The Tiburón Island mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus sheldoni'') or Sheldon's mule deer, is a

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

of the

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

(''Ococoileus hemionus'') that is

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

Tiburón Island Tiburón Island is the largest island in the Gulf of California and the largest island in Mexico, with an area of . It is uninhabited and it was made a nature reserve in 1963 by President Adolfo López Mateos. Etymology is Spanish language, Spa ...

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora (), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into Municipalities of Sonora, 72 ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Anatomy

The Tiburón Island mule deer differs from

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...

populations by its variation in color, size, and dental measurements. Other changes may or may not be evident on the subspecies.

Distribution and habitat

The Tiburón Island mule deer is native to Tiburón Island, Sonora, Mexico, where it lives in entirely

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

arid Aridity is the condition of geographical regions which make up approximately 43% of total global available land area, characterized by low annual precipitation, increased temperatures, and limited water availability.Perez-Aguilar, L. Y., Plata ...

zones. Its range is within the Islas del Golfo de California Biosphere Reserve, which covers over 200 islands off the coast of western Mexico.

Classification and conservation

The Tiburón Island mule deer is also called the "Tiburon Island mule deer" in most

English speaking countries The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...

, for the

acute accent The acute accent (), , is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin alphabet, Latin, Cyrillic script, Cyrillic, and Greek alphabet, Greek scripts. For the most commonly encountered uses of the accen ...

is not needed. It is still undecided if the Tiburón Island mule deer is a valid subspecies or not, for it may be a synonym of either the burro mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus eremicus''), or the peninsular mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus peninsulae''). The Tiburón Island mule deer is listed as " Vulnerable" by many sources, for its natural range is being threatened by

feral dogs A free-ranging dog is a dog that is not confined to a yard or house. Free-ranging dogs include street dogs, village dogs, stray dogs, feral dogs, etc., and may be owned or unowned. The global dog population is estimated to be 900 million, of whi ...

coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely relat ...

, and

poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the huntin ...

. The mule deer population on the island was at 869 in 1980, and 650 in 1993, showing its gradual decline over the years.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q20908256 Odocoileus