white-tailed deer (redirected from whitetails)

white-tailed deer

 or Virginia deer

White-tailed deer buck (Odocoileus virginianus)

(credit: Karl H. Maslowski)

Common reddish brown deer (Odocoileus virginianus), an important game animal found alone or in small groups from southern Canada to South America. The tail, white on the underside, is held aloft when the deer is alarmed or running. The male has forwardly curved antlers with several unbranched tines. Northern white-tailed deer grow up to 3.5 ft (107 cm) tall and weigh up to 400 lbs (180 kg). The white-tailed deer lives in open woodlands (young and cutover forests) and on the fringes of urban areas and farmlands, and eats leaves, twigs, fruits, nuts, lichen, and fungi.