Likewise, females experience estrous cycles throughout the year, with each cycle lasting about 3 weeks. Pregnant females may be found throughout the year, but the major breeding season lasts from mid-May through August with a June—July peak in activity. The bucks make no attempt to collect or retain harems of does, but instead they seek out and service the does in each herd as they become receptive. Normally, only one fawn is produced per pregnancy after a gestation period of — days.
Following parturition, females again mate during the subsequent breeding period. Twins are rare. Fawns begin eating green forage by 5. Permanent dentition is acquired when 2. Possibly does may breed in the breeding season following birth, but most do not breed until the following season, when 14—17 months of age.
Life span is 9—13 years, although zoo animals may reach 18—22 years of age. Introduced, common. There is no general consistency to which time of the year bucks maintain and shed their antlers. Bucks with hard antlers can be found year round even in the same herd. This results in an ongoing production of fawns from the herd. A recent article posted by HillCountryAlliance. This census indicates an issue that many biologists and landowners have feared, that Axis can and will out-compete our beloved White-Tailed Deer.
View the article here. Axis deer certainly compete with White-Tailed Deer as they co-exist in Texas. Axis deer have similar diets to many other exotic ungulates brought into Texas; including Fallow, Sika, Blackbuck, and Aoudad. As mentioned above, their diets consist of combination of Forbs, Browse, and Grasses. All of these exotic ungulate species eat the same plants that the White-Tailed Deer eat but unlike White-tail they can digest grasses much more efficiently.
Click on this link to check out my comprehensive article on White-Tailed Deer Diets. Exotics apparently can shift to a diet of grasses when preferred browse and forbs are stresssed by nutritional deficiencies associated with grass consumption Baccus et al. So, they eat the same plants as white tail, now it comes down to a simple math equation on how many grazers the land can support. Land can only produce a given quantity of vegetation to support grazers.
Texas Parks and Wildlife decided to study what would happen over time with White-Tailed Deer completing with Axis and other exotics. To do this they created six acre pastures which were enclosed with deer proof high fence.
All grazers were removed from each pasture and each pasture was then stocked with 6 White-Tailed Deer and 6 individuals of another species.
Click Here To Check it Out. The study ran for 8 years and had alerting results. Initially both populations increased during the first 4 years of the study, indicating that the carrying capacity of the acre plot was higher than 2 animal units assuming 6 deer per animal unit. Between and the populations both levelled off, with the Axis maintaining a steady population and the White-tail showing a consistent decline. Bottom line, after 8 years there were only 3 White-tailed deer in the pen along with 16 Axis.
If they both eat the same items Grass, Forbs, and Browse why is it the Axis and Sika came out on top on both studies?
The answer is simple especially if you read my article about White-Tail Diets, hint hint , although White-tail will eat grass they are not efficient in digesting grasses.
For this reason, Whitetail can only live on two classes of forage, forbs and browse. Axis deer and their exotic ungulate counter parts also love to consume forbs and browse; however, when those two options are not available, they can readily consume and digest grass. So, there you have it, Axis deer have a clear dietary advantage to White-Tailed Deer and when resources become scarce in times of drought OR an overpopulated high fenced area it will be the Axis who prevail. Another difference between axis and most Texas deer: axis deer breed year-round.
Mothers give birth usually to a single fawn roughly once a year, though they can conceive again in four months or less. And fawns are sexually mature after their first birthday. They make their share of noise. Male axis deer bellow during rutting, while females and older fawns bark when alarmed. Bucks get into real hissing matches. Male axis deer spar by hissing as they saunter away from each other before locking horns.
They go bipedal to munch and to mark their territory. Axis deer will stand on their hind legs to eat from tall branches, Seale said, while males also do that to leave their scent by rubbing glands near their eyes on branches.
Their appetite can make life tough for white-tailed deer. Axis deer are getting a bad reputation. The nonprofit Hill Country Alliance recently launched the Axis Deer Control Project to raise awareness about how free-ranging axis deer impact agriculture and native wildlife.
This would allow the axis deer populations to grow out of control, while the whitetail deer suffer from local disease outbreaks. Local farmers are at risk of damage caused by axis deer populations growing and foraging in cultivated fields or gardens. The average lifespan of axis deer is 9 to 13 years with documented cases of 20 years in captivity.
Female axis deer reach maturity at 2 and remain fertile until 15 years of age. Male axis deer compete for females during their rut season by fighting other males. The height of the rut occurs in June and July but has been observed in all parts of the year. In Texas, the majority of axis deer fawns are born from January to April following a day gestation cycle. Only one fawn is typically born during each pregnancy, but females go through estrous multiple times in one year.
Axis deer were introduced in as a game meat. They were kept on farms or controlled hunting sites for food purposes. Since their introduction, axis deer have escaped captivity and established in Texas, with over 6, free ranging animals and 40, kept on private hunting ranges. Habitat : Axis deer feed on grass and sedges in fields near wooded or sheltered areas.
They can be found in open areas during warm periods of the day, but are primarily active at dusk or dawn.
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