Does anyone know if Fallow Deer and White Tail can interbreed in captivity? I know it is very unlikely, but I want to know if it is possible.
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My reference is The Whitehead Encyclopedia of Deer.
When we first started pen-raising deer, we bottle-fed two whitetails and one fallow together. After they grew up, the fallow would chase the whitetails, and not in a friendly way. He wanted nothing to do with the whitetail doe.
Some years later, we had a few more fallow in their own pen (and the one we'd bottle-raised). Their pen was adjacent to the whitetail pen. The fallow buck (destructive little deer! Tore up sections of welded wire!) managed to get into the whitetail pen. He and the big whitetail buck really got into it. We finally managed to get the fallow back to his own pen. Other than being sore for a couple of days, the two of them were ok. Fortunately, we were made aware of the situation quickly. Otherwise, I think one would have ended up dead.
They would be as likely (not) to inter-breed as and elk and a reindeer. Similar animals, but not nearly similar enough....
Like a Mouse Cross-Breeded to a Elefunt?
~ ETCC
A successful breeding between a fallow and a hog deer was reported at the Bloemfontein Zoo (VanEe 1953). Attempts to artificially inseminate fallow does with red deer semen were unsuccessful(Steklenev 1969).
Interbreeding would not occur. Fallow Deer (Cervus dama) are of the Cervus genus...White-tail Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are of the Odocoileus genus. Both are from the Cervidae family, but the different genus makes egg fertilization impossible.
The above statement of hybridization across genus lines is normally the case. Whitehead's Encyclopedia of Deer does have some reference to such crosses(successful). He does list the reference, but you would have to do some further digging to really check it out. There are reference to axis X whitetail,red deer X Pere David's deer,swamp deer X axis and hog deer X roe deer. There are also references to other attempts at hybridizations.
Bet you wish that you had never asked!
Thanks everyone
we raise both white tail and fallow deer, and we have a new baby fallow that seems to exhibit some traits of white tails but we wanted to check and see if it was possible. they are all kept in one pen, male and female fallow and white tail and they all get along great.