document_title: History of tablet computers

question_text: when did the first tablet computer come out

text: History of tablet computers

text: Early tablets[edit]

text: The tablet computer and the associated special operating software is an example of pen computing technology, and the development of tablets has deep historical roots. The first patent for a system that recognized handwritten characters by analyzing the handwriting motion was granted in 1914.[2] The first publicly demonstrated system using a tablet and handwriting text recognition instead of a keyboard for working with a modern digital computer dates to 1956.[3]

text: Fictional and prototype tablets[edit]

text: Tablet computers appeared in a number of works of science fiction in the second half of the 20th century, with the depiction of Arthur C. Clarke's NewsPad[5] appearing in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, the description of the Calculator Pad in the 1951 novel Foundation by Isaac Asimov, the Opton in the 1961 novel Return from the Stars, by Stanislaw Lem, and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in Douglas Adams 1978 comedy of the same name, all helping to promote and disseminate the concept to a wider audience.[6]

text: In 1968, Alan Kay envisioned a KiddiComp; while a PhD candidate[7][8] he developed and described the concept as a Dynabook in his 1972 proposal: A personal computer for children of all ages,[9] the paper outlines the requirements for a conceptual portable educational device that would offer functionality similar to that supplied via a laptop computer or (in some of its other incarnations) a tablet or slate computer with the exception of the requirement for any Dynabook device offering near eternal battery life. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the target audience was children.

text: Steve Jobs of Apple envisioned in a 1983 speech an "incredibly great computer in a book that you can carry around with you and learn how to use in 20 minutes".[10] In 1985, as the home-computer market significantly declined after several years of strong growth, Dan Bricklin said that a successful home computer needed to be the size of and as convenient to carry as a spiral notebook. He and others urged the industry to research the Dynabook concept.[11]

text: Star Trek: The Next Generation featured extensive use of tablet computers.[12]

text: Early devices[edit]

text: In addition to many academic and research systems, there were several companies with commercial products in the 1980s: Pencept, Communications Intelligence Corporation, and Linus were among the best known of a crowded field. Later, GO Corp. brought out the PenPoint OS operating system for tablet products such as the EO Personal Communicator: one of the patents from GO corporation was the subject of recent infringement lawsuit concerning the Tablet PC operating system.[4]

text: In 1986, Hindsight, a startup in Enfield CT, developed the Letterbug, an 8086-based tablet computer for the educational market. Prototypes were shown at trade shows in New England in 1987, but no production models ever came out.[13]

text: In 1987, Apple Computer started its tablet project, which considered release of devices of three sizes, with the one eventually released in 1993, Apple Newton, being the smallest (yet it was quite substantial device with 6 inch screen and 800 grams weight).[14] It utilised Apple's own new Newton OS, initially running on hardware manufactured by Motorola and incorporating an ARM CPU, that Apple had specifically co-developed with Acorn Computers. The operating system and platform design were later licensed to Sharp and Digital Ocean, who went on to manufacture their own variants.

text: In September 1987, Apple Computer sponsored a contest to design "the personal computer of the year 2000".[15] The winning entry was a prototype named TABLET from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. Stephen Wolfram, founder of Wolfram Research, was a member of the team.

text: In 1989, the GRIDPad tablet became available, based on an 8086 CPU. The founder of GRID, Jeff Hawkins, later went on to develop the Palmpilot.

text: The 1991, Atari ST-PAD Stylus was demonstrated but did not enter production.[16]

text: In 1991, AT&T released their first EO Personal Communicator, this was one of the first commercially available tablets and ran the GO Corporation's PenPoint OS on AT&T's own hardware, including their own AT&T Hobbit CPU.

text: The Compaq Concerto was released in 1993 with a Compaq-modified version of MS DOS 6.2 and Windows 3.1, a.k.a. Windows for PEN, with pen-entry and Wacom compatibility. Functionally the Concerto was a full featured laptop that could operate in pen-mode when the keyboard was removed.

text: In 1994 media company Knight Ridder made a concept video of a tablet device with a color display and a focus on media consumption.[17] The company didn't create it as a commercial product because of deficiencies of weight and energy consumption in display technology.

text: In 1994, the European Union initiated the 'OMI-NewsPAD' project (EP9252), requiring a consumer device be developed for the receipt and consumption of electronically delivered news / newspapers and associated multi-media.[18] The NewsPad name and project goals were borrowed from and inspired by Arthur C. Clarke's 1965 screen play and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film: 2001: A Space Odyssey.[19][20] Acorn Computers developed and delivered an ARM based touch screen tablet computer for this program, branded the NewsPad. The device was supplied for the duration of the Barcelona-based trial, which ended in 1997.[21][22]

text: In 1996, The Webbook Company announced the first Internet-based tablet, then referred to as a Web Surfboard, that would run Java and utilize a RISC processor.[23][24][25][26][27] However, it never went into production.[citation needed]

text: Also in 1996, Palm, Inc. released the first of the Palm OS based PalmPilot touch and stylus based PDA, the touch based devices initially incorporating a Motorola Dragonball (68000) CPU.

text: Again in 1996, Fujitsu released the Stylistic 1000 tablet format PC, running Microsoft Windows 95, on a 100 MHz AMD486 DX4 CPU, with 8 MB RAM offering stylus input, with the option of connecting a conventional Keyboard and mouse.

text: In 1999, Intel announced a StrongARM based touch screen tablet computer under the name WebPAD, the tablet was later re-branded as the "Intel Web Tablet".[28][29][30]

text: In April 2000, Microsoft launched the Pocket PC 2000, utilising their touch capable Windows CE 3.0 operating system. The devices were manufactured by several manufacturers, based on a mix of: x86, MIPS, ARM, and SuperH hardware.

text: Microsoft Tablet PC[edit]

text: In 1999, Microsoft attempted to re-institute the then decades old tablet concept by assigning two well-known experts in the field, from Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, to the project.[31]

text: In 2000, Microsoft coined the term "Microsoft Tablet PC" for tablet computers built to Microsoft's specification, and running a licensed specific tablet enhanced version of its Microsoft Windows OS, popularizing the term tablet PC for this class of devices.[32][33][34] Microsoft Tablet PCs were targeted to address business needs mainly as note-taking devices, and as rugged devices for field work.[35] In the health care sector, tablet computers were intended for data capture – such as registering feedback on the patient experience at the bedside as well and supporting data collection through digital survey instruments.[36]

text: In 2002, original equipment manufacturers released the first tablet PCs designed to the Microsoft Tablet PC specification. This generation of Microsoft Tablet PCs were designed to run Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, the Tablet PC version of Windows XP.[37] This version of Microsoft Windows superseded Microsoft's earlier pen computing operating environment, Windows for Pen Computing 2.0. After releasing Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Microsoft designed the successive desktop computer versions of Windows, Windows Vista and Windows 7, to support pen computing intrinsically.

text: Tablet PCs failed to gain popularity in the consumer space because of unresolved problems.[38] The existing devices were too heavy to be held with one hand for extended periods, the specific software features designed to support usage as a tablet (such as finger and virtual keyboard support) were not present in all contexts,[39][40] and there were not enough applications specific to the platform[41] – legacy applications created for desktop interfaces made them not well adapted to the slate format.

text: Linux[edit]

text: One early implementation of a Linux tablet was the ProGear by FrontPath. The ProGear used a Transmeta chip and a resistive digitizer. The ProGear initially came with a version of Slackware Linux, but could later be bought with Windows 98. Because these computers are general purpose IBM PC compatible machines, they can run many different operating systems. However, the device is no longer for sale and FrontPath has ceased operations. Many touch screen sub-notebook computers can run any of several Linux distributions with little customization.[citation needed]

text: X.org supports screen rotation and tablet input through Wacom drivers, and handwriting recognition software from both the Qt-based Qtopia and GTK+-based Internet Tablet OS provide promising free and open source systems for future development.

text: Open source note taking software in Linux includes applications such as Xournal (which supports PDF file annotation), Gournal (a Gnome-based note taking application), and the Java-based Jarnal (which supports handwriting recognition as a built-in function). Before the advent of the aforementioned software, many users had to rely on on-screen keyboards and alternative text input methods like Dasher. There is a stand-alone handwriting recognition program available, CellWriter, in which users must write letters separately in a grid.

