The disastrous short-term effects of malnutrition among pregnant whitetails are well known by deer researchers. Invariably, poor nutrition during the last one-third of gestation retards fetal development and contributes to higher than normal newborn fawn mortality rates. However, research conducted in Europe, Minnesota, and more recently South Dakota, indicates prenatal malnutrition also can produce lifelong physical and psychological consequences for the survivors.
South Dakota University researcher Kevin Monteith and his associates warn identifying consequences due to maternal malnutrition can be complex.
Complex, indeed. Please bear with me and I’ll do my best to explain.
Even the grandmother’s nutritional status during pregnancy can influence an individual deer’s size at birth, as well as its growth rate, ultimate adult size, reproductive success and survival. In fact, persistent detrimental maternal effects might reflect past, rather than current, environmental conditions. Unfortunately, the duration of maternal effects and specific traits affected in whitetails are not well understood.
From a practical standpoint, failure to account for long-lasting maternal effects can lead to improper interpretation of cause and effect relationships and result in faulty management decisions. For example, production of “big bucks with big antlers” via diet supplementation or habitat improvement might take much longer than expected.
In some cases, stunted young bucks don’t exhibit compensatory
