365 Urban Species. #236: Mule Deer

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: Aberdeen, Washington.
I apologize for the low resolution of my photographs. If anyone reading this has taken pictures of mule deer, please feel encouraged to post them with your comment. The animal diversity web has some pictures here (including one photograph of a doe in a clearly suburban setting, next to ornamental flowers and a blue spruce).

Urban species #236: Mule deer Odocoilius hemionus


What species are present in a city has as much to do with human history as it does with ecology. In eastern North America, the most densely settled part of the continent, large mammals were virtually eliminated. The mountain lion and wolf are gone, and though they are rebounding in recent years, bears and deer were driven into the last vestiges of wilderness. This isn't the case in the west. By the time that cities became large in the western states, both the shape of cities, and attitudes toward wildlife had changed. Newer American cities are generally more spread out, with a less well-defined center. They often have large city parks that are not enclosed within the grid of the city, but rather fade into the surrounding wilderness. Also, when the conservation ethic began to spread, it became less acceptable to simply kill all the large wild animals near cities. With the cities sprawling into the nearby deserts and forests, wild animals could hardly be kept out of the urban areas.

When black bears, moose, and white-tailed deer stray into neighborhoods in northeastern cities, the event, and the resulting police action, make the news. In many western cities, there is much greater tolerance of large mammals, and often a clearer understanding that the animals are merely walking in areas that were historically their habitat. It's not their fault that someone the area is paved, or fenced, or considers it their property. In fact, human changes to the land, such as planting exotic edible shrubs and providing year-round water sources, are open invitations for animals such as mule deer.

The mule deer is a close relative of the white-tailed deer (O. virginianus), and replaces it through much of the western part of North America. Mule deer are named for their large ears, and are sometimes called the black-tailed deer, due to the presence of black hairs at the tips of their tail. They share with white-tails the large light colored rump, a warning flag to others in their herd, visible when they dash away from danger, tails raised. They also share a taste for a broad range of foliage of shrubs and trees; human tastes in landscaping often seem to include small shrubs perfect for deer browsing, and newly planted trees are easy fodder. Many common weed species around cities are tempting for mule deer, also, notably the abundant foliage and fruit of Himalayan blackberry.

The family pictured--two fawns and a doe--was picking along the waterfront in the small industrial port city of Aberdeen, Washington. Deer are most active at dusk, and as in the case of this group, early morning. Urban deer will find these hours quieter and less likely to include human disturbances. One can only speculate what these deer were finding as they foraged in the sand and mud in front of a derelict warehouse, and underneath the highway. Doubtless the fawns were learning priceless lessons about how to survive in the urban ecosystem.