I have been noticing the last three days three fawns without their mothers. Although I have seen female and male fawns (a deer up to one year of age) with the does long after the spots disappear, this is not stable. Apparently the young male fawns are more likely to leave the natal range before their sisters. It is not uncommon to see a herd of females together, usually consisting of a mother and generations of her offspring, but usually the Key Deer is more of a loner. The bucks tolerate each other and bed and eat together as seen at the HangOut but this ends as the velvet of their antlers peel off and rutting season begins in the autumn of September.
It is also a possibility that the fawns are alone because the mothers have been killed. Or perhaps they meet up again in the pine rocklands and mangroves of the inner island.
