Mule deer

Mule deer
Male (buck) near Elk Creek, Oregon
Female (doe) near Swall Meadows, California
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Odocoileus
Species:
O. hemionus
Binomial name
Odocoileus hemionus
Subspecies

10, but some disputed (see text)

Distribution map of subspecies:
  Sitka black-tailed deer (O. h. sitkensis)
  Columbian black-tailed deer (O. h. columbianus)
  California mule deer (O. h. californicus)
  southern mule deer (O. h. fuliginatus)
  peninsular mule deer (O. h. peninsulae)
  desert mule deer (O. h. eremicus)
  Rocky Mountain mule deer (O. h. hemionus)
Synonyms[3][4]
  • Cervus hemionus Rafinesque, 1817
  • Cervus auritus Warden, 1820
  • Cervus macrotis Say, 1823
  • Cervus lewisii Peale, 1848
  • Cariacus punctulatus Gray, 1852
  • Cervus richardsoni Audubon & Bahman, 1848
  • Eucervus pusilla Gray, 1873
  • Dorcelaphus crooki Mearns, 1897
  • Cariacus virgultus Hallock, 1899

The mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.[1][5][6][7][8][9]

Unlike the related white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which is found throughout most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains and in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains from Idaho and Wyoming northward, mule deer are only found on the western Great Plains, in the Rocky Mountains, in the southwest United States, and on the west coast of North America. Mule deer have also been introduced to Argentina and Kauai, Hawaii.[5]

  1. ^ a b Sanchez-Rojas, G.; Gallina-Tessaro, S. (2016). "Odocoileus hemionus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T42393A22162113. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T42393A22162113.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Odocoileus hemionus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 23 March 2006.
  3. ^ Anderson, Allen E.; Wallmo, Olof C. (27 April 1984). "Odocoileus hemionus". Mammalian Species (219): 1–9. doi:10.2307/3504024. JSTOR 3504024.
  4. ^ Rafinesque, Constantine Samuel (1817). "Extracts from the Journal of Mr. Charles Le Raye, relating to some new Quadrupeds of the Missouri Region, with Notes". The American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review. 1 (6): 436. hdl:2027/mdp.39015073310313.
  5. ^ a b Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  6. ^ Nowak, Ronald M. (7 April 1999). Walker's Mammals of the World. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5789-8 – via Internet Archive.
  7. ^ Reid, Fiona A. (15 November 2006). Peterson Field Guide to Mammals of North America (4th ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0-547-34553-4.
  8. ^ Heffelfinger, J. (March 2011). "Tails with a Dark Side: The truth about whitetail–mule deer hybrids". Coues Whitetail. Archived from the original on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
  9. ^ Geist, Valerius (January 1998). Deer of the World: Their Evolution, Behaviour, and Ecology. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-0496-0.