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Copulating Mission Blue Butterflies (Plebejus icarioides missionensis), an endangered subspecies of Boiduval's Blue butterfly.
San Francisco, California
The deer's coat is a reddish-brown in the spring and summer and turns to a grey-brown throughout the fall and winter. The deer can be recognised by the characteristic white underside to its tail, which it shows as a signal of alarm by raising the tail during escape.
The male (also known as a buck) usually weighs from 130 to 220 pounds (60 to 100 kg) but, in rare cases, animals in excess of 350 pounds (160 kg) have been recorded. The female (doe) usually weighs from 90 to 130 pounds (40 to 60 kg), but some can weigh as much as 165 to 175 pounds (75 or 80 kg).
Males one year of age or older have antlers. Antlers begin to grow in early spring, covered with a highly vascularised tissue known as velvet. Bucks either have a typical or non-typical antler arrangement. Typical is when the antlers are symmetrical on both sides and the points grow straight up off the main beam. Non-typical is usually when the antlers are asymmetrical and the points are going in any direction off the main beam. A buck's inside spread can be any were from 3-25 inches (8-64 cm). Bucks shed their antlers when all females have been bred, from late December to February.
Females enter estrus, colloquially called the rut, in the fall, normally in late October or early November, triggered mainly by declining photoperiod. Sexual maturation of females depends on population density. Females can mature in their first year, although this is unusual and would occur only at very low population levels. Most females mature at one or, sometimes, two years of age.
Males compete for the opportunity of breeding females. Sparring among males determines a dominance hierarchy. Bucks will attempt to copulate with as many females as possible, losing physical condition since they rarely eat or rest during the rut. The general geographical trend is for the rut to be shorter in duration at increased latitude.
Females give birth to one, two or even possibly three spotted young, known as fawns in mid to late spring, generally in May or June. Fawns lose their spots during the first summer and will weigh from 44 to 77 pounds (20 to 35 kg) by the first winter. Male fawns tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females.
Whitetails communicate in many different ways including sounds, scent, and marking. All whitetail deer are capable of producing audible noises, unique to each animal. Fawns release a high pitched squeal, known as a bleat, to call out to their mothers. Does also bleat, as well as grunt. Grunting produces a low, guttorial sound that will attract the attention of any other deer in the area. Both does and bucks snort, a sound that often signals danger. As well as snorting, bucks also grunt at a pitch thats gets lower with maturity. Bucks are unique, however, in their grunt-snort-wheeze pattern that often shows aggression and hostility.
Whitetails possess many glands that allow them to produce scents, some of which are so potent they can be detected by the human nose. Three major glands are the orbital, tarsal, and metatarsal glands. Orbital glands are found on the head, and scent is deposited from them by rubbing the head, often the area around the eyes, on hanging twigs. The tarsal glands are found on the lower outside of each hind leg. Scent is deposited from these glands when deer walk through and rub against vegitation. The metatarsal glands, found on the inside "knee" of each hind leg, are the most potent.
During the breeding season, deer will rub-urinate, as process during which a deer sqats while urinating so that urine will run down the insides of the deer's legs. The deer then rubs its metatarsal glands together, rubbing the urine into the tuft of hair found at this location. Secretions from the metatarsal gland mix with the urine and bacteria to produce a strong smelling odor. Also in breeding season, does release hormones and pheremones that tell bucks the doe is in heat and able to breed.
Markings are a very obvious way that whitetail communicate. Although bucks do most of the marking, does visit these locations often. One form of marking is known as rubbing. To make a rub, a buck with use its antlers to strip the bark off of small diameter trees, helping to mark his territory and polish his antlers. Also to help mark territory, bucks will make scrapes. Often occurring in patterns known as scrape lines, scrapes are areas where a buck has used its front hooves to expose bare earth. Bucks usually then rub-urinate into these scrapes and scrapes are often found under twigs that have been marked with scent from orbital glands.
wikipedia.org
An interesting sculpture around the raptors' enclosures appears to show copulating raptors. KL, Jan/ Feb 2012.
We ran into these in the middle of the trail. Ben & Heidi saw them first & waited for me so I could get these photos. We had just come up 2000 feet vertical on a narrow ridge line with dense vegetation and drop-offs on both sides of the trail. There was no way around, so I had to move them. As they were having sex, they were not eager to move. It took over half an hour to get them both to move off the trail (I even picked up the big one with a long stick, only to have it come right back to the middle of the trail). Once they started to move off the trail, it got tricky as they separated & I had to keep my eye on both of them. They stayed within striking distance on the side banks until I was finally able to encourage them both to move off far enough to pass safely. They were quite docile and never rattled or struck at the stick I used to move them, but they sure did try to hold their ground. I hated to bother them, but I did need to get to the blueberries on top of shining rock!
A Blue Crested Lizard, also referred to as Indochinese Forest Lizard. In Thai, it known as king kah hua sih fah, meaning ‘blue-headed lizard’, which refers to its blue-green head, with a distinguishing whitish stripe, that extends to the upper part of its back.In addition, it has keeled dorsal scales and large transverse reddish-brown spots on the back. Outside the breeding season, it is variably brownish-grey with darker flank markings.
THAILEX Travel Encyclopedia
Wrong speed I was taking him in the blossom tree she came in did her " ready " dance the images tell the story
A pair of common darters (male above) doing what common darters do. Photographed at Burton Mere Wetlands.
We've got hot Sea Monkey love going on in our house. Check out the love story on my blog: www.biselblog.com/hot-sea-monkey-love/.