scoutiiboy

[billrquimby]

scoutiiboy

 

I think many on this thread are confused about what constitutes a "species".

 

How about explaining the difference between species and subspecies, and why minor differences in antler shape, color and size do not necessarily mean deer from nearby but different areas are different subspecies or species?

 

I could try, but this apparently is your specialty.

 

BillQ

[billrquimby]

Scoutiiboy and Amanda:

 

Correct me where I'm wrong in the text below. I got no response when I started this thread, and I think that it is important that otherwise well-informed hunters know the differences between species and subspecies. I cringe when I hear someone talk about a ?new species? or the various ?species? of whitetails.

 

WHAT IS A SPECIES?

 

Exactly what makes a group of animals qualify as a ?species? is controversial and tough to simplify. Generally, animals that will interbreed and produce fertile offspring are a species. (There are exceptions, such as the occasional mule -- a hybrid -- that gives birth.)

 

The creatures that make up a species do not have to be exactly alike in size, shape or color. Chihuahuas and Great Danes are a single species (dog). We humans also are a single species (Homo sapiens), even though Orientals, Anglos, Aborigines, Africans, Native Americans and other races have visible physical differences.

 

The surest way for we amateurs to determine whether two similar animals are separate species is to look up their scientific names.

 

Here are examples:

 

Odocoileus virginianus couesi (Coues white-tailed deer).

Odocoileus hemionus crooki (desert mule deer).

 

The first name (Odocoileus) denotes the ?genus? of the animal -- deer.

The second name (virginianus) denotes the species of the animal -- white-tailed deer.

The third name (couesi) denotes the subspecies -- Coues white-tailed deer.

 

WHAT ARE SUBSPECIES?

 

You will not find a ?new? species of deer in North America. We have only 6 deer species on this continent: White-tailed, mule and brocket deer, elk, moose and caribou. With a couple of exceptions, all of the world?s 40 species of deer have antlers.

 

There are many subspecies (races) of each type of deer, though.

 

Differences between subspecies typically are caused by whole populations of animals adapting to differences in food, climate and habitat in their specific region. Some differences, such as the lengths of certain bones or the absence of certain glands would not be noticed by hunters, while differences that might seem significant to us (such as minor nuances in the shapes of antlers or the animal?s color and size) may or may not be considered valid differences to taxonomists, the people who classify animals.

 

There are supposed to be 30 recognized white-tailed deer subspecies in North and Central America, and another eight subspecies in South America. The largest is the ?northern woodland? or ?northeastern? whitetail (O.v. borealis), with some exceptional individual bucks standing only slightly less than four feet tall at the shoulder and weighing as much as 400 pounds. The smallest in the United states is the Key deer of Florida at 50 pounds or so with an average shoulder height of just 22 inches.

 

The Blackbeard Island whitetails, Hilton Head Island whitetails, Bull?s Island whitetails, Avery Island whitetails, Hunting Island whitetails, and Coiba Island whitetails -- all considered valid subspecies -- are ?medium? sized whitetails, more or less similar in size to the Coues whitetail, which averages 100-105 pounds and 34 inches at the shoulder. Subspecies in Central and South America typically grow smaller as their ranges approach the Equator. At least two are as small as Key deer.

 

Whitetails on Antacosti Island in eastern Canada are considered ?large? whitetails.

 

Incidentally, To be correct, the scientific names of animals are always supposed to be in italics or underlined. (I don?t know how to do either for this forum.) The first letter of the scientific name for genus is always capitalized; scientific names for species and subspecies are always shown in lower case. Also: ?species? is both singular and plural. ?Specie? is money.

 

BillQ

[CouesWhitetail]

Bill,

 

You are correct. But I don't remember seeing a thread where people were confused about what a species is. I must have missed it, but your information should help anyone who is curious about this stuff.

 

And FYI - to use the Italics or underline feature in your post, just highlight the text you want changed and click on the I button for italics or U button for underline or B button for bold. Those are located above your post as you are typing it.

 

Amanda

[scoutiiboy]

It seems that the definition of a species changes everytime biologists develop new and cooler tools to answer the question of what constitutes a species.

I prefer to think of two animals as being of different species if the two animals can't mate and produce viable and fertile offspring. For instance a horse is a different species from a donkey because the resulting hybrid offspring is a sterile mule. This is of course not the only criteria for saying two animals are of a different species but its a good rule of thumb.

Now you all will have to help me out when applying this logic toward deer species because I certainly don't know the details as well as many members of this forum. But my understanding is that mule and whitetail deer do indeed mate and produce viable offspring (or hybrids). I can't say for sure whether these hybrids are sterile or not but my guess is that they are indeed sterile because so few are seen in the wild (and also the species names are indeed different for mule and whitetail deer).

The reason you will see different characteristics (say size or coloration) among different populations of a single species is because various populations are under different pressures based on their environment (as Bill pointed out). Keep in mind that just because the populations are separate doesn't necessarily mean they have become a different species. So you could easily imagine that the coloration that helps keep a deer in say rural Virginia hidden would not work as well in Arizona. I would also argue that the amazing variety of habitats we have in Arizona causes us to see different charcteristics among separate populations of whitetails within the state. Again the coloration keeping deer hidden on the rim would probably be less effective in say southern Arizona.

To add to that, I imagine that the elk in Arizona are fairly uniform is color, etc. because they were reintroduced to the state less than 100 years ago (that is my understanding anyway). Now 100 years is a relatively short amount of time and the populations have not had a chance to change that much. Elk of course migrate long distances and this will also keep the populations from becoming genetically isolated. Since whitetails are native to Arizona and don't migrate, it is easy to imagine that the populations in northern AZ have been separated from the populations in southern AZ for a long period of time.

As far as a definition of a subspecies goes you're on your own. I have never found one that I like. It seems unlikely though that any whitetail in AZ would be given a subspecies name other than coues even though some populations are rather different from one another.

And l agree a new species of deer is highly unlikely to found in the new world. But I bet if we came back in a couple of million years there would be at least one!

[billrquimby]

"And l agree a new species of deer is highly unlikely to found in the new world. But I bet if we came back in a couple of million years there would be at least one! "

 

 

I'm not certain I want to come back in a million years. I suspect we humans will have made some evolutionary changes, too.

 

Bill

[Rembrant]

Sure, if you believe all that stuff.

Mike