OHIO'S STATE ANIMAL - THE
WHITE-TAILED DEER
In February of 1988, Governor Richard F.
Celeste signed House Bill 312 making the white-tailed deer Ohio’s state
animal. The bill was introduced by State Representative E.J. Thomas
at the request of Cheryl Phillips’ fourth grade students from
Worthington Estates Elementary School. Among a number of
reasons given supporting the white- tailed
deer, the students said the term “buck”
used for male deer would fit in with another state symbol, the buckeye
tree, and Ohio’s nickname, “the Buckeye State.” . The white-tailed deer is the largest game animal in
Ohio and can be found in all of Ohio's 88 counties, although
about 80 percent
of the herd lives in hilly eastern Ohio.
Here is the section of the Ohio Revised Code
declaring the state animal:
5.032 State animal - The animal, Odocoileus virginianus, commonly known
as the white-tailed deer, is the official animal of the state. Naming
the white-tailed deer as the official animal of the
state does not relieve the division of wildlife of its duty to manage
the deer population and its distribution. (1988 H 312, eff. 5-11-88)
White-tailed deer measure about 3
to 3½ feet tall at the shoulder and the largest bucks (male
deer) can weigh 400 lbs. The White-Tailed
Deer is a long-legged, fast-moving mammal. When
it's startled, it raises its tail like a flag, which is white on the
underside.Whitetail deer are nervous and
shy. They wave their tails characteristically from side to side when
they are startled and fleeing. They may bound at speeds of up to
30 miles per hour through a forest. Whitetail deer are also good
swimmers and often enter large streams and lakes to escape predators or
insects or to visit islands. Their home
ranges are generally small, often a square
kilometer or less. Whitetail deer do not
migrate to a winter range but yard up
in their own territories during heavy
snow.
 
Only the bucks have antlers, which are branched and shed each
year, then re-grow. A female deer is a doe and they usually travel in
small herds with their young. Fawns are usually born in May or June. Whitetail does are painstakingly careful to keep their
offspring hidden from predators. When foraging, females leave their
offspring in dense vegetation for about four hours at a time. While
waiting for the female to return, fawns lay flat on the ground with
their necks outstretched, well camouflaged against the forest floor.
Fawns withhold their feces and urine until the mother arrives, at which
point she eats whatever the fawn voids to deny predators any sign
of the fawn.
The
genus and species of the White-Tailed Deer are Odocoileus virginianus.
This deer is found over most of North and Central America and northern
parts of South America. It lives in deciduous forests, conifer forests,
rainforests, grasslands, farm land, marshes, and even
deserts.White-Tailed Deer are herbivores (plant-eaters) who spend
most of the day eating leaves, grass, bark, acorns, and buds and twigs
of maple, sassafras, poplar, aspen and birch (to name a few), as well
as many shrubs. Conifers
are often utilized in winter when other foods are scarce. Whitetail
deer
are crepuscular, feeding mainly from before dawn until several hours
after,
and again from late afternoon until dusk. Their life span in the
wild
is 10 years, but whitetail deer have lived up to 20 years in captivity.
Other states that has
named the White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) as their official
state mammal and/or animal: Arkansas; Illinois; Michigan; Mississippi;
Nebraska; New Hampshire; Ohio; Oklahoma; Pennsylvania; South Carolina;
Wisconsin
Common names are white-tailed deer; whitetail deer;
Columbian white-tailed deer; Key deer; Coues deer; Texas white-tailed
deer; sandhill deer; common deer; jumping deer; flag-tailed deer;
bannertail; long-tailed deer; Virginia white-tailed deer; Virginia deer
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