WHITETAIL DEER - DIGESTION         Vines, berries and mosses are three of the hundreds of foods whitetail love.

When deer eat they are feeding themselves, but they are also feeding their gut microorganisms. Deer digestion is 100% dependent on them. They help break down the food, and without them the deer cannot digest. Deer are ruminants, meaning that they bring their food back from the first part of their stomach, called the rumen, to chew it again. If a deer, or any ruminant, starves to the point of also starving off the good microorganisms, in order to survive, the deer will need to get not just food, but needs to get replacement gut flora too. Even with all the food a deer could want, it would starve to death with a full stomach if the gut flora is not replaced. Palm and palmetto fruits are seasonal staples, the tender greebriars, with or without prickly thorns are bitter, but loved by deer all year. For their special type of digestion deer have stomachs with four sections, all in a row. The first section, the rumen, is where the food goes first after it has been chewed and swallowed. The rumen can hold over two gallons, and this lets the deer bolt down a large amount of food if necessary so that it can quickly leave an area to return to safety. It is in the rumen that food is held to be later brought up into its mouth for rechewing—this is called rumination or "chewing its cud". The food is then ready to go to the second section of stomach, the reticulum, which strains the food. The real digestion takes place in the third section, the omasum, and the last section of the stomach is called the abomasum, and here the food is pelleted and routed for exit.

THE SPECIES HABITAT DIET DIGESTION SURVIVAL RANGE BREEDING

COURTSHIP ANTLERS FAWNS TAME WHITETAIL MULE DEER AND BLACKTAIL THEIR FUTURE ANIMALS

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