The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World

In the fall of 2007, the oak trees in southern New Hampshire produced unusually tiny acorns, starving the local squirrels and deer. Worried about the deer around her farmhouse, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas began leaving food in small piles-and soon she had more than thirty deer coming to her fields. How did they know when to come, all together, and why did they sometimes cooperate, some-times compete"

Her naturalist's eye riveted, for the next twelve months Thomas observed a host of deer f…