Order Artiodactyla in Maine
 (Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Chordata, Class Mammalia)

a project of
Maine Natural History Observatory
reproduced here with the permission of the Observatory

(updated 15 December 2024)



The page below is part of the Maine Biota Project of the Maine Natural History Observatory and is reproduced here with the permission of the Observatory.

You are invited to send to info@vfthomas.com additions/corrections to the list of mammals as well as information for the tabular key at the bottom of this page that will help distinguish one order from another. Also, information is needed for pages that are linked to below. This page will be updated as your input is received. When this page has been substantially expanded/improved, it will replace the current page now on the website of the Maine Natural History Observatory. Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.


Order Artiodactyla - even-toed ungulates
The tracks of moose and deer are unmistakable. The common ancestor of mammals had five toes on each foot. In the Cervidae, one of these five (toe #1, equivalent to our thumb) has been lost over time. Of the remaining four, toes 3 and 4 have each evolved into one of the two elongate parts of the hoof, and toes 2 and 5 are now the roundish dew claws behind 3 and 4, whose prints are visible in deep snow or mud. Although in a soft substrate, toes 3 and 4 splay apart, their front parts are still closer to each other than their rear parts are, and, thus, together they “point” in the direction of travel.

Maine is home to 2 species in 2 genera in 1 family (Cervidae).

If you are interested in learning about a particular species, click on the name of that species in the list below. Otherwise, to determine which genus that the animal you are trying to identify belongs to, refer to the tabular key immediately below the species list.

Family Cervidae
   Alces (1 species)
      Alces americanus - moose
   Odocoileus (1 species)
      Odocoileus virginianus - white-tailed deer




Family Cervidae ([common name])
[information to be added]

Key to Maine’s genera of Family Cervidae
front foot size
(L x W in inches)		 hind foot size
(L x W in inches)		 antler portions char. 4
Alces 43/8–7 x 33/4–6 41/8–61/2–31/2–45/8 beam, paddle, tines
Odocoileus 13/8–4 x 7/8–27/8 11/4–31/2 x 3/4–23/8 beam, tines

Alces (moose)
[information to be added]

Alces americanus (moose)
This moose was photographed in the back yard of a home in Bowdoin, Maine.
   
   (click on image to enlarge)


Odocoileus (deer)
[information to be added]

Odocoileus virginianus (white-tailed deer)
These two deer (below left) were feeding within easy sight of the access road to the Seawall picnic area in Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island. In fact, this picture was taken from a car on that road. White-tailed deer scat (below right) is distinctive, usually with a small depression in one end of each pellet.
      
   (click on an image to enlarge)

And this deer (below) was one of four seen near the base of a hill just north of the “Cadillac Mountain Entrance” (from Route 233) to the park loop road in Bar Harbor.
      
   (click on an image to enlarge)

This fawn was lying safely in tall grass in a cemetery in Bar Harbor.
   
   (click on image to enlarge)