The Black-tailed deer, or Blacktail deer, (Odocoileus columbianus) is a species of the deer found in western North America, specifically in the Pacific Northwest region.

Range

Black-tailed deer once lived at least as far east as Wyoming. In Francis Parkman's The Oregon Trail, an eyewitness account of his 1846 trek across the early West, while within a two-days ride from Fort Laramie, Parkman writes of shooting what he believes to be an elk, only to discover that he has killed a Black-tailed Deer.^[1]

The Black-tailed deer is currently common in northern California, western Oregon, Washington, in coastal and interior British Columbia, and north into the Alaskan panhandle. There remains confusion, however, over its proper classification. It is a popular game animal.

Taxonomy

The black-tailed deer was once believed to be a subspecies of the North American mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), however, recent DNA testing has proven this not to be the case. In Valerius Geist's book Mule Deer Country he explains that by testing the mitochondrial DNA of the three species (blacktail, whitetail and mule deer), researchers have now determined that it was the mating of whitetail does and blacktail bucks that gave rise to the mule deer, and not the opposite as was once suspected, therefore not falling under a subspecies of O. hemionus and rather as its own species O. columbianus.^[2]

It is now believed that millions of years ago the whitetail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) expanded its range down the east coast of the United States, across Mexico, and then back up the west coast, where it eventually evolved into the blacktail deer. Thousands of years later as the recently evolved blacktail's range spread eastward and the whitetail's range again expanded westward, the two deer species again met. At this point the blacktail bucks, displaced the whitetail bucks, and bred the whitetail does. Researchers now believe that it is this hybridization that produced what is now commonly known as the mule deer.

Ecology

This species thrives on the edge of the forest, as the dark forest lacks the underbrush and grasslands that the deer prefers as food, and completely open areas lack the hiding spots and the cover it prefers for harsh weather. One of the plants that black-tailed deer browse is western poison oak, despite its allergen content.^[3] This deer often is most active at dawn and dusk, and is frequently involved in collisions with automobiles.

Gallery

See also

• Sitka Deer

References

External links

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  Media related to Black-tailed Deer at Wikimedia Commons
• Excerpts from the book Black-tailed Deer of California
• Black-tailed Deer at BritishColumbia.com