text: A number of Linux-based OS projects are dedicated to tablet PCs. Since all these are open source, they are freely available and can be run or ported to devices that conform to the tablet PC design. In 2003, Hitachi introduced the VisionPlate rugged tablet[42] that was used as a point-of-sale device.[43] Maemo (rebranded MeeGo in 2010), a Debian GNU/Linux based graphical user environment, was developed for the Nokia Internet Tablet devices (770, N800, N810 & N900). The Ubuntu Netbook Remix edition, as well as the Intel sponsored Moblin project, both have touchscreen support integrated into their user interfaces. Canonical Ltd has started a program for better supporting tablets with the Unity UI for Ubuntu 10.10.[44]

text: TabletKiosk offered a hybrid digitizer / touch device running openSUSE.[45]

text: webOS[edit]

text: Initially developed by Palm, Inc. in January 2009, as the Palm OS, webOS was purchased by HP to be their proprietary operating system running on the Linux kernel. Versions 1.0 to 2.1 of webOS uses the patched Linux 2.6.24 kernel. HP has continued to develop the webOS platform for use in multiple products, including smartphones, tablet PCs, and printers. HP announced plans on March 2011, for a version of webOS by the end of 2011, to run within the Microsoft Windows operating system to be used in HP desktop and notebook computers in 2012.

text: HP TouchPad, the first addition to HP's tablet family, was shipped out with version 3.0.2.[46] Version 3.0.2 gives the tablet support for multitasking, applications, and HP Synergy. HP have also claimed in its webcatalog to support over 200 apps with its release.[47]

text: On 18 August 2011, HP announced that it would discontinue production of all webOS devices.[48][49]

text: MeeGo[edit]

text: Nokia entered the tablet space with the Nokia 770 running Maemo, a Debian-based Linux distribution custom-made for their Nokia Internet Tablet line. The product line continued with the N900 which is the first to add phone capabilities. Intel, following the launch of the UMPC, started the Mobile Internet Device initiative, which took the same hardware and combined it with a Linux operating system custom-built for portable tablets. Intel co-developed the lightweight Moblin operating system following the successful launch of the Atom CPU series on netbooks.

text: MeeGo is an operating system developed by Intel and Nokia to support Netbooks, Smartphones and tablet PCs. In 2010, Nokia and Intel combined the Maemo and Moblin projects to form MeeGo. The first[clarification needed] MeeGo powered tablet PC is the Neofonie WeTab. The WeTab uses an extended version of the MeeGo operating system called WeTab OS. WeTab OS adds runtimes for Android and Adobe AIR and provides a proprietary user interface optimized for the WeTab device.[citation needed]

text: Mac OS X Modbook[edit]

text: Apple has never sold a tablet PC computer running Mac OS X, although OS X does have support for handwriting recognition via Inkwell. However, Apple sells the iOS-based iPad Tablet computer, introduced in 2010.

text: Before the introduction of the iPad, Axiotron introduced the Modbook, a heavily modified Apple MacBook, Mac OS X-based tablet computer at Macworld in 2007.[50] The Modbook used Apple's Inkwell handwriting and gesture recognition, and used digitization hardware from Wacom. To support the digitizer on the integrated tablet, the Modbook was supplied with a third-party driver called TabletMagic. Wacom does not provide drivers for this device.

text: Apple's iPad[edit]

text: The tablet computer market was reinvigorated by Apple through the introduction of the iPad device in 2010.[51] While the iPad places restrictions on the owner to install software[52][53][54] thus deviating it from the PC tradition, its attention to detail for the touch interface[55] is considered a milestone in the history of the development of the tablet computer[38] that defined the tablet computer as a new class of portable device, different from a laptop PC or netbook.[56] A WiFi-only model of the tablet was released in April 2010, and a WiFi+3G model was introduced about a month later, using a no-contract data plan from AT&T. Since then, the iPad 2 has launched, bringing 3G support from both AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The iPad has been characterized by some as a tablet computer that mainly focuses on media consumption such as web browsing, email, photos, videos, and e-reading, even though full-featured, Microsoft Office-compatible software for word processing (Pages), spreadsheets (Numbers), and presentations (Keynote) were released alongside the initial model. One month after the iPad's release Apple subsidiary FileMaker Inc. released a version of the Bento database software for it.[57] With the introduction of the iPad 2 Apple also released full-featured first party software for multi-track music composition (GarageBand) and video editing (iMovie). As of the release of iOS 5 in October 2011, iPads no longer require being plugged into a separate personal computer for initial activation and backups, eliminating one of the drawbacks of using a non-PC architecture-based tablet computer.

text: On 20 May 2010, IDC published a press release defining the term media tablet as personal devices with screens from 7 to 12 inches, lightweight operating systems "currently based on ARM processors" which "provide a broad range of applications and connectivity, differentiating them from primarily single-function devices such as ereaders".[58] IDC also predicted a market growth for tablets from 7.6 million units in 2010, to more than 46 million units in 2014. More recent reports show predictions from various analysts in the range from 26 to 64 million units in 2013.[59] On 2 March 2011, Apple announced that 15 million iPads had been sold in three fiscal quarters of 2010,[60] double the number that IDC then predicted.

text: Other post-PC tablet computers[edit]

text: Early competitors to Apple's iPad in the market for tablet computers not based on the traditional PC architecture were the 5 inch Dell Streak, released in June 2010, and the original 7 inch Samsung Galaxy Tab, released in September 2010 (requires reference).

text: At the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2011, over 80 new tablets were announced to compete with the iPad. Companies who announced tablets included: Dell with the Streak Tablet, Acer with the new Acer Tab, Motorola with its Xoom tablet (Android 3.0), Samsung with a new Samsung Galaxy Tab (Android 2.2), Research in Motion demonstrating their BlackBerry Playbook, Vizio with the Via Tablet, Toshiba with the Android 3.0 – run Toshiba Thrive, and others including Asus, and the startup company Notion Ink. Many of these tablets were designed to run Android 3.0 Honeycomb, Google's mobile operating system for tablets, while others run older versions of Android like 2.3, or a completely different OS such as the BlackBerry Playbook's QNX.[61] Other than the Motorola Xoom, by the time most competitors released devices of comparable size and price to the original iPad, Apple in March 2011, had already released their second generation iPad 2.

text: Hewlett-Packard announced its TouchPad based on the WebOS system in June 2011. HP released it a month later in July, only to discontinue it after less than 49 days of sales, becoming the first casualty in the post-PC tablet computer market.[62][63] The fire sale on TouchPad tablets when its price was dropped from US$499 to as low as $99 after it was discontinued resulted in a surge of interest.[64] This dramatic increase in its popularity[65] potentially raised its market share above all other non-Apple tablets, at least temporarily.

text: In September 2011, Amazon.com announced the Kindle Fire, a 7-inch tablet deeply tied into their Kindle ebook service, Amazon Appstore, and other Amazon services for digital music, video, and other content. The Kindle Fire runs on Amazon's custom fork of v2.3 of the Android operating system.[66] Using Amazon's cloud services for accelerated web browsing and remote storage, Amazon has set it up to have very little other connection back to Google, aside from supporting Gmail as one of the several webmail services it can access.[66] At a cost of only US$199 for the Kindle Fire it has been suggested that Amazon's business strategy is to make their money on selling content through it, as well as the device acting as a storefront for physical goods sold through Amazon.[67][68] Besides the Kindle Fire's low price, reviewers have also noted that it is polished on its initial release, in comparison to other tablets that often needed software updates.[69]

text: Despite the large number of competing tablets released in 2011, so far none of them have managed to gain considerable traction as the market continued to be dominated by the iPad and iPad 2. Several manufacturers had to resort to deep discounts to move excess inventory, as what happened with the HP TouchPad (after its announced discontinuation) and the BlackBerry Playbook. It has been suggested that many companies, in their rush to jump on the "tablet bandwagon", had released products that might have had decent hardware but lacked refinement and came with software bugs that needed updates.[69][70]

text: Post-PC tablet market share[edit]

text: According to IDC, Android have 63% of all "media tablet" sales in 2013 and rising and Windows is also rising in market share. Apple's iPad had 83% of all "media tablet" sales in 2010 and 28% of market share in 2013.[71] At the unveiling of the iPad 2 in March 2011, Steve Jobs claimed that the iPad held more than 90% market share, but the difference between the figures could be explained by the difference between the amount of hardware shipped into the channel versus the number that have been actually sold.[72]

text:
Quarterly Market Shares by IDC[73]

