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Deer Facts & Worksheets

The deer is an herbivore animal having forty-three (43) kinds of species which belongs to the Cervidae family, in the order of Artiodactyla, or cloven-hoofed mammals

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The deer is an herbivore animal having forty-three (43) kinds of species which belongs to the Cervidae family, in the order of Artiodactyla, or cloven-hoofed mammals. Deer are native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica. However, most deer are found in the forests of Europe, Asia, and North America.

See the fact file below for more information on the deer or alternatively, you can download our 25-page Deer worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

  • A deer has long, powerful legs, making them good jumpers and runners as well as surprisingly good swimmers; a diminutive tail, and long ears. Most deer grow to an average of one meter. The largest species of deer is the moose while the smallest deer in the world is the northern pudu.
  • Antlers develop by the time the deer is a year old. All male deer possess antlers, except for the water deer. While females generally lack antlers except for female reindeers.
  • Most deer have 32 teeth. The cheek teeth of deer have crescent ridges of enamel having a strong pad at the front of their upper jaw, which enables them to grind a wide variety of vegetation.

HABITAT

  • Deer live in different biomes, from tundras to tropical rainforests. Many deer live in transitional areas between forests and thickets, and prairie and savanna.
  • Deer are selective ruminants so they eat fresh grasses, weeds, and herbs.
  • There are types of deer that are highly specialized, and live in mountains, grasslands, swamps, and “wet” savannas, or river banks surrounded by deserts.

BEHAVIOR

  • In a herd, there are around 25 deer, most of them are female deer called does and a dominant male deer known as a stag. The lead dear is always at the back of the herd, helped by a female, who assumes a rear-guard position during when the herd moves.
  • The stags are the ones that protect the herd and will often fight other stags to protect the herd and also their mating rights. Fighting also occurs among stags for them to be chosen by a female deer.
  • During rutting seasons, stags may express visual and aggressive displays in order to intimidate challengers and show dominance. These actions are shown when the stag’s neck hair grows long and enlarges, he rolls into the mud, and thrashes his antlers against a tree.
  • There are two antipredator strategies that a particular species of deer can do. One is to hide. If discovered, it jumps out rapidly going to forests and thickets to hide again. The other is to run rapidly on flat and clear terrain to outrun predators.
  • Specialized jumpers choose to stay close to steep slopes and rugged terrain. And there are also cliff climbers that go to hills and heights to avoid predators.

DIET

  • Deer are specialized herbivores, feeding primarily on leaves. They select easily digestible food and don’t eat much coarse-fibred grasses. They eat shoots, young leaves, fresh grasses, soft twigs, herbs, aquatic plants, fruit, fungi, and lichens which have low fiber but high protein content and toxicity.
  • Deer consume high-quality food for them to cope with the demands of antler growth. Their antlers require a very high quantity of minerals, proteins, and energy.
  • Deer can survive in an area in which calamities (e.g. forest fire, flooding) occur where young plants grow. They have the ability to locate and settle in the area to graze.

REPRODUCTION

  • Deer usually mate from later August until December. It occurs mostly from mid to late autumn.
  • The gestation period is up to ten months. Most fawns are born with fur, covered with white spots, yet in some kinds, they lose these spots when the first winter ends.
  • The fawns are only cared for by the mother. The fawn and its mother stay together for about one year. Males usually leave and never see their mother again, but females sometimes come back with their fawns and form small herds.

CONSERVATION

  • For thousands of years, humans hunted deer for their meat, milk, and skins. Today, deer are farmed. One farm found in New Zealand has over 3,000 deer farms across the country.
  • Deer are prey to humans and wild animals like wolves, tigers, bears, and some foxes. Wild deer are becoming very defenseless, making their conservation status threatened.

Deer Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the deer across 25 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use Deer worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the deer which is an herbivore animal having forty-three (43) kinds of species which belongs to the Cervidae family, in the order of Artiodactyla, or cloven-hoofed mammals. Deer are native to all continents except Australia and Antarctica. However, most deer are found in the forests of Europe, Asia, and North America.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • Deer Facts
  • Deering Around
  • How Deer You Know?
  • Word Search
  • The Deer-fferences
  • Deer Or Nay
  • Deer-scribe Me
  • Way To Mommy
  • Something To Eat
  • My Way Out
  • New Deer Home

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Link will appear as Deer Facts & Worksheets: https://kidskonnect.com - KidsKonnect, September 26, 2019

Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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