Ask The Biologist

QUESTION: I have been reading “The Yearling” by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. The writer says several times that the pattern of a fawn’s spots is an indicator of a whitetail’s sex, spots being aligned for males and more random for females. Is that truth or myth? — Nicky

ANSWER: Like the book itself, the concept that you can tell the sex of a fawn by its spots is pure fiction. Without handling them, it is difficult to tell the sex of fawns, but it becomes easier as they get older. The top of a buck fawn’s head will appear slightly more flattened, while that of a doe appears more round. Of course, you need to have several deer present to recognize the difference. You also need to take into account variations in individual deer, which is why it’s not a very reliable indicator.

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