Tablet OS

Percent

Apple iOS Q1 2011

65.7%

Apple iOS Q2 2011

68.3%

Google Android Q1 2011

34.0%

Google Android Q2 2011

26.8%

RIM QNX Q1 2011

N/A

RIM QNX Q2 2011

4.9%

text: In August 2011, the iPad and iPad 2 dominated sales, outselling Android and other rival OS tablets by a ratio of eight to one.[74][75] Apple's iPad held 66 percent of the global tablet market in Q1 of 2011,[citation needed] but the share is predicted to drop to 58 percent by the end of the year[citation needed] due to the influx of new products, mostly Android tablets. Technology experts[who?] suggest that Apple is getting court injunctions to stop the slide, although these injunctions are only preliminary measures as Apple has to provide more substantial evidence in subsequent court proceedings that the design of competing products infringed its patents or copied their designs in order to make any bans permanent. These cases take months or even years to come to court, unless there is no settlement, and if Apple loses it will be liable for the business lost by a competitor due to the injunction. Although risky, experts[who?] say that this kind of strategy gives time for Apple to hold off rivals and grab even greater market share with their iPad, since it is a market that is developing fast where Apple leads, regardless of the damages that they have to pay if they lose the case. Google's David Drummond complained "They (Apple) want to make it harder for manufacturers to sell Android devices. Instead of competing by building new features or devices, they are fighting through litigation."[76]

text: On 14 September 2011, IDC announced that in the second calendar quarter of 2011, the market share of the iPad increased to 68.3% from 65.7% in the previous quarter, while market share for Android-based tablets decreased from 34.0% the previous quarter down to 26.8% in the second quarter. Besides being affected by the introduction of the iPad 2 in March 2011, this can also be partially attributed to the introduction of RIM's PlayBook tablet, which took 4.9% share of the market in the quarter.[73]

text: On 22 September 2011, Gartner lowered their forecast for sales of tablet computers based on the Android OS by 28 percent from the previous quarter’s projection,[77] explaining that "Android’s appeal in the tablet market has been constrained by high prices, weak user interface and limited tablet applications." Further, they state that they expect the iPad to have a "free run" through the 2011 holiday season and that Apple will "maintain a market share lead throughout our forecast period by commanding more than 50 percent of the market until 2014."[78] Gartner revised their projection of Apple's worldwide tablet market share at the end of 2011, up to 73.4% after their previous projection of 68.7% for the year.

text: In October 2011, at the Launch Pad conference Ryan Block from gadget site gdgt showed slides identifying the makeup of the site's users who bought tablets in 2011 consisting of 76% iPad (39% iPad 2, 37% original iPad), 6% HP TouchPad, and no other tablet at over 4%. He noted that the numbers did not include previous purchases of the iPad or other tablets in 2010. In a breakdown by platform he showed a chart indicating Apple's iOS at 76%, Google's Android at 17%, HP's webOS at 6%, and RIM's PlayBook OS at 2%.[79]

text: A report by Strategy Analytic showed that the share of Android tablet computers had risen sharply at the expense of Apple's iOS in the fourth quarter of 2011. According to Strategy Analytic, Android accounted for 39% of the global tablet market in the final three months of 2011, up from 29% a year earlier. Apple's share fell to 58% from 68%. A total of 26.8 million tablet computers were sold in the quarter, up from 10.7 million a year ago, the report said.[80]

text: In China, according to an AlphaWise survey of 1,553 Chinese consumers across 16 cities over the summer of 2011, Apple's iPad currently holds a 65% share of that nation's tablet market. When asked about future purchases, 68% of those surveyed indicated an intent to buy an iPad, versus other brands' shares of 10% for Asus, 8% for Lenovo, 6% for Samsung, and 3% or less for any other brand.[81]

text: According to eMarketer & Forbes, advertisers will spend nearly $1.23 billion on mobile advertising in 2011 in the US, up from $743 million last year. By 2015, the US mobile advertising market is set to reach almost $4.4 billion. This includes spending on display ads (such as banners, rich media and video), search and messaging-based advertising, and covers ads viewed on both mobile phones and tablets.[82]

text: Timeline[edit]

text: Before 1950[edit]

text:
1888: U.S. Patent granted to Elisha Gray on electrical stylus device for capturing handwriting.[1][83]
1914: U.S. Patent on handwriting recognition user interface with a stylus.[2][84]
1942: U.S. Patent on touchscreen for handwriting input.[85][86]
1945: Vannevar Bush proposes the Memex, a data archiving device including handwriting input, in an essay As We May Think.[87]

text: Tom Dimond demonstrates the Stylator electronic tablet with pen for computer input and software for recognition of handwritten text in real-time.[3]

text:
Early 1960s

RAND Tablet invented.[88][89] The RAND Tablet is better known than the Styalator, but was invented later.

1961

Stanislaw Lem describes an Opton, a portable device with a screen "linked directly, through electronic catalogs, to templates of every book on earth" in the 1961 novel "Return from the Stars".

1966

In the science fiction television series Star Trek, crew members carry large, wedge-shaped electronic clipboards, operated through the use of a stylus.

1968

Filmmaker Stanley Kubrick imagines a flatscreen tablet device wirelessly playing a video broadcast in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

text:
1972

Alan Kay of Xerox PARC publishes: "A personal computer for children of all ages" describing and detailing possible uses for his Dynabook concept.[9]

1978

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is broadcast as a radio comedy on BBC Radio 4. The series was named after a fictional touch screen electronic tablet used in the play.[90]

text:
1982

Pencept of Waltham, Massachusetts markets a general-purpose computer terminal using a tablet and handwriting recognition instead of a keyboard and mouse.[91]
Cadre System markets the Inforite point-of-sale terminal using handwriting recognition and a small electronic tablet and pen.[92]

1985

Pencept[93] and CIC[94] both offer PC computers for the consumer market using a tablet with handwriting recognition instead of a keyboard and mouse. Operating system is MS-DOS.

1986

Hindsight develops and tests the Letterbug, an educational tablet computer before making the trade show tour in 1987.[95]

1987

The Knowledge Navigator concept piece by Apple Computer.

1989

The first commercially available tablet-type portable MS-DOS computer was the GRiDPad from GRiD Systems.[96]
Wang Laboratories introduces Freestyle, an application that captured a screen from a MS-DOS application, and let users add voice and handwriting annotations. It was a sophisticated predecessor to later note-taking applications for systems like tablet computers.[97]

text:
1991

The Momenta Pentop was released.[98]
GO Corporation announced a dedicated operating system, called PenPoint OS, with control of the operating system desktop via handwritten gesture shapes.[99][100]
NCR released model 3125 pen computer running MS-DOS, Penpoint OS or Pen Windows.[101]
The Apple Newton entered development; although it ultimately became a PDA, its original concept (which called for a larger screen and greater sketching abilities) resembled the hardware of a tablet computer.

1992

GO Corporation shipped the PenPoint OS for general availability and IBM announced IBM 2125 pen computer (the first IBM model named "ThinkPad") in April.[102]
Microsoft releases Windows for Pen Computing as a response to the PenPoint OS by GO Corporation.

1993

Apple Computer announces the Newton PDA, also known as the Apple MessagePad, which includes handwriting recognition with a stylus.
IBM releases the ThinkPad, IBM's first commercialized portable tablet computer product available to the consumer market, as the IBM ThinkPad 750P and 360P.[103]
BellSouth released the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, an analog cellphone using a touchscreen and display. It did not include handwriting recognition, but did permit users to write messages and send them as faxes on the analog cellphone network, and included PDA and email features.
AT&T introduced the EO Personal Communicator combining PenPoint with wireless communications.

1994

Knight Ridder concept video of a tablet device with focus on media consumption.[17]
Sony introduces Magic Link PDA based on Magic Cap operating system.

1995

Hewlett Packard releases the MS-DOS and PEN/GEOS based OmniGo 100 and OmniGo 120 handheld organizers with flip-around clamshell display with pen support and Graffiti handwriting recognition.

1996

The Digital Equipment Corporation releases the DEC Lectrice.
Acorn Computers supply ARM-based touch screen tablets for the NewsPad pilot in Barcelona, Spain.

1997

The first Palm Pilot introduced.

