Deer Senses

1. Deer Senses Original Power Point Created by: Andy Harrison Modified by the GA Agriculture Education Curriculum Office July 2002

2. Considerations • • Preyed upon from air and ground • • Must communicate with each other by means other than visual displays • • Has ability to see in low light • • Same senses as man – hearing , sight, smell, taste, touch (touch not as important)

3. Sound • • Ears can rotate independently in all directions • • Ears more sensitive than humans: • -Upper range: 30,000 cycles • -Human: 20,000 cycles • -Sensitive to high pitch noise

4. Sound • • Two types of sound: • - Everyday sounds: birds, leaves, falling tree limbs • - Sounds indicating danger: unusual footsteps, brushing against vegetation

5. Sound • • Deer can sense other deer’s movements at great distances • • Deer do not move frequently on windy days • • Deer make little noise when they walk

6. Sight • • Crepuscular – move about in low light conditions • • Even during the day they move in shaded areas • • Have limited color vision • -Rods and Cones • • Rods – see light and dark signals • • Cones – see subtle colors

7. Sight • • Have more rods than cones • • Deer DO note need to see colors • • Can see upper and lower end of color; whereas humans are tri-chromatic – see red, blue, and green wavelengths • Deer have dichromatic vision- they are missing green

8. Sight • • Wavelengths - yellow, brown, orange and red are not perceived well • -These colors are perceived as shades of yellow • • Humans can move about during the day in bright light because of tri-chromatic vision

9. Sight • • The human eyes screen out UV • • Deer use UV to see better in low- light environments • • Tapetum lucidum – highly reflective membrane behind retina • -It essentially reprocesses light for the rods and cones, allowing them another chance to be stimulated

10. Sight • • Deer eye is larger than a humans • • Pupil is capable of opening wider than a human’s pupil • • UV filter in not present as in humans • • More rods than man; ratio of rods to cones greater

11. Sight • • Very good at picking up movement • • Poor at distinguishing detail • • Excellent in picking up UV reflections • • Camouflage • -Use muted colors such as gray, brown, and green • -Viewed by deer as slightly different yellows

12. Sight • •Things you can do to remain undetected: • -Anticipate deer movement • -Sit with light to your back • -Never sit on top of hill

13. Smell • • More sophisticated than humans • • In the forest, because of low sight and low light, smell is important

14. Smell • • Four basic glands in deer body to produce chemicals: • -Tarsal gland – inside hock • -Interdigital gland • -Metatarsal gland • -Preorbital gland

15. Glands • • Tarsal – located on inside of hock • -Strong smell in rutting bucks and does • -When encountered, deer urinate on glands because the long hairs provide an excellent evaporative surface for the scent • • Interdigital – located between toes • -Serves as a trail marker • -May allow deer to determine direction of travel

16. Glands • • Metatarsal – located on outside of lower leg • -No real function in whitetails • -In mule deer and black tail it serves an alarm function

17. Frontal Gland • • Located on forehead • • Most likely a dispersal gland • • Will sometimes rub this area on tarsal gland • • Will rub this area on scrapes

18. Scents • • Masking - overrides human scent with other scents common to deer • • Neutralizing – attempt to destroy odor

19. Scents • • Communication scents • • Scents that mask human odors • • Scents that neutralize human odors

20. Scents • • Communication Scents: • -Designed to smell like a receptive doe or buck • -Some people keep frozen tarsal glands

21. Taste • • Can use taste interchangeably with smell • • Bucks lick rubs