Mammals of Mount Rainier National Park

by Merlin K. Potts; Russell K. Grater

Characteristic plants, found in the lower portions of this zone, include the Lyall’s lupine, Tolmie’s saxifrage, mountain buckwheat, and golden aster.

Only one mammal, the mountain goat, may be considered as characteristic of this zone.

THE MAMMALS

COLUMBIAN BLACK-TAILED DEER, BLACK-TAILED DEER
Odocoileus hemionus columbianus (Richardson)

The Columbian black-tailed deer is a typical member of the deer family, about the size of its eastern relative, the white-tailed deer. The antlers of the males are forked, rather than having the tines rise from a single main beam as do those of the white-tail. The upper surface of the tail is conspicuously dark brown or black over its entire length. The color of the pelage varies with the season, but is the same in both sexes. In summer the back and flanks are reddish to reddish yellow; in winter gray, intermixed with black, with a dark line along the back, black on the top of the head, and conspicuous white on the chin and upper throat. The underparts are sooty, with white on the inner sides of the legs. The young, at birth, are a dark, rich brown, profusely spotted with creamy yellow. The dark coloration very shortly fades to a lighter brown, or reddish, similar to the summer coat of the adult, and the spots disappear in the early fall when the change to winter pelage begins.

Specimens in park collection: RNP-14 and RNP-113; Longmire Museum, Park Headquarters.

The range of the Columbian black-tailed deer is the Pacific Northwest from northern California to British Columbia and from the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Coast.

The bleak and awe-inspiring grandeur of the Arctic-alpine life zone is the summer habitat of the mountain goat.

It is the most common large animal in the park, distributed in summer throughout the forested areas and occasionally wandering above tree line, the males generally ranging higher than the females and young, preferring the sub-alpine parks and meadows. Deer in general exhibit a preference for burned-over brush lands and other less densely forested areas.