Ask The Biologist

Gesundheit!

Gesundheit!

By Bob Humphrey

Yes, whitetails sneeze just like us, and often for the same reasons.

QUESTION: I have heard deer make many different sounds, but this fall I had a deer come by me and it kept making this sound like it was sneezing. What does this mean?

ANSWER: I could dazzle you with all kinds of possible explanations as to the deer’s exhalations, but what you heard most likely was just what you thought it was: a sneeze.

Just like us, deer breath in all kinds of foreign objects into their nostrils, from dust to grass seeds, any of which might cause them to try and expel it with a violent exhalation of air through the nose (a sneeze). Deer are also susceptible to nasal bots (fly larvae), which might prompt this behavior.

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