Mule deer

Mule deer
Male (buck) near Elk Creek, Oregon
Female (doe) near Swall Meadows, California
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Capreolinae
Genus: Odocoileus
Species:
O. hemionus
Binomial name
Odocoileus hemionus
Subspecies

10, but some disputed (see text)

Distribution map of subspecies:
  Sitka black-tailed deer (O. h. sitkensis)
  Columbian black-tailed deer (O. h. columbianus)
  California mule deer (O. h. californicus)
  southern mule deer (O. h. fuliginatus)
  peninsular mule deer (O. h. peninsulae)
  desert mule deer (O. h. eremicus)
  Rocky Mountain mule deer (O. h. hemionus)
Synonyms
  • Cervus hemionus Rafinesque, 1817
  • Cervus auritus Warden, 1820
  • Cervus macrotis Say, 1823
  • Cervus lewisii Peale, 1848
  • Cariacus punctulatus Gray, 1852
  • Cervus richardsoni Audubon & Bahman, 1848
  • Eucervus pusilla Gray, 1873
  • Dorcelaphus crooki Mearns, 1897
  • Cariacus virgultus Hallock, 1899

The mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer.

Mule deer are found in the western and central parts of North America. Various subspecies range from the western Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains, the southwest United States and northern Mexico, and the west coast of the continent. Their range is smaller than the related white-tailed deer, which are found throughout most of North America east of the Rocky Mountains and in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains from Idaho and Wyoming northward. Mule deer have also been introduced to Argentina and Kauai, Hawaii.

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