I used to do a lot of bicycling in the forest preserves that surround Argonne National Laboratory and I was fortunate to see the dama dama deer on a number of occasions. Of course, few people believed me when I told them what I had seen. The story that I had heard - apparently not correct - was that they were originally from Tibet. Regardless, the sight of them provided me with a lot of pleasure.
Argonne's White Deer: Dwindling, But Not Departed41
The mystical white deer that roam Argonne National Laboratory fight for their survival—against themselves.
By Lauren Williamson
Darien Patch
Like magical beasts straight out of Narnia, the white deer roaming the grounds of Argonne National Laboratory have become the stuff of legend in communities that surround the wooded compound.
Through the years, conspiracy theorists have promulgated dozens of myths on the white deer's beginnings, the most famous being that radioactive materials Argonne released turned them white.
Rumors swirl, too, on the deer's plight, as the animals have become a less common sight on the winding roads that pass through Waterfall Glen, the forest preserve encircling Argonne.
The deer aren't atomic-age mutants. And Argonne didn't slaughter them in an attempt to control the herds.
But knowing deer's origin story is critical to understanding its struggle, said U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) spokesman Brian Quirke. (The DOE funds research at Argonne, though it contracts the University of Chicago to operate the labs.)
While the true story of how the white deer came to Argonne isn't quite so dramatic as a nuclear accident, it's still pretty fantastical.
Sausage king Gustav Freund, who invented skinless hot dogs, lived during the 1930s on an estate that is now part of Argonne, Quirke said.
Like an old-time Michael Jackson, Freund kept a menagerie of exotic animals that roamed free on his property, including peacocks, emus and the white deer, formally known as dama dama deer.
Dama dama, or fallow deer, are native to Europe and Asia, according to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Zoologists identify the deer not only by their white hide (they're not albinos—some dama dama populations are tawny or even black) but also their broad, elk-like antlers.
Here's where even official tellings of the story diverge. One version, on an Argonne fact sheet, says Freund got rid of the dama dama after they ravaged his fruit orchard.
Another account, from Quirke, says Argonne itself shipped the deer to zoos and animal parks after it bought the property from Freund during the 1940s.
But in both tales, the dama dama repopulated thanks to two crafty does that hid from the trappers.
One was pregnant with a male fawn.
From those three deer, the dama dama bred, reaching a maximum population of more than 100, Quirke said.
"The deer became a signature of Argonne," Quirke said.
During the past 10-15 years, both the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County and Argonne have conducted their own deer culling programs—the Forest Preserve in Waterfall Glen, which surrounds Argonne, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Argonne's grounds. Those deer cullings may have prompted the rumors that Argonne killed the white deer.
But both the Forest Preserve and Argonne said that no white deer were killed in the culling. The program aimed to kill whitetail deer—the traditional, tan-colored deer that flourish in northern Illinois.
"We had to get a permit from the Illinois Department of Agriculture," said Scott Meister, natural resources management coordinator for the Forest Preserve. "That permit was only for whitetail deer. They're a completely different species."
Yet the dama dama population is dwindling. Quirke said that the DOE isn't sure why. Though Argonne doesn't technically own the deer, he compares their presence to that of a stray cat you might find in your backyard: It's not yours, but you still care about it.
Researchers are trying to figure out what's diminishing the herd, which Quirke said is now below 20.
The prevailing theory involves the two does that repopulated the herd. All the dama dama born to the herd since are related to those two deer—and that's some major inbreeding.
"The healthiness of the whole herd is very problematic," Quirke said. "Any disease one is prone to, the whole herd is prone to."
And so a dama dama sighting, always a curiosity, has become an even rarer treat. Meister said he hasn't seen a single one during the eight years he's worked with the Forest Preserve.
Still, small in number as they are, the white deer persist. Someone tweeted a sighting Feb. 17. A Flickriver user posted a picture of five dama dama that he said he took Feb. 25. And someone uploaded a 25-second video of the deer to YouTube on June 12.
And if you're lucky, early in the morning mist, you might catch a glimpse of one yourself.
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