Mule deer are the only local wildlife that stot.
Quadrupeds display a variety of gaits: they have various manners of moving, such as, walking, trotting, galloping. To this list of gaits, a handful of animals around the world add stotting (also called pronking). The only local one to do so is the mule deer.
The Kootenay Lake website offers other pictures of local mule deer, some of which show stotting.
When the deer stots it looks as though it is riding a pogo stick: all four legs come off the ground simultaneously, it bounces high, then all legs hit the ground simultaneously. It presents a really striking sight.
The first picture shows some mule deer I watched stotting yesterday. This is contrasted with the second picture where a mule deer employs a different gait—possibly it is trotting.
Two stotting mule deer; all legs move in the same way and the deer bounces.
A mule deer with a conventional gait (trotting?).
Alistair, thank you for this. I have noticed the gait but never thought to research it. I’m glad there are people in this world with your investigative inquisitiveness to educate the rest of us.
Lorna, I am delighted that you (and others) occasionally glean something from my postings. In the end I must confess, I am merely trying to discover these things for myself. However as I do it publicly, a few others seem to enjoy the results. You are apparently one of them; superb.
Did you make a field trip over to Arrow lake? Apparently the hills above Deer Park are (appropriately) full of mule deer just now.
Chuckle, no. I haven’t been closer to the Arrow Lakes than Highway 3 for months now, and I haven’t been near Deer Park since childhood.