1998

Cyrix-NatSemi announce and demonstrate the WebPad touch screen tablet computer at COMDEX.[104][105]

1999

The "QBE" pen computer created by Aqcess Technologies wins COMDEX Best of Show.[106]
Intel announces a StrongARM-based, wireless touch screen tablet computer called the WebPad, the device was later renamed the "Intel Web Tablet".

text:
2000

PaceBlade develops the first device that meets the Microsoft's Tablet PC standard[107] and received the "Best Hardware" award at VAR Vision 2000.
The "QBE Vivo" pen computer created by Aqcess Technologies ties for COMDEX Best of Show.

2001

Bill Gates of Microsoft demonstrates the first public prototype of a Tablet PC (defined by Microsoft as a pen-enabled computer conforming to hardware specifications devised by Microsoft and running a licensed copy of the "Windows XP Tablet PC Edition" operating system)[37] at COMDEX.

2002

Microsoft releases the Microsoft Tablet PC, designed and built by HP.
Motion Computing releases their 1st slate Tablet PC the M1200.

2003

PaceBlade receives the "Innovation des Jahres 2002/2003" award for the PaceBook Tablet PC from PC Professional Magazine at the CeBIT.
Fingerworks[108] develops the touch technology and touch gestures later used in the Apple iPhone.
Motion Computing releases their 2nd slate Tablet PC the M1300.

2005

Nokia launches the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.
Motion Computing releases the LE1600 and paperback sized LS800 Tablet PC.

2006

Windows Vista released for general availability. Vista included the functionality of the special Tablet PC edition of Windows XP.
On Disney Channel Original Movie, Read It and Weep, Jamie uses a Tablet PC for her journal.
MTVs "Pimp My Ride" features multiple Motion Computing tablets PCs in customized automobiles

2007

Axiotron introduces Modbook, the first (and only) tablet computer based on Mac hardware and Mac OS X at Macworld.[109]
Archos launches Archos 605 WiFi, a PMP with WiFi. Virtually a tablet PC.
Apple launches iPod touch, an MP3 player with WiFi. It took Apple two years to turn this concept into a tablet PC.

2008

In April 2008, as part of a larger federal court case, the gesture features of the Windows/Tablet PC operating system and hardware were found to infringe on a patent by GO Corp. concerning user interfaces for pen computer operating systems.[4] Microsoft's acquisition of the technology is the subject of a separate lawsuit.[110][111]
HP releases the second multi-touch capable tablet: the HP TouchSmart tx2 series.[112]

2009

Asus announces a tablet netbook, the Eee PC T91 and T91MT, the latter with a multi-touch screen.
Always Innovating announced a new tablet netbook with an ARM CPU.
Motion Computing launched the J3400.

text:
2010

Apple Inc. unveils the iPad, running Apple iOS in March.
Fusion Garage releases the JooJoo, running Linux.
Samsung unveils the Galaxy Tab, running Google Android.
Neofonie releases the WeTab, a MeeGo-based slate tablet PC, featuring an 11.6 inch multi-touch screen at 1366×768 pixels resolution.[113][114][115]
Dixons Retail unveils the Advent Vega, a 10-inch tablet PC running Android 2.2, having a micro SD card slot, a USB port and a 16h battery life for audio playback and 6.5h for 1080p video.[116]
HP releases the Slate 500, running a full-version of Windows 7.

2011

Motorola releases Xoom a 10-inch tablet running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).
BlackBerry releases BlackBerry Playbook running BlackBerry Tablet OS, based on QNX Neutrino.
Dell showcases the Streak 7 tablet at CES 2011 in January.
ZTE announces the ZTE V11 and the Z-pad that both run Android 3.0.[117]
Apple released the iPad 2.
Toshiba announces the Toshiba Tablet, a 10-inch tablet powered by a Tegra 2 process and Android 3.0 (Honeycomb)[118]
HP releases the HP TouchPad with webOS & withdraws it in August 2011 (a month later).
Amazon announced an Android-based tablet, the Kindle Fire, in September.
Barnes & Noble introduces Nook Tablet in November.

2012

Apple releases the iPad 3, and then later in the year iPad 4 and the iPad Mini.
Google unveiled the Nexus 7, a 7-inch tablet developed with Asus and the Nexus 10, a 10-inch tablet developed with Samsung.
Samsung releases Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, with stylus apps, running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with 1.4 GHz quad-core CPU.[119]
Microsoft releases Microsoft Surface RT with an ARM microprocessor and kickstand.

2013

Sony releases the Sony Xperia Tablet Z as well as having Ingress Protection Ratings of IP55 and IP57, making it dust-resistant, water-jet resistant, and waterproof.[120]
Apple releases the iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2 in November (first 64-bit tablets with iPhone 5S smartphone being the first 64-bit mobile device the month before)
Microsoft releases the Surface 2 with an ARM microprocessor and two step Kickstand. Alongside the Surface Pro 2 was released with an Intel core I5 processor.

2014

Samsung releases a 2014 version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Microsoft releases the Surface Pro 3
Nvidia releases the Shield Tablet, an Android tablet focused on gaming
Google releases the Nexus 9 (first 64-bit Android tablet[121])
Apple releases the iPad Air 2.
HP ships first 64-bit Windows 8.1 tablets with Intel Atom[122]

2015

Android and Windows tablets (and smartphones) are up to 4 GB RAM, using 64-bit processors.[123]
Microsoft released fourth generation of the Surface Pro, the Surface Pro 4[124] and 2-in-1 convertible tablet that could be folded like a laptop called the Surface Book,[125] both came with the sixth generation Skylake Intel processors.
Apple released the iPad Pro, being one of the largest tablet devices ever made. It features a 12.9-inch display. It also released accessories at the same time such as its first tablet point device, the Apple Pencil.

2016

Apple released the iPad Pro in a 9.7-inch display that had a 256 GB option, the largest amount of storage available on a consumer tablet.[126]

2017

Apple released the iPad, its lowest cost 9.7-inch tablet. One reviewer said the tablet is "perfect for first-time tablet buyers".[127]


document_title: Tovar (surname)

question_text: where does the last name tobar come from

root

text: Tovar (surname)

text: Tovar, usually preceded by the particle de (meaning from), is a surname that was adopted in the Middle-Ages by a Castilian noble house of Visigothic ancestry that received the lordship of the village of Tovar from Fernando III. It has since spread to several Spanish and a few Portuguese branches.

tag: p

text: The Tovar surname in the Americas appears mainly as a toponymic derived from the many settlements of this name founded there by the Spanish, and therefore does not share the same genealogical origin.

text: People[edit]

text:
Alonso Miguel de Tovar, a Spanish baroque painter
César Tovar, a Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
Fernando Sánchez de Tovar, a medieval Spanish nobleman and admiral
Francisco de Paula Vieira da Silva de Tovar, 1st Viscount of Molelos, a Portuguese nobleman and general
Gregorio López de Tovar, a Spanish nobleman and scholar of the Renaissance
Jorge Tovar, a Mexican sculptor
José de Guevara y Tovar, Spanish viceroy of Navarre
Gustavo Tovar Arroyo, a Venezuelan poet
Juan Sancho de Tovar, 1st Marquis of Berlanga
Juan de Tovar y Toledo, a Spanish nobleman and military of the Reconquista
Luis Felipe Tovar, a Mexican actor
Lupita Tovar, Mexican-American actress
Manuel Felipe Tovar, President of Venezuela from 1859–1861
Martín Tovar Ponte, a Venezuelan politician
Martín Tovar y Tovar, a Venezuelan painter
Rigo Tovar, a Mexican singer
Vicente López Tovar, a Republican soldier in the Spanish Civil War
Sancho de Tovar, a Castillian-born, Portuguese navigator and explorer
Sancho de Tovar e Silva, grandson of the former, a Portuguese nobleman and military

tag: ul


document_title: Carnoustie Golf Links

question_text: when was the open championship last played at carnoustie

text: Carnoustie Golf Links

text: History[edit]

text: Golf is recorded as having been played at Carnoustie in the early 16th century. In 1890, the 14th Earl of Dalhousie, who owned the land, sold the links to the local authority. It had no funds to acquire the property, and public fundraising was undertaken and donated to the council. The original course was of ten holes, crossing and recrossing the Barry Burn; it was designed by Allan Robertson, assisted by Old Tom Morris, and opened in 1842.[1] The opening of the coastal railway from Dundee to Arbroath in 1838 brought an influx of golfers from as far afield as Edinburgh, anxious to tackle the ancient links. This led to a complete restructuring of the course, extended in 1867 by Old Tom Morris to the 18 holes which had meanwhile become standardized. Young Tom Morris won a major open event there that same year. Two additional courses have since been added: the Burnside Course and the shorter though equally testing Buddon Links.

