What is a Mule Deer?

(lat. Odocoileus hemionus)

The Mule deer, also called big-eared deer, lives in the western mountain regions of the North American continent. Its population is spread up from south Alaska in the north, to Mexico in the south and from the pacific coast in the west to North and South Dakota in the east.
In opposite to the mule deer’s cousin the white tailed deer. The mule deer is not a commensal species, but likes it to stay hidden and live an invisible life in areas far away from civilisation.
The colouring of the mule deer is dependent on the season and varies of cold grey till red-brown. It reaches a body length of 170 to 220 cm, a weight from 50 to 160 kg and a shoulder height of 100 to 120 cm. The antlers are not very big, subdivided for this but clear and graceful.

The Mule deer got its name because of its long ears (28 cm), which make him look like a Mule. Hunters also call him “jumping deer”, because Mule deer often jump while fleeing..

Males and females live, e in separate herds, older males, sometimes as loners. The cohesion of these herds is loose and a strict hierarchy is only developed during the mating season.
Mule deer like it to spend the summer in the upper mountain regions and return to their lower residents in winter. There the stronger males assemble smaller groups of females around himself during the rutting season in December with which they mate and from whom they jealously keep every rival away.

The pups occur after a gestation period of 210 days in June and July during the leisurely remigration to the summer residence. At the birth they weigh 2 to 3 kg and carry a spotted fur.
Within the first days they hide in the thicket and are visited by the mother only for suckling.
They then follow her and hook up to the herd. In the first months of their life, many of them become the victim of pumas, coyotes and bobcats.

Because of excessive hunting the mule deer population went back from 10 million down to 300.000 in the beginning of the 20th century. The population increased back to 5 millions but however, stagnates since the 1960’s.

The mule deer is not a hybrid species!

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