Editing Deer (section)

===Diet===

Deer are [[herbivore|browsers]], and feed primarily on foliage of [[Poaceae|grasses]], [[sedge]]s, [[forb]]s, [[shrub]]s and [[tree]]s, secondarily on [[lichen]]s in northern latitudes during winter.<ref>Uresk, Daniel W., and Donald R. Dietz. "Fecal vs. Rumen Contents to Determine White-tailed Deer Diets." Intermountain Journal of Sciences 24, no. 3-4 (2018): 118–122.</ref> They have small, unspecialized stomachs by [[ruminant]] standards, and high nutrition requirements. Rather than eating and digesting vast quantities of low-grade fibrous food as, for example, [[domestic sheep|sheep]] and [[cattle]] do, deer select easily digestible shoots, young leaves, fresh grasses, soft twigs, fruit, [[fungus|fungi]], and [[lichen]]s. The low-fibered food, after minimal fermentation and shredding, passes rapidly through the alimentary canal. The deer require a large amount of minerals such as [[calcium]] and phosphate in order to support antler growth, and this further necessitates a nutrient-rich diet. There are some reports of deer engaging in carnivorous activity, such as eating dead [[alewife (fish)|alewives]] along lakeshores<ref name=Case1987>{{cite journal |last1= Case |first1= D.J. |last2= McCullough |first2= D.R.  |date= February 1987 |title= White-tailed deer forage on alewives |journal= Journal of Mammalogy |volume= 68 |issue= 1 |pages= 195–198 |doi= 10.2307/1381075|jstor= 1381075 }}</ref> or depredating the nests of [[northern bobwhite]]s.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Ellis-Felege | first1 = S. N. | last2 = Burnam | first2 = J. S. | last3 = Palmer | first3 = W. E. | last4 = Sisson | first4 = D. C. | last5 = Wellendorf | first5 = S. D. | last6 = Thornton | first6 = R. P. | last7 = Stribling | first7 = H. L. | last8 = Carroll | first8 = J. P. | year = 2008 | title = Cameras identify White-tailed deer depredating Northern bobwhite nests| journal = Southeastern Naturalist | volume = 7 | issue = 3| pages = 562–564 | doi=10.1656/1528-7092-7.3.562| s2cid = 84790827 }}</ref>