The White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is our focus for this week’s #SpeciesOfTheWeek. An extremely common mammal at Murphys Point, members of the White-tailed Deer population are often spotted by visitors to the park. Although they make for a cool sighting, the deer population in Ontario has expanded rapidly due to the extirpation of native wolf populations. This expansion has lasting negative effects on the forests due to the deer’s preference for tree saplings and understorey plants in the summer, and bark in the winter. These deer can leap up to 2.5 meters high and 9 meters horizontally, so fencing has little effect. The White-tailed Deer’s coat changes in colour from reddish-brown in the summer to grayish-brown in the winter. The average lifespan of a White-tailed Deer is 6 years in the wild.