text: Carnoustie first played host to The Open Championship in 1931, after modifications to the course by James Braid in 1926. The winner then was Tommy Armour, from Edinburgh.

text: Later Open winners at Carnoustie include Henry Cotton of England in 1937, Ben Hogan of the USA in 1953, Gary Player of South Africa in 1968, Tom Watson of the USA in 1975, Paul Lawrie of Scotland in 1999, Pádraig Harrington of Ireland in 2007 and Francesco Molinari of Italy in 2018. The 1975, 1999 and 2007 editions were all won in playoffs.

text: The Championship course was modified significantly (but kept its routing used since 1926) prior to the 1999 Open, with all bunkers being rebuilt, many bunkers both added and eliminated, many green complexes expanded and enhanced, and several new tees being built. A large hotel was also built behind the 18th green of the Championship course.[2]

text: The Amateur Championship was first hosted by Carnoustie in 1947; the winner was Willie Turnesa. The world's oldest amateur event has returned three times since: 1966 (won by Bobby Cole), 1971 (won by Steve Melnyk), and 1992 (won by Stephen Dundas).

text: The British Ladies Amateur was first hosted by Carnoustie in 1973, and also in 2012.

text: The Senior Open Championship was held at Carnoustie for the first time in 2010, with Germany's Bernhard Langer winning. The Women's British Open was held here for the first time in 2011; the winner was Yani Tseng.

text: Carnoustie is one of the three courses hosting the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, an autumn event on the European Tour; the others are the Old Course at St Andrews and Kingsbarns.

text: The Golf Channel's reality series The Big Break, in which aspiring golfers compete for exemptions on professional tours and other prizes, filmed its fourth season at Carnoustie in 2005. As that year also saw the Ryder Cup at The K Club in Ireland, that year's show was based around a US vs Europe theme, with the two teams competing for European Tour exemptions.

text: In North America, the course is nicknamed "Car-nasty," due to its famous difficulty, especially under adverse weather conditions. Carnoustie is considered by many to be the most difficult course in the Open rota, and one of the toughest courses in the world.[citation needed]

text: The term Carnoustie effect dates from the 1999 Open, when the world's best players, many of whom were reared on manicured and relatively windless courses, were frustrated by the unexpected difficulties of the Carnoustie links, which was compounded by the weather. One much-fancied young favourite, a 19-year-old Sergio García of Spain, went straight from the course to his mother's arms crying after shooting 89 and 83 in the first two rounds.[3] The Carnoustie effect is defined as "that degree of mental and psychic shock experienced on collision with reality by those whose expectations are founded on false assumptions." This being a psychological term, it can of course apply to disillusionment in any area of activity, not just in golf.

text: The 1999 Open Championship is best remembered for the collapse of French golfer Jean van de Velde, who needed only a double-bogey six on the 72nd hole to win the Open—and proceeded to score a triple-bogey seven, tying Paul Lawrie and 1997 champion Justin Leonard at 290 (+6). Lawrie won the four-hole aggregate playoff and the championship.

text: The Open Championship was once again contested at Carnoustie in July 2007. The eight-year absence was far shorter than the lengthy 24 years it took to return to Carnoustie, between 1975 and 1999. Harrington triumphed over García in a four-hole playoff. The 18th hole once again proved itself among the most dramatic and exciting in championship golf. Harrington had a one-shot lead over García as he approached the final hole in the fourth round, but proceeded to put not one but two shots into the Barry Burn, on his way to a double-bogey 6. García, playing in the final pairing of the day, reached the 18th with a one-shot lead over Harrington, but bogeyed the hole after missing a putt from just under ten feet away, setting up the playoff. In the four-hole playoff, which ended on the 18th, Harrington took no chances with a two-shot lead on the 18th; his bogey was enough to defeat García by one shot.

text: The Open Championship returned to Carnoustie in 2018.[4]

text: On 17 January 2014, it was announced that Carnoustie Golf Links – which operates the six publicly owned courses, including the Championship Course – had appointed its first-ever female chairman, Pat Sawers.[5]

text: The Open Championship[edit]

text: This is a list of The Open Championship champions at Carnoustie Golf Links:

text:
Year
Winner
Score
Winner'sshare (£)

R1
R2
R3
R4
Total

1931
 Tommy Armour
73
75
77
71
296 (+8)
100

1937
 Henry Cotton 2nd
74
72
73
71
290 (+6)
100

1953
 Ben Hogan
73
71
70
68
282 (−6)
500

1968
 Gary Player 2nd
74
71
71
73
289 (+1)
3,000

1975
 Tom Watson 1st
71
67
69
72
279 (−9) PO
7,500

1999
 Paul Lawrie
73
74
76
67
290 (+6) PO
350,000

2007
 Pádraig Harrington 1st
69
73
68
67
277 (−7) PO
750,000

2018
 Francesco Molinari
70
72
65
69
276 (−8)
1,625,387

tag: table

text: Note: For multiple winners of The Open Championship, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.

text: The Women's British Open[edit]

text: Winner of the Women's British Open at Carnoustie Golf Links.

text:
Year
Winner
Score

R1
R2
R3
R4
Total

2011
 Yani Tseng 2nd
71
66
66
69
272 (−16)

text: The Senior British Open[edit]

text: Winner of The Senior Open Championship at Carnoustie Golf Links.

text:
Year
Winner
Score

R1
R2
R3
R4
Total

2010
 Bernhard Langer
67
71
69
72
279 (−5)

2016
 Paul Broadhurst
75
66
68
68
277 (−11)

text: Course[edit]

text: Carnoustie Golf Links - Championship Course2007 Open Championship

text:
Hole
Name
Yards
Par

Hole
Name
Yards
Par

1
Cup
406
4

10
South America
466
4

2
Gulley
463
4
11
John Philp
383
4

3
Jockie's Burn
358
4
12
Southward Ho
499
4

4
Hillocks
412
4
13
Whins
176
3

5
Brae
415
4
14
Spectacles
514
5

6
Hogan's Alley
578
5
15
Lucky Slap
472
4

7
Plantation
410
4
16
Barry Burn
248
3

8
Short
183
3
17
Island
461
4

9
Railway
478
4
18
Home
499
4

Out
3,703
36
In
3,718
35

Total
7,421
71

text: Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):[6]

text:
1999: 7,361 yards (6,731 m), par 71
1975: 7,065 yards (6,460 m), par 72
1968: 7,252 yards (6,631 m), par 72
1953: 6,701 yards (6,127 m), par 72

text: The 12th hole was played as a par-5 through 1975.

text: Length of the course for Women's British Open

text: 2011: 6,490 yards (5,934 m), par 72

text: Length of the course for Senior Open Championship

text:
2016: 7,345 yards (6,716 m), par 72
2010: 7,197 yards (6,581 m), par 71

text: Course record[edit]

text:
Player
Country
Score
Tournament
Date

Tommy Fleetwood
 England
63 (−9)
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
6 Oct 2017

text: Scorecard[edit]

text:
Hole
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6
 7
 8
 9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Par
4
4
4
4
4
5
4
3
4
4
4
5
3
5
4
3
4
4

 Fleetwood
E
−1
−1
−2
−2
−3
−3
−3
−3
−3
−4
−5
−6
−7
−8
−8
−8
−9

text: Birdie

text: The course was par 72 at 7,394 yards (6,761 m), with the 12th hole as a par 5 at 504 yards (461 m).


document_title: White-tailed deer

question_text: where do white tailed deer get their water

text: White-tailed deer

text: Taxonomy[edit]

text: Some taxonomists have attempted to separate white-tailed deer into a host of subspecies, based largely in morphological differences. Genetic studies,[clarification needed] however, suggest fewer subspecies within the animal's range, as compared to the 30 to 40 subspecies that some scientists described in the last century. The Florida Key deer, O. virginianus clavium, and the Columbian white-tailed deer, O. virginianus leucurus, are both listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. In the United States, the Virginia white-tail, O. virginianus virginianus, is among the most widespread subspecies. The white-tailed deer species has tremendous genetic variation and is adaptable to several environments. Several local deer populations, especially in the southern states, are descended from white-tailed deer transplanted from various localities east of the Continental Divide. Some of these deer populations may have been from as far north as the Great Lakes region to as far west as Texas, yet are also quite at home in the Appalachian and Piedmont regions of the south. These deer over time have intermixed with the local indigenous deer (O. virginianus virginianus and/or O. virginianus macrourus) populations.

