Life Cycle of a Deer
Deer live on every continent in the world except Antarctica and Australia. There are many different species, from moose, moose and reindeer to red roe deer, roe deer and fallow deer. Deer are mammals and so they develop in the womb rather than eggs and suckle their mother’s milk when young.
Conception
Males will train with each other during the rutting season, usually in the summer. months. They will use their horns to test each other’s strength, fighting for dominance over the herd and thus mating the females. They shed their horns after each estrus season, growing a new pair each year. The dominant male will continually search, often without food for days, among females for those that are in season and ready to mate, as females only reach this state between two and three days.
In The Womb
Birth
Female deer usually give birth away from the herd. They will choose an area of thick vegetation so the grovel is stowed away from hunters.. The mother will lick the fawn clean of the birth fluid that serves to mask its scent, which is another protective measure. The mother will urge the fawn to stand up; a newborn can stay within 20 minutes of birth. However, during the first week of life, it will be hidden in the vegetation while its mother feeds it; the female returns regularly to suckle the fawn. After a week, when it is strong enough, the fawn will join the herd. Females occasionally have twins, but a single fawn is more likely.
Juveniles
The fawn is born with its skin speckled with white spots. This helps to camouflage them in vegetation. They will keep these points for a year or more, except for the deer who keep theirs for their entire lives. The fawn will stay with the mother for approximately one year, nursing for three to four months. The female will break the maternal bond, expelling the juvenile before giving birth to the next year’s fawn.
Adults
Females usually live their entire lives in the same herd, mating with the dominant male each year. However, sometimes the herd can be broken during fights between rival males. Young males often stay with the herd and challenge the dominant male for breeding rights. Once in a while guys will pass on the crowd and search for one more male to challenge.
Life Expectancy
In the wild deer it can live up to 20 years. However, few will reach that age, as older animals invariably fall prey to predators and succumb to disease. Many chicks will also be killed by predators and hunters. In captivity, deer reach 30 years of age.