Early Mother-Young Relations in White-Tailed Deer

Abstract

During 1986–1988, mother-young relations in white-tailed deer ( Odocoileus virginianus ) were studied at the National Zoological Park's Conservation and Research Center. During the first few weeks after parturition, mothers associated very little with their fawns and periods of contact were brief; they visited their fawns predominantly at sunrise and sunset. Later, fawns were visited randomly, and time of contacts and length of time between successive contacts became variable. Mothers kept the shortest distances during the first 2 weeks; distances then increased and remained constant. Up to 4 weeks of age, distances were shortest at night, but later, mothers were located farthest from their fawns during this time. Mother-young distances during times of reunion also increased with age. Behavioral differences between sexes began to unfold in mother-young relationships as early as 3 weeks after birth and persisted throughout the first 3 months. Males associated less and more loosely with their mothers than females.