Effects of maternal and grandmaternal nutrition on deer mass and vulnerability to wolf predation

In a Minnesota ecosystem, mass of female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) fawns and adults, and survival of adult females in the face of wolf (Canis lupus) predation, were directly related to maternal nutrition during gestation. Mass of single male fawns produced by 2-year-old females, and survival of yearlings to 2 years of age were related directly to the nutrition of their grandmothers.