They are absent, however, from many desert communities of the Southwest because succulent forage occurs too infrequently to maintain populations. Mule deer occur in tallgrass, mixed-grass, and shortgrass prairies of the Great Plains, in shrublands, woodlands, and forests of the Rocky Mountains, and in sagebrush ( Artemisia spp.) communities, pinyon-juniper ( Pinus- Juniperus spp.) woodlands, and desert scrub of the Southwest. A review stated that 'the multitudinous habitats of the mule and black-tailed deer are so diverse as to defy generalization'. They occur in diverse habitats from moist, dense coniferous forests to dry, open plains and deserts, and alpine habitats. Mule deer are the most widely distributed and abundant of all large mammal species in western North America. United States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MT, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY

Within the mule deer's distribution, black-tailed deer occur along the northern Pacific Coast from central California north to southern Alaska. Otherwise, mule deer occur in all of the biomes of western North America north of central Mexico, except the arctic tundra. Major gaps in mule deer distribution occur in the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in southeastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Arizona, and northwestern Sonora, Mexico the high-elevation or cold deserts and plains grasslands of northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah the Central Valley of California and probably the Great Salt Lake desert region. They have been introduced in Hawaii and several islands in Prince William Sound. In Mexico, they occur south to Baja California (including some islands in the Sea of Cortez) and the southern end of the Mexican Plateau. Scattered populations occur as far east as western Minnesota and Iowa. Mule deer are native to western North America. Map courtesy of Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Mule Deer of the Western United States. Mule deer distribution and habitat in the western United States. SYNONYMS:ДISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE SPECIES: Odocoileus hemionusДЇigure 2. In those cases, this review does the same. In some publications the term 'deer' was used to describe mule deer and white-tailed deer in combination. Collectively, they are referred to as mule deer throughout this review. This review synthesizes information about mule deer and black-tailed deer at the group level, when possible. For more information about mule deer and white-tailed deer hybridization, see Geist. The survival of hybrids in captivity and in the wild is poor. virginianus) may hybridize where their ranges overlap, although hybrids are rare in the wild. See Geist for more information about subspecies distinctions. Translocations have led to intermixing of subspecies in some areas, and subspecies may interbreed where they coexist. Cronin and others found variation in mitochondrial DNA between mule deer and black-tailed deer groups but not between Columbian black-tailed deer and Sitka black-tailed deer. However, the distinction of North American subspecies has been brought into question by genetic analyses. Subspecies are distinguished by body size, pelage color, skull form and dentition, size and shape of antlers, behavior, and geographical distribution. sitkensis Merriam, Sitka black-tailed deer

columbianus (Richardson), Columbian black-tailed deer inyoensis (Cowan)) is generally no longer recognized as a distinct subspecies. The taxonomic status of the Cedros Island and Tiburon Island mule deer is in doubt, and the Inyo mule deer ( O. sheldoni Goldman, Tiburon Island mule deer peninsulae (Lydekker), peninsula mule deer cerrosensis Merriam, Cedros Island mule deer californicus (Caton), California mule deer hemionus (Rafinesque), Rocky mountain mule deer The mule deer group has as many as 7 subspecies, and the black-tailed deer group has 2 subspecies : Mule deer and black-tailed deer comprise 2 groups. The scientific name of mule deer is Odocoileus hemionus (Rafinesque) (Cervidae). Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Mule deer on Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge, Idaho. BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTSДЇigure 1.

Fox and deer mix base