Deer are commonly seen animals and can be found throughout the U.S. and around the world. Because deer have become common to the suburban landscape, it is likely that most Americans have seen a live deer in their life time. Regardless of how common deer are, they still have interesting anatomy and habits that may not be well known.
1. Deer Utilizes Vocalizations to Communicate Research indicates that deer may use up to as many as 400 different vocal sounds to communicate with each other and with other animals. Some of the vocalization may be so subtle that they are barely discernable by most people. The differing deer vocalizations can be generally grouped in categories that include:
- Distress Sounds
- Mother to Fawn Calls
- Herd Location Calls
- Mating Calls
- Defense/Warning Sounds
Some of the sounds created by deer for communication are so highly specialized that they can be mistaken to be insects or other common sounds of the forest.
2. Deer Have Really Strange Sleeping Habits Deer are very light sleepers and remain highly vigilant to potential dangers even when resting. A deer’s sleep cycle is made up of several short episodes of “dozing” during which the animal’s eyes may remain open and their head may remain upright. Generally, the dozing period lasts no longer than 30 minutes and may be a short as just a couple of minutes and will be punctuated by the deer standing up, stretching and checking its surroundings. Deer do spend a good deal of their time in active rest which is sometimes referred to as “bedding”. The deer does not sleep during the majority of its bedding, but instead lays down and chews the cud that results from an earlier feeding.
3. Deer Have 4 Stomachs Like goats, camels, giraffes and cows, a deer has a sophisticated digestive system made to digest the fiber-heavy diet that it consumes. That digestive system includes 4 stomachs (actually it is one stomach divided into 4 chambers) and the animals equipped with multi-chambered stomachs are called ruminates. The 4 compartments of a deer’s stomach are called:
- the rumen
- the reticulum
- the omassum
- the abomasum
Unlike humans and other mammals with single chambered stomachs deer are actually capable of deriving nutrition from cellulose, the fiber content of their plant-based diet. The bacteria that is found in the deer’s rumen results in fermentation of the cellulose which makes it digestible in the other chambers of the deer’s stomach. 
Bonus Fact: Deer, despite being large and very fast are extremely sensitive to the potential danger posed by their natural predators. Deer utilize a highly-specialized olfactory system to detect the slightest whiff of the scent of a predator and use it as an early warning signal to vacate the area when the scent is detected. Additionally, deer are very leery to enter an area that has been marked by a predator. One of the most effective ways to keep deer off your property is to utilize a product such as Shake-Away Deer Repellent Packs that uses the scent of coyote urine to convince deer that your lawn or garden is no safe place to be.