text: Central and South America have a complex number of white-tailed deer subspecies that range from Guatemala as far south as Peru. This list of subspecies of deer is more exhaustive than the list of North American subspecies, and the number of subspecies is also questionable. However, the white-tailed deer populations in these areas are difficult to study, due to overhunting in many parts and a lack of protection. Some areas no longer carry deer, so it is difficult to assess the genetic difference of these animals.

text: Subspecies[edit]

text: Some subspecies names, ordered alphabetically:[6][7]

text: North America[edit]

text:
O. v. acapulcensis – Acapulco white-tailed deer (southern Mexico)
O. v. borealis – northern (woodland) white-tailed deer (the largest and darkest white-tailed deer)
O. v. carminis – Carmen Mountains Jorge deer (Texas-Mexico border)
O. v. clavium – Key deer or Florida Keys white-tailed deer (found in the Florida Keys; an example of insular dwarfism)
O. v. chiriquensis – Chiriqui white-tailed deer (Panama)
O. v. couesi – Coues white-tailed deer, Arizona white-tailed deer, or fantail deer
O. v. dakotensis – Dakota white-tailed deer or Northern Plains white-tailed deer (most northerly distribution, rivals the northern white-tailed deer in size)
O. v. hiltonensis – Hilton Head Island white-tailed deer
O. v. idahoensis – white-tailed deer (western Canada, Idaho, eastern Washington)[8]
O. v. leucurus – Columbian white-tailed deer (Oregon and western coastal area)
O. v. macrourus – Kansas white-tailed deer
O. v. mcilhennyi – Avery Island white-tailed deer
O. v. mexicanus – Mexican white-tailed deer (central Mexico)
O. v. miquihuanensis – Miquihuan white-tailed deer (central Mexico)
O. v. nelsoni – Chiapas white-tailed deer (southern Mexico and Guatemala)
O. v. nemoralis – (Central America, round the Gulf of Mexico to Surinam in South America; further restricted to from Honduras to Panama)
O. v. nigribarbis – Blackbeard Island white-tailed deer
O. v. oaxacensis – Oaxaca white-tailed deer (southern Mexico)
O. v. ochrourus – (tawny) northwest white-tailed deer or northern Rocky Mountains white-tailed deer
O. v. osceola – Florida coastal white-tailed deer
O. v. rothschildi – Coiba Island white-tailed deer
O. v. seminolus – Florida white-tailed deer
O. v. sinaloae – Sinaloa white-tailed deer (mid-western Mexico)
O. v. taurinsulae – Bulls Island white-tailed deer (Bulls Island, South Carolina)
O. v. texanus – Texas white-tailed deer
O. v. thomasi – Mexican lowland white-tailed deer
O. v. toltecus – Rain Forest white-tailed deer (southern Mexico)
O. v. truei – Central American white-tailed deer (Costa Rica, Nicaragua and adjacent states)
O. v. venatorius – Hunting Island white-tailed deer (Hunting Island, South Carolina)
O. v. veraecrucis – northern Veracruz white-tailed deer
O. v. virginianus – Virginia white-tailed deer or southern white-tailed deer
O. v. yucatanensis – Yucatán white-tailed deer

text: South America[edit]

text:
O. v. cariacou – (French Guiana and north Brazil)
O. v. curassavicus – (Curaçao)
O. v. goudotii – (Colombia (Andes) and west Venezuela)
O. v. gymnotis – South American white-tailed deer (northern half of Venezuela, including Venezuela's Llanos region)
O. v. margaritae – (Margarita Island)
O. v. nemoralis – (Central America, round the Gulf of Mexico to Surinam in South America; further restricted to from Honduras to Panama)
O. v. peruvianus – South American white-tailed deer or Andean white-tailed deer (most southerly distribution in Peru and possibly, Bolivia)
O. v. tropicalis – Peru and Ecuador (possibly Colombia)
O. v. ustus – Ecuador (possibly southern of Colombia and northern of Peru)

text:
Range map of subspecies

North America

Central and South America

text: Description[edit]

text: The deer's coat is a reddish-brown in the spring and summer and turns to a grey-brown throughout the fall and winter. The deer can be recognized by the characteristic white underside to its tail. It raises its tail when it is alarmed to warn the predator that it has been detected.[9] A population of white-tailed deer in New York is entirely white (except for areas like their noses and toes)—not albino—in color. The former Seneca Army Depot in Romulus, New York, has the largest known concentration of white deer. Strong conservation efforts have allowed white deer to thrive within the confines of the depot. White-tailed deer's horizontally slit pupils allow for good night vision and color vision during the day.

text: Size and weight[edit]

text: The white-tailed deer is highly variable in size, generally following Bergmann's rule that the average size is larger farther away from the Equator. North American male deer (also known as a buck) usually weigh 45 kilograms (100 lb), but in rare cases, bucks in excess of 125 kilograms (275 lb) have been recorded. Mature bucks over 180 kilograms (400 lb) have been recorded in the northernmost reaches of their native range, specifically, Minnesota and Ontario. In 1926, Carl J. Lenander, Jr. took a white-tailed buck near Tofte, MN, that weighed 183 kg (403 lb) after it was field-dressed (internal organs removed) and was estimated at 232 kg (511 lb) when alive.[10] The female (doe) in North America usually weighs from 40 to 90 kg (88 to 198 lb). White-tailed deer from the tropics and the Florida Keys are markedly smaller-bodied than temperate populations, averaging 35 to 50 kg (77 to 110 lb), with an occasional adult female as small as 25 kg (55 lb).[11] White-tailed deer from the Andes are larger than other tropical deer of this species and have thick, slightly woolly looking fur. Length ranges from 95 to 220 cm (37 to 87 in), including a tail of 10 to 36.5 cm (3.9 to 14.4 in), and the shoulder height is 53 to 120 cm (21 to 47 in).[12][13] Including all races, the average summer weight of adult males is 68 kg (150 lb) and is 45.3 kg (100 lb) in adult females.[14]

text: Deer have dichromatic (two-color) vision with blue and yellow primaries;[15] humans normally have trichromatic vision. Thus, deer poorly distinguish the oranges and reds that stand out so well to humans.[16] This makes it very convenient to use deer-hunter orange as a safety color on caps and clothing to avoid accidental shootings during hunting seasons.

text: Antlers[edit]

text: Males regrow their antlers every year. About one in 10,000 females also have antlers, although this is usually associated with freemartinism.[17] Bucks without branching antlers are often termed "spikehorn", "spiked bucks", "spike bucks", or simply "spikes/spikers". The spikes can be quite long or very short. Length and branching of antlers are determined by nutrition, age, and genetics. Rack growth tends to be very important from late spring until about a month before velvet sheds. Healthy deer in some areas that are well-fed can have eight-point branching antlers as yearlings (1.5 years old).[18] The number of points, the length, or thickness of the antlers is a general indication of age, but cannot be relied upon for positive aging. A better indication of age is the length of the snout and the color of the coat, with older deer tending to have longer snouts and grayer coats. Some say spiked-antler deer should be culled from the population to produce larger branching antler genetics (antler size does not indicate overall health), and some bucks' antlers never will be wall trophies. Good antler-growth nutritional needs (calcium) and good genetics combine to produce wall trophies in some of their range.[19] Spiked bucks are different from "button bucks" or "nubbin' bucks", that are male fawns and are generally about six to nine months of age during their first winter. They have skin-covered nobs on their heads. They can have bony protrusions up to a half inch in length, but that is very rare, and they are not the same as spikes.

text: Antlers begin to grow in late spring, covered with a highly vascularised tissue known as velvet. Bucks either have a typical or atypical antler arrangement. Typical antlers are symmetrical and the points grow straight up off the main beam. Atypical antlers are asymmetrical and the points may project at any angle from the main beam. These descriptions are not the only limitations for typical and atypical antler arrangement. The Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young scoring systems also define relative degrees of typicality and atypicality by procedures to measure what proportion of the antlers are asymmetrical. Therefore, bucks with only slight asymmetry are scored as "typical". A buck's inside spread can be from 3 to 25 in (8–64 cm). Bucks shed their antlers when all females have been bred, from late December to February.

