Here you see a white-tailed deer yearling that didn’t know what to do for a few seconds when she saw me Tuesday. Note her ears-back anxiety display. She bolted off when she heard the “click.”
However, she’s a good illustration of the answers to two common questions:
1. How do you tell the difference between a large yearling fawn and an adult doe? The yearling has a flattened and foreshortened head compared to her mother; from certain angles, her face looks a bit like a donkey’s. Also, the yearling has an almost square body compared to the sleeker rectangle of her mother:
2. What are those things that look like sores on the rear legs of both male and female deer? Those are some of the glands that play important roles in the lives of the animals.
a. The tarsal glands are located on the inside of each rear leg at the hock (“elbow”). Deer can flare their tarsals to release a pungent scent. They also urinate on their tarsals, making that combined scent unique to each animal – one of the ways a fawn finds its mother.
b. The metatarsal glands are located on the outside of each lower rear leg, closer to the hooves (which have their own glands). The metatarsals don’t release scent, but are thought to be natural thermostats that help regulate the deer’s body temperature and conserve energy in the cold.
(Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on December 28 (yearling) and October 4 (adult), 2021.)