Headlights provided light before sunrise as I found this mother and her yearling. They were only momentarily apart yet still they smell each other and greet like long lost relatives.
I went searching for fawns and was surprised to see this yearling still nursing. Usually the fawns are weaned when or before their spots disappear at about 6 months old. This one looks closer to a year. As long as the mother is lactating she cannot get pregnant. This is the reason the bucks will chase the young deer away in order to reproduce again.
The headlights didn’t seem to bother her.
She looks pregnant.
The deer on the island are able to get fresh water from the mangrove leaves they eat, as the roots of the tree filter out the salt.
