Process Essay: How Deer Species Adapted To The Environment

You would think deer species are pretty spectacular from the way they have adapted to the environment. Have you noticed their hind legs? They’re built for running and jumping. It allows the deer to make sharp turns, speed up between 37-50 miles per hour and not to mention, jump over 12 feet! They camouflage to the environment from season to season by shedding their fur coat. Deer can sense a predator from a great distance with their prominent cup-like ears, and eyes that are located on the sides of their heads. Their eye structure allows them to view all-around, which is essential for grazing in the open field and keeping watch for danger. They adapted so well that they no longer have a natural predator. That’s quite amazing, don’t you think?
Unfortunately, deer species have one compromising flaw and that is the ridiculous antlers. Antlers are a …show more content…
Deer would have to eat enough nutrients to grow these true bone antlers that are composed of calcium and phosphorus. It is difficult to digest plants because they’re made up of cellulose. Not even humans are able to digest cellulose because we lack enzymes to break down beta acetal linkages. For the deer to digest cellulose, their digestive system is equipped with a four-chambered stomach. Deer are ruminants – that is, they quickly chew their food to store it in the stomach called “rumen”, regurgitate, and chew again their cud to enter a second stomach where digestion begins. It’s kind of disgusting to bring up swallowed food again but it’s the only method to break down their food. So you can see, the deer spend precious energy to get all the nutrients they need to grow their antlers. They spend most of their day browsing for crops or standing straight up on their hind legs to search for desirable plants. Antlers need a good source of diet to grow properly. Otherwise, they would be considered weak and