Neat Deer Facts
 

As part of my internship, I read through back issues of D&DH and pull out interesting facts for re-use in a daily tear-off calendar, and I find some pretty interesting things. I'd like to share some of the more interesting things I find with all of you, as well as give people a place to share some of the cool stuff they know about deer.

I'll start this thing off, but I hope many off you will also post things you know that others may not.

Young fawns often "freeze" in the presence of perceived danger, and experience what is called bradycardia, or an extreme slowing of the heartrate. The average heartrate of a fawn is around 150 bpm, but during bradycardia, their heartrate can be reduced by as much as 2/3 (down to 50 bpm) in the span of a single heartbeat. It helps the fawns reduce their metabolic rate and remain hidden from predators.