The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Just thought I should post this little pic

BadMedicine · November 2, 2000, 03:27 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>the mule deer is a hybrid of the other two.
[/quote]

uh. The black tail and white tail both have *main beam* antlers. If the mule deer is a cross of these two, why does it have *forked tine* antlers?

If this was true, And the Black and White tails crossed to make a mule, subspecies. And the muley is fertile, not a hybrid-evolutional-dud, then muleys could mate with white tails, and blacktails to produce fertile off spring, and if this could occure, why don't we see more *freaks* and *unclassable* deer that share many characteristics of both, or all three, depending on many generations of cross-breeding where muleys and whitetails inhabit the same areas?

I would lean more toward the idea that the black tail is the product of the white tail and mule deer. The Blacktail has whitetail like antlers, but is big and dark in body like a mule.
Also, it's tail is black (on the side that shows, it's white underneath, but I've never seen them raise it in alert) much like the tip of a mule deer tail, but the rear side of the rump, the back of the hams is brown, except for a small area on the inside of the legs, and under the tail. This is mostly true for white tails too, where as mule deer have a large amount of white on there hind end.

If you think about an evolutionary tree, and think about the physical characteristics of each species of deer, I'd be more likely to believe that none are hybrids of each other (though a few infertile ones will arise here and there, probably in less populated deer areas where they are looking harder for mates) But species that evolved and split differently. Probably the blacktail was around first, then the muley split of, and subsequintly evolved, then more recently the white tail and black tails split, and evolved their own ways. Or, Maybe not.

This is my Black-tail. Shot near mineral lake Washington. .243win. It went probably 150 live weight. (it's right antler was shot off by SOMEONE ELSE. Honest

)

[This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited November 02, 2000).]

November 2, 2000, 03:27 PM	#10
BadMedicine Junior member Join Date: July 7, 2000 Location: Anchorage Posts: 863	<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>the mule deer is a hybrid of the other two. [/quote] uh. The black tail and white tail both have main beam antlers. If the mule deer is a cross of these two, why does it have forked tine antlers? If this was true, And the Black and White tails crossed to make a mule, subspecies. And the muley is fertile, not a hybrid-evolutional-dud, then muleys could mate with white tails, and blacktails to produce fertile off spring, and if this could occure, why don't we see more freaks and unclassable deer that share many characteristics of both, or all three, depending on many generations of cross-breeding where muleys and whitetails inhabit the same areas? I would lean more toward the idea that the black tail is the product of the white tail and mule deer. The Blacktail has whitetail like antlers, but is big and dark in body like a mule. Also, it's tail is black (on the side that shows, it's white underneath, but I've never seen them raise it in alert) much like the tip of a mule deer tail, but the rear side of the rump, the back of the hams is brown, except for a small area on the inside of the legs, and under the tail. This is mostly true for white tails too, where as mule deer have a large amount of white on there hind end. If you think about an evolutionary tree, and think about the physical characteristics of each species of deer, I'd be more likely to believe that none are hybrids of each other (though a few infertile ones will arise here and there, probably in less populated deer areas where they are looking harder for mates) But species that evolved and split differently. Probably the blacktail was around first, then the muley split of, and subsequintly evolved, then more recently the white tail and black tails split, and evolved their own ways. Or, Maybe not. This is my Black-tail. Shot near mineral lake Washington. .243win. It went probably 150 live weight. (it's right antler was shot off by SOMEONE ELSE. Honest ) [This message has been edited by BadMedicine (edited November 02, 2000).]