Blacktail Deer Research at the Estero Americano Preserve

Do blacktail mothers watch out for each other’s kids? Or, are blacktails altruistic?

Graduate students from the University of Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada are conducting behavioral ecology research on blacktail deer at the Estero Americano Preserve, Bodega Marine Lab, and other sites in the Bodega Bay area.

The anti-predator behavior research involves utilizing a speaker broadcasting playbacks of fawn sounds. The student team observes the deer’s reaction from a car or from a suitable location some distance away. They are trying to determine whether blacktail mothers will approach the speaker, seemingly to try to rescue a fawn in trouble, even when they can see that their own offspring are safe.

Through previous work, the University of Winnipeg team found that female Rocky Mountain mule deer, a close relative of the blacktail, approach the speaker even when they can see that their own fawns are safe. This is consistent with observations of coyote attacks on fawns, in which mule deer females vigorously defend fawns that are not their own offspring. In contrast, female white-tailed deer are selective and will only approach the speaker when it is possible that their own fawn is in trouble and being attacked by predators.

Research they are pursuing on blacktails and other species (pronghorn, eland) will help them gain insight into conditions leading to the evolution of altruistic behavior in animals, which remains a long-standing problem in evolutionary biology.

For more information about this project, please contact: Dr. Susan Lingle at s.lingle@uwinnipeg.ca