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Twins popping up everywhere in the wild

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
While watching twin young ospreys standing on a nest exercising their wings as they are getting ready to leave the nest, I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. Shifting my gaze toward the movement, I found myself eye – to -eye with a very young White-tailed fawn; peering at me only six feet away.
I tried to lean back far enough so my 200 mm lens could focus on it, but it was still too close. Its twin helped me out by moving to its side just far enough for me to get several pictures. They slowly moved far enough away for me to capture their beautifully spotted coats as they nibbled on some grass.
“They are only about a week or ten days old and were born really late,” a farmer who came along, informed me. “I noticed a small doe hanging out around these bushes last week. Now that she has dropped these two, I will have to be really careful while cutting my hay to keep from hurting them.”

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
The fawns and the young ospreys are not the only twins ranging around the Market Lake Management Area as a cow moose has been showing off her two babies during the last month. The farmer told me that a young woman has told him that she had seen the moose twins being born while I have also had three men tell me that they also witnessed their births.

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
There are a host of other twins popping out all over the Upper Snake River Valley. Two bald eagle pairs that I keep track of each has raised twins as have another cow moose on Camas National Wildlife Refuge and two other White-tailed does also sporting twins there. It is common for birds to have multiples, but for deer and moose it is not that common to see.
White-tailed deer are interesting creatures in the world of big game animals. Many of the doe fawns mature quickly enough to produce fawns before they are a year old, meaning that they become part of the fall rutting scene before they are seven months old.

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
In a study done at Pennsylvania State University, they report, “White-tailed does have a two-horned uterus which allows the bearing of twins quite easily. Each embryo has a cushioned area to develop in.” They claim that the fawns have a 25 per cent chance of having different fathers, making them not twins but being half siblings. White-tails are sneaky fellows and, in the fall, when the dominant buck is chasing away a buck, another buck will sneak in to finish the breeding chores.
Moose are another can of worms. Twins are fairly rare but about every third breeding season, if the cow is healthy and have an abundance of high-quality food, it will have twins. Only the fattest of cows will have twins. The cows at the Market Lake WMA and Camas NWR both appear healthy but are required to produce a lot of milk to keep the calves healthy. About half of all moose calves die during their first year of life due to predation, disease or injury.
It may not matter to many how twins happen, but the joy and excitement of observing these two siblings play and enjoy each other – will bring a great deal of enjoyment to us. The best time to see these exciting animals is during the early morning or late evening when it is fairly comfortable for them.
Have a great time but practice safety as you are enjoying the great outdoors. Hopefully this heat will start to moderate.

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com

Bill Schiess, EastIdahoNews.com
The post Twins popping up everywhere in the wild appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com

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