White-Tailed Deer

Arkansas State Mammal

white-taileddeerFAWN.jpg

White-tailed deer fawn

White-tailed deer fawn; photo by funpics47 on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).

White-Tailed Deer

Arkansas officially designated the graceful white-tailed deer as state mammal in 1993. An animal of incredible beauty and power, white-tailed deer are able to run up to 40 miles per hour, jump 9 foot fences, and swim 13 miles per hour. The white underside of the deer's tail waves when running and is flashed as a warning when danger is sensed. Fawns are born with white spots for camouflage. Both native Americans and settlers relied on the white-tailed deer for buckskin and food.

The elegant white-tailed deer is the most popular official state mammal (eleven states: Arkansas - Illinois - Michigan - Mississippi - Nebraska - New Hampshire - Ohio - Oklahoma - Pennsylvania - South Carolina - Wisconsin).

 

 

Arkansas

Images

White-tailed deer buck standing in forest; photo by Joe Kosack / Pennsylvania Game Commission (use permitted with attribution).

White-tailed deer buck in forest

White-tailed deer doe running with tail flashing warning; photo by Kenneth Cole Schneider on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).

White-tailed deer doe flashes a warning

Videos

Hunting Iowa White-tail Deer with an HD Camcorder