text: Ecology[edit]

text: White-tailed deer are generalists and can adapt to a wide variety of habitats.[20] The largest deer occur in the temperate regions of Canada and United States. The northern white-tailed deer (O. v. borealis), Dakota white-tailed deer (O. v. dacotensis), and northwest white-tailed deer (O. v. ochrourus) are some of the largest animals, with large antlers. The smallest deer occur in the Florida Keys and in partially wooded lowlands in the neotropics.

text: Although most often thought of as forest animals depending on relatively small openings and edges, white-tailed deer can equally adapt themselves to life in more open prairie, savanna woodlands, and sage communities as in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. These savanna-adapted deer have relatively large antlers in proportion to their body size and large tails. Also, a noticeable difference exists in size between male and female deer of the savannas. The Texas white-tailed deer (O. v. texanus), of the prairies and oak savannas of Texas and parts of Mexico, are the largest savanna-adapted deer in the Southwest, with impressive antlers that might rival deer found in Canada and the northern United States. Populations of Arizona (O. v. couesi) and Carmen Mountains (O. v. carminis) white-tailed deer inhabit montane mixed oak and pine woodland communities.[21] The Arizona and Carmen Mountains deer are smaller, but may also have impressive antlers, considering their size. The white-tailed deer of the Llanos region of Colombia and Venezuela (O. v. apurensis and O. v. gymnotis) have antler dimensions similar to the Arizona white-tailed deer.

text: In western regions of the United States and Canada, the white-tailed deer range overlaps with those of the mule deer. White-tail incursions in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas have resulted in some hybrids. In the extreme north of the range, their habitat is also used by moose in some areas. White-tailed deer may occur in areas that are also exploited by elk (wapiti) such as in mixed deciduous river valley bottomlands and formerly in the mixed deciduous forest of eastern United States. In places such as Glacier National Park in Montana and several national parks in the Columbian Mountains (Mount Revelstoke National Park) and Canadian Rocky Mountains, as well as in the Yukon Territory ( Yoho National Park and Kootenay National Park), white-tailed deer are shy and more reclusive than the coexisting mule deer, elk, and moose.

text: Central American white-tailed deer prefer tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests, seasonal mixed deciduous forests, savanna, and adjacent wetland habitats over dense tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests. South American subspecies of white-tailed deer live in two types of environments. The first type, similar to the Central American deer, consists of savannas, dry deciduous forests, and riparian corridors that cover much of Venezuela and eastern Colombia.[22] The other type is the higher elevation mountain grassland/mixed forest ecozones in the Andes Mountains, from Venezuela to Peru. The Andean white-tailed deer seem to retain gray coats due to the colder weather at high altitudes, whereas the lowland savanna forms retain the reddish brown coats. South American white-tailed deer, like those in Central America, also generally avoid dense moist broadleaf forests.

text: Since the second half of the 19th century, white-tailed deer have been introduced to Europe.[23] A population in the Brdy area remains stable today.[24] In 1935, white-tailed deer were introduced to Finland. The introduction was successful, and the deer have recently begun spreading through northern Scandinavia and southern Karelia, competing with, and sometimes displacing, native species. The current population of some 30,000 deer originated from four animals provided by Finnish Americans from Minnesota.

text: Diet[edit]

text: White-tailed deer eat large amounts of food, commonly eating legumes and foraging on other plants, including shoots, leaves, cacti (in deserts), prairie forbs,[25] and grasses. They also eat acorns, fruit, and corn. Their special stomachs allow them to eat some things humans cannot, such as mushrooms and poison ivy. Their diets vary by season according to availability of food sources. They also eat hay, grass, white clover, and other foods they can find in a farm yard. Though almost entirely herbivorous, white-tailed deer have been known to opportunistically feed on nesting songbirds, field mice, and birds trapped in mist nets, if the need arises.[26] A grown deer can eat around 2,000 pounds (910 kg) of vegetable matter annually. A foraging area of about 20 deer per square mile can start to destroy the forest environment.[27]

text: The white-tailed deer is a ruminant, which means it has a four-chambered stomach. Each chamber has a different and specific function that allows the deer to eat a variety of different foods, digesting it at a later time in a safe area of cover. The stomach hosts a complex set of microbes that change as the deer's diet changes through the seasons. If the microbes necessary for digestion of a particular food (e.g., hay) are absent, it will not be digested.[28]

text: Predators[edit]

text: Several natural predators of white-tailed deer occur. Wolves, cougars, American alligators, jaguars (in the tropics), and humans are the most effective natural predators of white-tailed deer. These predators frequently pick out easily caught young or infirm deer (which is believed to improve the genetic stock of a population), but can and do take healthy adults of any size. Bobcats, Canada lynx, bears, wolverines, and packs of coyotes usually prey mainly on fawns. Bears may sometimes attack adult deer, while lynxes, coyotes, and wolverines are most likely to take adult deer when the ungulates are weakened by harsh winter weather.[12] Many scavengers rely on deer as carrion, including New World vultures, raptors, foxes, and corvids. Few wild predators can afford to be picky and any will readily consume deer as carrion. Records exist of American crows attempting to prey on white-tailed deer fawns by pecking around their face and eyes, though no accounts of success are given.[29] Occasionally, both golden and bald eagles may capture deer fawns with their talons.[30] In one case, a golden eagle was filmed in Illinois unsuccessfully trying to prey on a large mature white-tailed deer.[31]

text: White-tailed deer typically respond to the presence of potential predators by breathing very heavily (also called blowing) and fleeing. When they blow, the sound alerts other deer in the area. As they run, the flash of their white tails warns other deer. This especially serves to warn fawns when their mother is alarmed.[32] Most natural predators of white-tailed deer hunt by ambush, although canids may engage in an extended chase, hoping to exhaust the prey. Felids typically try to suffocate the deer by biting the throat. Cougars and jaguars will initially knock the deer off balance with their powerful forelegs, whereas the smaller bobcats and lynxes will jump astride the deer to deliver a killing bite. In the case of canids and wolverines, the predators bite at the limbs and flanks, hobbling the deer, until they can reach vital organs and kill it through loss of blood. Bears, which usually target fawns, often simply knock down the prey and then start eating it while it is still alive.[33][34] Alligators snatch deer as they try to drink from or cross bodies of water, grabbing them with their powerful jaws and dragging them into the water to drown.[35]

text: Most primary natural predators of white-tailed deer have been basically extirpated in eastern North America, with a very small number of reintroduced red wolves, which are nearly extinct, around North Carolina and a small remnant population of Florida panthers, a subspecies of the cougar. Gray wolves, the leading cause of deer mortality where they overlap, co-occur with whitetails in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and parts of Canada.[32] This almost certainly plays a factor in the overpopulation issues with this species.[32] Coyotes, widespread and with a rapidly expanding population, are often the only major nonhuman predator of the species, besides an occasional domestic dog.[32] In some areas, American black bears are also significant predators.[33][34] In northcentral Pennsylvania, black bears were found to be nearly as common predators of fawns as coyotes.[36] Bobcats, still fairly widespread, usually only exploit deer as prey when smaller prey is scarce.[37] Discussions have occurred regarding the possible reintroduction of gray wolves and cougars to sections of the eastern United States, largely because of the apparent controlling effect they have through deer predation on local ecosystems, as has been illustrated in the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park and their controlling effect on previously overpopulated elk.[38] However, due to the heavy urban development in much of the East and fear for livestock and human lives, such ideas have ultimately been rejected by local communities and/or by government services and have not been carried through.[39][40][41]

text: In areas where they are heavily hunted by humans, deer run almost immediately from people and are quite wary even where not heavily hunted. In most areas where hunting may occur deer seem to develop an acute sense of time and a fondness for metro parks and golf courses. This rather odd occurrence is best noted in Michigan, where in the lower peninsula around late August early September they begin to move out of less developed areas in favor of living near human settlements.

