Parturition and Early Reactions of White-Tailed Deer Fawns

Abstract

Although literature is replete with information on the life history of many animals, records of the process of parturition and the early reactions of young are rare. Life at this stage may hang in a critical balance for both fawn and doe. For these reasons records were made on the parturition and early moments of life of the white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus . In a study of the breeding season, gestation period and growth of fawns, three to four adult does were kept in small pens at the Alabama Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit Headquarters. A 5-year-old doe, “Tater,” was expected to fawn early in July, 1955. At 4:30 pm on July 11, the doe was noted nervously moving about the pen. She alternately stopped and walked, with her tail held …