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"W” is for White-tailed deer

“W” is for White-tailed deer. State animal. State animal. Found throughout North America, the white-tailed deer was adopted as South Carolina’s state animal in 1972. The trade and export of deerskins was vital to the economy of colonial South Carolina, and the species remains one of the state’s most popular game animals. The underside of this deer’s body and tail are completely white, a color particularly noticeable as the animal “flags” its tail when alarmed. Adult females average between 100 and 110 pounds; adult males average 140 pounds. The deer have a reddish coat in the summer and a thicker, gray, or brown coat during the winter. The primary breeding season takes place between mid-October and mid-December. Elusive white-tails, which may run as fast as thirty miles per hour, inhabit every county in South Carolina.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.