A melanistic whitetail fawn. Excessive levels of the melanism pigment are very rarely observed in white-tailed deer: the genetic basis of this phenomenon is unknown. Photo by C. Graham; courtesy of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), also known as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia.