Though this picture was taken around Memorial Day, the fawn looks as if he’s celebrating the Fourth of July.
This little guy and his mother are part of the large deer herd that lives at Allegheny Cemetery in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. In late May the Veterans’ section was all decked out in red, white and blue. The deer didn’t seem to mind the waving flags.
Sharon Leadbitter took their pictures and as the deer left the area the fawn did a little flag waving of his own. See how his tail is up in that first photo?
According to a 1991 study published in The American Naturalist, fawns wave their tails much more than adults. Winston Paul Smith studied the reasons why white-tailed deer wave their tails and wrote, “Tail flagging was observed in all age and sex groups, even neonates within hours after birth. The tendency to tail flag was greatest among fawns. As fawns became older, tail flagging decreased so that by 7 mo of age they tail flagged at a rate similar to that of yearlings and adults.”
Watch the Fourth of July parades today and see if you don’t think this applies to small humans, too. Everyone waves flags but the youngest wave them more.
Happy Fourth of July!
(photos by Sharon Leadbitter)
Happy Fourth of July to you, too! We have fawns visiting our yard again this year. A doe has been looking after three fawns, two about the same size and one quite a bit smaller but spunky. We think either the small one or the two larger ones were orphaned and that the doe adopted them to raise with her own. They are so precious.
Great piece, thanks Kate and Sharon ; )