where did the mule deer come from?

deserteagle500 · Sep 19, 2007

does anyone have any type of knowledge on the history of mule deer? i know they are native to this our country but where was the break off from white tails? i was asked about this and i would like to be able to answer correctly.

beat this

DallanC · Sep 19, 2007

LAST EDITED ON Sep-19-07 AT 12:06PM (MST)[p]>does anyone have any type of
>knowledge on the history of
>mule deer? i know they
>are native to this our
>country but where was the
>break off from white tails?
>i was asked about this
>and i would like to
>be able to answer correctly.

B&C Website says Mule deer are a hybrid of whitetails and blacktails... lemme see if I can dig up the actual reference.

Cant find the B&C link yet but I did find this one:

http://www.conservenature.org/Prairie/Mule-Deer.html

Recent analysis of three North American deer species' (mule deer, blacktail deer, and whitetail deer) mitochondrial DNA now allows biologists to hypothesize the mule deer?s unique evolution. This testing determined that blacktail bucks bred with whitetail does to produce mule deer. As whitetail deer spread east to west across prehistoric North America, those reaching the northwest coast ultimately became a separate species, blacktail deer. Thousands of years later, as blacktail deer expanded eastward, whitetail deer once more spread westward, with the two species meeting in the Midwest. The blacktail bucks supplanted the whitetail bucks, breeding with the whitetail does. The resulting hybrid species is known now as mule deer. At this point in time, the blacktail deer is classified as a mule deer subspecies. It is smaller in size than the generic mule deer, and it has a longer tail. The blacktail deer inhabits the Pacific coastline, from Alaska to southern California.

I found this amusing as well, same article:

Mule deer belong to the Mammalian Order Artiodactyla, in the family Cervidae. Other members of Cervidae include, moose, elk, and whitetail deer. The mule deer's scientific name is Odocoileus hemionus, which means "hollowed toothed half-ass". "Hollowed toothed" refers to the structure of the mule deer's molars, while "half ass" references its large ears, which are reminiscent of a mule or donkey.

Hey thats a nice half-ass deer you shot there! LOL

-DallanC

Flatlandr · Sep 19, 2007

"hollowed toothed half-ass" now thats some funny chit!

EdleBrock · Sep 19, 2007

"hemionus"...I like that...

There's a lot of "hemionus" posts in the Campfire forum...

chambero · Sep 20, 2007

Dr. Valerius Geist has a book on the subject. Says bascially what the previous post did.

Basically white tails were the original deer. They are one of the oldest species of surving mammals on the continent - largely due to their intelligence. Ice age separated two whitetail population for a very long time on the east and west coasts. West coast whitetails evolved into blacktails and then when the ice began receding they met in the middle with the whitetails and the resulting cross became mule deer.

Vince (Colorado) · Sep 20, 2007

Speaking of Whitetails. Attached are few photos of a very old Whitetail skull (Pleistocene era, 10,000 - 1.8 million years ago). This skull came from the Republic River bottom in Nebraska.

If any of you know about this stuff, let me know as I'm trying to find out more about it.