other during the breeding period. Males tend to
follow one female at a time until breeding occurs or a larger
male comes along and displaces them.
Distinguishing Features:
-Smallest of the three native deer species (mule, blacktailed, white-tailed).
- Antlers in forked pairs, like mule deer.
- Almost no rump patch with wide, black-surfaced tail.
- Light face and muzzle but forehead not dark.
- When startled will run with high, stiff-legged bounce.
Mule Deer
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Odocoileus
Species: hemionus
Found throughout the entire western United
States, including the four deserts of the
American Southwest .
Native to North America
Buck
Doe
Preferred Habitat:
Brushy vegetation
Fawn
Feeding: Mule Deer are
browsers and eat a great variety
of vegetable matter, including
fresh green leaves, twigs, lower
branches of trees, and various
grasses.
Breeding: Mule deer are polygamous. They use scent to
determine when females are ready for breeding. Males may
gather groups of females during peek breeding season and
fight to defend the group.
Distinguishing Features:
- Large ears that move constantly (like a mule)
- Peculiar and distinctive bounding leap
- Dark forehead marking
- Antlers in forked pairs on males only
Sika Deer – often called “Asian Elk”
Preferred Habitat: Forests
or Marshy terrains
Cows or
Hinds
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Cervus
Species: nippon
Bull or
Stag
They are inhabitants of Japan and live naturally throughout
eastern Asia, including parts of Korea, Siberia, China,
Vietnam, Taiwan. They have been introduced in New Zealand,
Europe, Australia, and several US states, including Maryland,
Virginia, Texas, Oklahoma and Wisconsin.
Feeding: Some sika deer are
considered grazers while others
are browsers. It depends on the
geographic location. Sika deer
feed on plants, grasses, marsh
vegetation and agricultural crops.
Calves
Breeding: Males are polygamous and gather harems of
females during the breeding season. They use a “bugling”
call and scent to attract females and defend their
territory/harem.
Distinguishing Features:
- Antlers sweep backward (males only)
- Maintain spots into adulthood
- Flare a white rump patch when alarmed
- Males have a dark mane during the rut
Rocky Mountain Elk –
also called “Wapiti”
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Cervus
Species: elaphus
Bull with 3 Cows
Today, about one million elk live in the western
United States, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and
North Carolina, and from Ontario west in Canada
Elk are native to North America
Preferred Habitat: Woodlands with large open areas
Feeding: Elk are grazers. Elk prefer
grass, but regularly feed on shrub and
browse species during winter months.
Bulls in velvet
Breeding: Elk are polygamous.
Males use “bugling” vocalizations
and scent to attract a harem of
females during the breeding
season. They will fight to defend
their harem.
Bull bugling
Distinguishing Features:
- Much larger than deer or caribou.
Second largest member of the
deer family.
Calf
- Large, cream colored rump patch
- Both sexes have upper canine teeth called “ivories”.
- Males antlers sweep gracefully back over the shoulders
In North America, the moose range includes almost all
of Canada (excluding the arctic), most of Alaska,
northern New England and upstate New York, the Rocky
Mountains, northeastern Minnesota, Michigan’s Upper
Peninsula, and Isle Royale in Lake Superior.
Moose
Moose are native to North America
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Alces
Species: alces
Bull
Preferred Habitat: Boreal forests & wetlands
Feeding: Moose are browsers. During fall and winter, moose
consume large quantities of willow, birch, and aspen twigs.
During summer, moose feed on vegetation in shallow ponds
and the leaves of birch, willow, and aspen.
Cow with calf
Breeding: Moose are polygamous. The bull
moose will wallow in his own urine during the
breeding season. The scent attracts females.
The bulls and the cows both make vocalizations
to attract each other during breeding season.
Distinguishing Features:
-Largest member of the deer family
-Long legs
-Hump at the front shoulder blades
-Flap of skin on the neck called a dewlap or “bell” (Both sexes)
-Large palmate antlers on the males only
-Long nose with a drooping lip
Bull moose
Caribou – also called Reindeer
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Genus: Rangifer
Species: tarandus
Bulls
Caribou are found in northern regions of North
America, Europe, Asia, and Greenland. They are
Native to North America.
Preferred Habitat: Old conifer forests & tundra
Distinguishing Features:
- Caribou have large, concave hoofs used as snowshoes,
paddles, and shovels.
- Caribou are the only member of the deer family in which both
sexes grow antlers. Antlers of adult bulls are large and massive;
those of adult cows are much shorter and are usually more
slender and irregular.
Bull
Bulls grow palmate
surfaces and a shovel
between the eyes.
These features do not
appear on the female’s
antlers.
Cow
Feeding: Caribou are grazing herbivores. In
summer, caribou eat the leaves of willows, sedges
(grasslike plants), flowering tundra plants, and
mushrooms. They switch to lichens, dried sedges
and small shrubs for winter.
Breeding: Caribou are polygamous. Bull caribou
control a space around themselves, and prevent other
bulls from breeding with females within their space.
Caribou breeding season lasts for only one week.
Scent is important to the caribou during their breeding
season.