How I Learned About Rub-Urination

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"What's Up?"

In Sunset Memorial Park, Hoquiam, Wash.


I aspire to be a wildlife photographer. Turns out it's relatively easy when the 'wildlife' walks right up and says hello.

I was shooting in Hoquiam's hilltop graveyard yesterday afternoon, looking for some Halloween-themed pics for a full-length post (because what's more Halloween than a old tombstone in a gloomy Pacific Northwest graveyard), when I ran across this young doe and her friend.

They were munching on the two wreaths adorning the freshly dug grave that you can just make on on the left in this photo, and they didn't seem to mind me in the least. They wandered a bit as I crept within about fifty yards, but kept right on grazing, and this one finally walked right up to me.

They also felt so comfortable that they both squatted to pee only few yards from me. I've never seen deer do this before, so I immediately assumed, since it is the fall, that they were in heat. Five minutes of online research this evening tells me maybe, maybe not. Some of the articles I read claim that does squat to pee all year round. This article suggests they only do it when they are in heat, and explains why:

During the breeding season, deer will rub-urinate, a process during which a deer squats while urinating so that urine will run down the insides of the deer's legs. The deer then rubs its metatarsal glands together, rubbing the urine into the tuft of hair found at this location. Secretions from the metatarsal gland mix with the urine and bacteria to produce a strong smelling odor. Also in breeding season, does release hormones and pheromones that tell bucks the doe is in heat and able to breed.

In the photo above, you can see the metatarsal area, on the inside of the back leg near the crook (I learned that from the cited article too). It's darker than the rest of her leg, I think, because she peed on it moments before this photo!

Whatever works to get you laid, right?

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