Unusual Sighting
Yesterday afternoon Rachael called Beth and me and said that there was a fawn who had just been born in the front of the house (We have woods in the front of our house). She said that it was a newborn, and could barely stand. I don't think that it was more than 30 feet from the front door. There was no mother in the vicinity.
When we arrived home a couple of hours later, there it was, lying in the bushes, only the top of its head and its two large ears visible. We didn't go near, for fear of scaring it. We were curious, though, about the mother leaving it alone. We went out for a short time last evening, and when we arrived home it was not completely dark, but as near as we could tell it was no longer there. We confirmed this in the morning.
What we think happened was that the mother gave birth so near to the house--perhaps one of us walked by--that it was frightened and fled. Then it risked coming back to collect her offspring under the cover of the darkness and take her further into the woods.
Does anyone have knowledge about this and if our hypothesis is accurate?
When we arrived home a couple of hours later, there it was, lying in the bushes, only the top of its head and its two large ears visible. We didn't go near, for fear of scaring it. We were curious, though, about the mother leaving it alone. We went out for a short time last evening, and when we arrived home it was not completely dark, but as near as we could tell it was no longer there. We confirmed this in the morning.
What we think happened was that the mother gave birth so near to the house--perhaps one of us walked by--that it was frightened and fled. Then it risked coming back to collect her offspring under the cover of the darkness and take her further into the woods.
Does anyone have knowledge about this and if our hypothesis is accurate?
posted by UCC Medfield at 11:09 AM
1 Comments:
did a little poking around and found the following:
The newborn fawn is extremely vulnerable for the first 48 hours of it's life. Fawns that survive the first two days have a good chance of making it into the deer population the following year. The fawn can weigh anywhere between 4 and 7 pounds at birth. For the first 3 to 4 weeks of it's life it will stay in one location which is determined by the doe. The doe will come to the fawn during this time so it can nurse. The fawn is completely odorless for the first few days of it's life and will lie motionless when danger is present. Other than when she returns to nurse, the doe will stay away from the fawn so her odor does not give away the fawn's location to possible predators. At around 4 weeks the fawn is now eating solid foods and is able to travel with it's mother. Fawns lose their spots at about 3 months of age when they start to take on the colors of an adult deer. Hopefully, if all goes well, the deer will be around next year when the cycle begins anew.
found this at: http://home.adelphia.net/~geffert/info.htm
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