Mule Deer - North Rim Grand Canyon

Male Mule Deer
North Rim, Arizona. August 2013.

Though similar in appearance to the White-tailed Deer, you can tell this is a Mule Deer by noting several characteristic features. This male has a white rump and white tail that terminates with dark dipped appearance. The White-tail Deer, on the other hand, has a mostly brown top-side of tail terminating in white which wraps around to the under-side of the tail. When raised in alarm the white underside serves as a nice, bright flag to warn other deer of nearby threats. You see this most frequently when they are running from danger, which ironically makes them much easier to spot in the woods. The face on this Mule Deer is a fairly consistent brownish-gray shade around the nose and eyes. White-tail Deer have characteristic white markings around their eyes and nose. The male Mule Deer has bifurcated antlers, which means they fork rather than branch off from a single trunk as they do on the White-tailed. The bifurcated antlers on this buck are clear in the photo. The Mule Deer was so named for its large mule-like ears. In North America the Mule Deer predominate in the western states and the Rocky Mountain region. White-tail are most common east of the Rockies.

Nikon D7100 | Nikon AF-S VR 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IF-ED