## Mating habits of deer & elk

Posted July 25, 1995

I'm working on a zoo story about deer (whitetails, specifically), and want to make it as anatomically and behaviorally accurate as I can. According to _The Deer of North America_, by Leonard Lee Rue III:

"There is no mistasking when copulation is completed. After entering the doe, the buck gives only one or two preparatory thrusts and then lunges, plunges deeply into her and ejaculates. The ejaculatory thrust is so violent that many times the doe is thrown forward to her knees and the buck's hind feet leave the ground."

However, in the three video sequences I've seen (Wild America: "Pennsylvania Whitetail," Wild America: "The Wolf and the Whitetail," and Nova: "All-American Bear"), the buck is actually quite gentle, even graceful about it. He puts his chin on her rump, rises onto his hind legs and moves forward, placing his forelegs on either side of her ribs. She may move away from him once he's mounted, but he just walks forward, straddling her, with his chest on her back. There's some twitching of his tail and hindquarters, but no "deep plunge." Sometimes he licks the doe's neck during mating. Then he just slides down.

Elk, OTOH, are exactly as Rue describes above: twitch, twitch, twitch, WHAMMO! His hind feet leave the ground, and he throws his head so far back he almost pokes himself in the rump with his own antlers. Could Rue have been describing elk instead? The phrase is identical in both editions of his book, so I don't think it's a typo.

Has anyone seen whitetails, mule deer, or blacktails mating in real life? Which description is more accurate: the videos or Rue? Thanks!

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