Male Sitka deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) in velvet browsing on the undergrowth, Burnaby Narrows, Haida Gwaii, BC

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A male Sitka deer (Odocoileus hemionus sitkensis) in velvet, stoops down to eat a tiny plant poking up from the mosses on the shoreline. Burnaby Narrows, Haida Gwaii, BC. The introduced deer have no natural predators on the islands and have destroyed much of the forest undergrowth leading to substantial drops in the other species that depend on the plants for food and shelter. The deer don't eat moss since it contains aromatic oils that they don't like.

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Size: 5000px × 3333px
Location: Burnaby Narrows, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve; Haida Gwaii, BC
Photo credit: © Terry Allen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No

Keywords: antlers, british, burnaby, charlotte, columbia, deer, forest, gwaii, haanas, haida, hemionus, island, islands, male, morseby, moss, narrows, national, north, odocoileus, park, queen, rain, reserve, sitka, sitkenis, temperate, velvet