We have been watching a pregnant doe for a while and today she brought her new fawn to our backyard. But instead of white spots it has white irregular stripes. Do they vary according to the age or is this a different species of deer? Thank you.
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There is a black striped deer and a white striped deer. Maybe the father is one of those
yes, it sounds like a different species, maybe one not common in your area
It may be that the stripes were the longer "spots" and have extended to form a close line as the fawn ages?
It cannot be from the white-striped deer as their stripes run across the body and not the length of the body.
I would suggest you contact your county extension office (Google with your zip code) and send them the picture to see what their reaction would be.
Also, if you are near a university they might be interested and supply you with an answer.
Neat to have this going on in your back yard - very trusting.
Thank you for your advise. I had not seen the baby for a few days but it came back yesterday. There are no more stripes, only elongated spots, I guess with growing they kind of separate. I was unable to take a new photo.
I am from Puerto Rico so for me it's amazing to have so many of these beautiful animals coexisting right here in town. And my granddaughter also loves them. I heard from a lady who works at the courthouse, that one of these babies walked right into a corridor (there is no door) and they went through a lot of trouble trying to get it out without it getting hurt.
Sweet!!! Like you, we have a ton of deer and babies in our area also!
I agree with cybergrannie to show a photo to your local extension office or ag school.
My thought is it may be an optical illusion of sorts, which I think someone else suggested...that they are the spots, close together and look like a line. You do not want to get close enough to see better or mom may storm at you (my good friend was just "threatened" recently for a totally unintentional threat to a mom and baby). I found a neat article from Penn State about coloring:
ecosystems.psu.edu/
Enjoy them, but be aware of the ticks...our poor pup had Lyme disease from deer ticks....and he only goes out for a few minutes, in our front yard, at the bottom of the steps, 3 times a day to do his business. Scary stuff.
Thank you so much for the article, very interesting the thing with the spots. And yes, I am very much aware of the ticks. My neighbor used to feed them very close to the house and I had to ask her to do it a little farther away, across the road, so we don't have ticks jumping on our legs etc.
Several years ago I lived in an area that had lots of free roaming deer and I was always seeing the babies following their moms.
The free roaming area belonged to the University of Florida (200 acres) and the deer loved to walk up and down the fence that fronted a highway so that was how we could see so many and especially at night!
Many people (including me) made regular trips just to see these gorgeous animal families. Of course, they somehow knew they were safe and completely ignored us.
The University of Florida has several places where there are free roaming animals - Bison and Antelope for a couple and it makes me feel good knowing these animals have almost nothing to fear and always receive plenty of food and medical needs.
Thanks for posting the photo and keeping us updated.
I am amazed how these animals know who to trust. People have taken over their territory and it is terrible to hear people complaining about these animals roaming their streets and backyards.
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