Piebald deer

[GoddessOfGuinness]

These are too bizarre. They're white-tail deer, but their coloring is the result of a recessive gene; and the deer become more prevalent as herds become more overcrowded.

[MADem]

1. Looks like the product of a little Springer Spaniel and a big ole

lonely deer!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. Looks like they should be hooked up to

milking machines!

[skygazer]

2. That one on the bottom is real strange looking

Very long snout....

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. That's the

Piebald Anteating Deer.

[politicaholic]

3. Those are the wierdest looking cows I have ever seen!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

9. If Bambi had been a bull...

he'd have a whole different set of problems to deal with! :)

[frylock]

4. that last one's awful funny lookin..

what's with the protruding snout?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Running out of turf

They have to eat ants to survive.

[In_The_Wind]

7. I think they 're pretty

nice

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. I saw one of these when I was walking through woods near my house.

At first I thought it was old, and getting gray hairs. After looking at these, I realize it was a piebald...

[In_The_Wind]

21. Have you seen many of them?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

22. That's the first I've ever seen...

His fur was mottled with white, but the group ran away pretty quickly, so I didn't really notice whether the others were marked at all. He was the one who gave the warning stamp. I guess he didn't like the way I was looking at him!

[AlienGirl]

8. According to Temple Grandin

animals with de-pigmented areas are somewhat calmer, more docile, and easier to tame. Studies suggest that pibald coat patterns are among the first things that happen when an animal is domesticated.

Maybe the deer are getting so used to humans that they're moving toward semi-domesticity?

Tucker

[BikeWriter]

12. He should have tried telling that to the last albino mule I trained.

[AlienGirl]

16. She, and albinos are different

Albinos have neurologic problems. It seems like the "happy medium" is an animal with enough melanin to have areas of pigment, but with some depigmented spots where melanin is distributed differently. Grandin thinks this has to do with melanin's role in the nervous system. She cites extremely white Dalmation dogs as examples of neurologically-impaired albanistic individuals.

In rats, agouti (that's brown with ticked fur, wild-looking) individuals are more nervous than those with other coat patterns. Some people carry the same set of genes responsible for creating an agouti coat pattern (though it is not expressed--it's "junk DNA"), and a few years ago there was someone looking into whether those people are more prone to depression. Interesting stuff...

Tucker

[BikeWriter]

18. That reminds me of an old horseman's saying...

"One whte foot buy him. Two white feet, try him. Three white feet, be on the sly. Four white feet, pass him by."
Interesting stuff, indeed. Thank you.

[AlienGirl]

19. Really interesting!

[BikeWriter]

20. Aha! I did a search on that. Your Professor refered to that same folkism..

"A certain amount of piebaldism tends to make an animal quieter, but too much might make it nervous. There are many good horses with white socks and a blaze, but every horseman in the last century noticed a relationship between piebaldism and the value of a horse. The old saying goes:

One white foot, buy him.
Two white feet, try him.
Three white feet, be on the sly.
Four white feet, pass him by."

http://www.grandin.com/references/horse.genetics.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. Wow!

That wouldn't be too far-fetched. People feed them and put out salt licks for them. And most of the ones near my house don't show any signs of fear...they just calmly saunter away.

The Piebald I saw was in a herd of standard colored Whitetails which stood completely still for a moment, then bolted like it was the end of time. They may have been disturbed by the recent decimation of a larger patch of woods nearby.

[yewberry]

14. Look at it like this

This trait is not advantageous (More visible to predators) and becomes more prevalent as overpopulation occurs. The piebald deer are less likely to survive and reproduce, ensuring that those with the dominant gene will have more food for their young.

Just another way nature has for keeping populations balanced.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. That makes sense...

Deer are a serious problem on the highways around here due to habitat loss.

[Theres-a]

17. Wow,those are neat-looking!

Thanks for posting.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

23. You're welcome!

Thanks for commenting! :hi:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

24. tweak

[Ladyhawk]

25. I love it!

I think you and I share an interest in wildlife. This is a very interesting color mutation...quite attractive, but probably not a very good adaptive trait unless there is snow on the ground for a large percentage of the year. Where is this population located?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. The group in these pics are near Laurel, MD...

At the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge...Not far from where Dumbyass likes to do his cycling.

[Ladyhawk]

27. Ah, the mountain lion population has been gutted in New England.

In fact, I think it has been extirpated through much of the region. The piebald deer are not being hunted by natural predators, so their coloration no longer matters. Same story with bears that might have occasionally preyed upon deer.

Here in California, we have plenty of mountain lions. There have been a few attacks on humans in recent years and people want to lift the moratorium. Of course I feel badly for anyone who is attacked by a wild animal, but let's face it, our own activities kill far more of us than nature does.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

28. I have to agree...

The only predators left that can hope to restore a balance to the human population are viruses and other humans. :scared: