Diet composition of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus texanus Mearns 1898) identified in ruminal content in Coahuila, Mexico White-tailed deer diet in Coahuila, Mexico

Abstract

Objective: Identify the diet of white-tailed deer in rumen samples at the UMA Rancho San Juan, municipality of Monclova, Coahuila, Mexico in the winter of 2019.

Design/methodology/approach: To identify the composition of the diet of the white-tailed deer, the microhistological technique was used in samples of white-tailed deer rumen. For this, the capture of 50 females was carried out through 7 drop nets during the hunting season 2018-2019.

Results: The deer's diet was made up of 39 plant species, represented by 18 families, the most common being Poaceae and Fabaceae, with 8 and 7 species, respectively. Prosopis glandulosa, Acacia rigidula, Setaria leucophylla and Leucophyllum frutescens, were the most frequent species in the diet. Of the total species, 17 have not been reported in the diet of O. v. texanus in northeast Mexico. The diet was made up of 37.73% shrubs, 23.44% grasses, 18.26% succulents, 17.21% trees and 3.35% herbaceous.

Limitations on study/implications: The high percentage of grasses in the diet may indicate overgrazing by deer and low availability of preferred species. The present study aims to expand the knowledge about the diet of the white-tailed deer in northeast Mexico.

Findings/conclusions: The study identified new species in the diet of the white-tailed deer in the northeast of Mexico and expands the knowledge on their feeding requirements, to implement pertinent habitat improvement measures.

Keywords: Preferred species, Grasses, Microhistological Technique, Drop nets.