text: The deer of Virginia can run faster than their predators and have been recorded at speeds of 75 km (47 mi) per hour;[42] this ranks them amongst the fastest of all cervids, alongside the Eurasian roe deer. They can also jump 2.7 m (8.9 ft) high and up to 10 m (33 ft) in length. When shot at, the white-tailed deer will run at high speeds with its tail down. If frightened, the deer will hop in a zig-zag with its tail straight up. If the deer feels extremely threatened, however, it may charge the person or predator causing the threat, using its antlers or, if none are present, its head to fight off the threat.

text: Forest alteration[edit]

text: In certain parts of the eastern United States, high deer densities have caused large reductions in plant biomass, including the density and heights of certain forest wildflowers, tree seedlings, and shrubs. Although they can be seen as a nuisance species, white tail deer also play an important role in biodiversity.[43][44] At the same time, increases in browse-tolerant grasses and sedges and unpalatable ferns have often accompanied intensive deer herbivory.[45] Changes to the structure of forest understories have, in turn, altered the composition and abundance of forest bird communities in some areas.[46] Deer activity has also been shown to increase herbaceous plant diversity, particularly in disturbed areas, by reducing competitively dominant plants;[47] and to increase the growth rates of important canopy trees, perhaps by increased nutrient inputs into the soil.[48] In northeastern hardwood forests, high-density deer populations affect plant succession, particularly following clear-cuts and patch cuts. In succession without deer, annual herbs and woody plants are followed by commercially valuable, shade-tolerant oak and maple. The shade-tolerant trees prevent the invasion of less commercial cherry and American beech, which are stronger nutrient competitors, but not as shade tolerant. Although deer eat shade-tolerant plants and acorns, this is not the only way deer can shift the balance in favor of nutrient competitors. Deer consuming earlier-succession plants allows in enough light for nutrient competitors to invade. Since slow-growing oaks need several decades to develop root systems sufficient to compete with faster-growing species, removal of the canopy prior to that point amplifies the effect of deer on succession. High-density deer populations possibly could browse eastern hemlock seedlings out of existence in northern hardwood forests;[49] however, this scenario seems unlikely, given that deer browsing is not considered the critical factor preventing hemlock re-establishment at large scales.[50]

text: Ecologists have also expressed concern over the facilitative effect high deer populations have on invasions of exotic plant species. In a study of eastern hemlock forests, browsing by white-tailed deer caused populations of three exotic plants to rise faster than they do in the areas which are absent of deer. Seedlings of the three invading species rose exponentially with deer density, while the most common native species fell exponentially with deer density, because deer were preferentially eating the native species. The effects of deer on the invasive and native plants were magnified in cases of canopy disturbance.[51]

text: Methods for controlling deer populations[edit]

text: Several methods have been developed in attempts to curb the population of white-tailed deer and these can be separated into lethal and non-lethal strategies. Most common in the U.S is the use of extended hunting as population control.[52] In Maryland, as well as many other states, a state agency sets regulations on bag limits and hunting in the area depending on the deer population levels assessed.[53] Hunting seasons may fluctuate in duration, or restrictions may be set to affect how many deer or what type of deer can be hunted in certain regions. For the 2015-2016 white-tailed deer hunting season, some areas only allow for the hunting of antler-less white-tailed deer. These would include young bucks and females encouraging the culling of does who would otherwise contribute to increasing populations via offspring production.[52]

text: More refined than public hunting is a method referred to as Sharpshooting by the Deer Task Force in the city of Bloomington, Indiana. Sharpshooting can be an option when the area inhabited by the deer is unfit for public hunting. This strategy may work in areas close to human populations since it is done by professional marksmen and requires a submitted plan of action to the city with details on the time and location of the event as well as number of deer to be culled.[54]

text: Another controversial method involves trapping the deer in a net or other trap and then administering a chemical euthanizing agent or extermination via firearm. A main issue in questioning the humaneness of this method is the stress that the deer endure while trapped and awaiting extermination.[55]

text: Non-lethal methods include contraceptive injections, sterilization, and translocation of deer.[56] While lethal methods have municipal support as being the most effective in the short-term, there are opponents to this view who suggest that there are no significant impacts of deer extermination on the populations.[57] Opponents of contraceptive methods point out that fertility control proves ineffective over time as populations in open field systems move about. There are concerns that the contraceptives have not been adequately researched for the effect they could have on humans who consume the treated venison. Fertility control also does nothing to affect the current population and the effects their grazing may be having on the forest plant make-up.[58]

text: Translocation has been considered overly costly for the little benefit it provides. Deer experience high stress and are at high risk of dying in the process putting into question its humaneness.[59] Another concern in using this method is the possible spread of Chronic Wasting Disease found in the deer family and the lack of research on its effect on human populations.

text: Bloomington, Indiana has also seen increases in white-tailed deer populations. They play a detrimental role in the preservation of native plant species at the Griffy Lake Nature Reserve as was researched and confirmed via an enclosure study done by researchers at Indiana University.[60] Enclosures can also be used as a method for minimizing the effect of deer-grazing in small areas since plants are allowed to grow without the threat of being grazed upon before reaching stable populations in the forest understory.

text: Behavior[edit]

text: Males compete for the opportunity of breeding females. Sparring among males determines a dominance hierarchy.[61] Bucks attempt to copulate with as many females as possible, losing physical condition, since they rarely eat or rest during the rut. The general geographical trend is for the rut to be shorter in duration at increased latitude. Many factors determine how intense the "rutting season" will be; air temperature is a major one. Any time the temperature rises above 40 °F (4 °C), the males do much less traveling looking for females, else they will be subject to overheating or dehydrating. Another factor for the strength in rutting activity is competition. If numerous males are in a particular area, then they compete more for the females. If fewer males or more females are present, then the selection process will not need to be as competitive.

text: Reproduction[edit]

text: Females enter estrus, colloquially called the rut, in the autumn, normally in late October or early November[62], triggered mainly by the declining photoperiod. Sexual maturation of females depends on population density, as well as availability of food.[63] Young females often flee from an area heavily populated with males. Some does may be as young as six months when they reach sexual maturity, but the average age of maturity is 18 months.[64] Copulation consists of an ejaculatory thrust[65] which takes place during a brief copulatory jump.[66]

text: Females give birth to one to three spotted young, known as fawns, in mid- to late spring, generally in May or June. Fawns lose their spots during the first summer and weigh from 44 to 77 lb (20 to 35 kg) by the first winter. Male fawns tend to be slightly larger and heavier than females. For the first four weeks, fawns are hidden in vegetation by their mothers, who nurse them four to five times a day. This strategy keeps scent levels low to avoid predators. After about a month, the fawns [67] are then able to follow their mothers on foraging trips. They are usually weaned after 8–10 weeks, but cases have been seen where mothers have continued to allow nursing long after the fawns have lost their spots (for several months, or until the end of fall) as seen by rehabilitators and other studies. Males leave their mothers after a year and females leave after two.

text: Bucks are generally sexually mature at 1.5 years old and begin to breed even in populations stacked with older bucks.

text: Communication[edit]

text: White-tailed deer have many forms of communication involving sounds, scent, body language, and marking. In addition to the aforementioned blowing in the presence of danger, all white-tailed deer are capable of producing audible noises unique to each animal. Fawns release a high-pitched squeal, known as a bleat, to call out to their mothers.[68] This bleat deepens as the fawn grows until it becomes the grunt of the mature deer, a guttural sound that attracts the attention of any other deer in the area. A doe makes maternal grunts when searching for her bedded fawns.[68] Bucks also grunt, at a pitch lower than that of the doe; this grunt deepens as the buck matures. In addition to grunting, both does and bucks also snort, a sound that often signals an imminent threat. Mature bucks also produce a grunt-snort-wheeze pattern, unique to each animal, that asserts its dominance, aggression, and hostility.[68] Another way white-tailed deer communicate is through the use of their white tail. When spooked, it will raise its tail to warn the other deer in the immediate area.

text: Marking[edit]

text: White-tailed deer possess many glands that allow them to produce scents, some of which are so potent they can be detected by the human nose. Four major glands are the preorbital, forehead, tarsal, and metatarsal glands. Secretions from the preorbital glands (in front of the eye) were thought to be rubbed on tree branches, but research suggests this is not so. Scent from the forehead or sudoriferous glands (found on the head, between the antlers and eyes) is used to deposit scent on branches that overhang "scrapes" (areas scraped by the deer's front hooves prior to rub-urination). The tarsal glands are found on the upper inside of the hock (middle joint) on each hind leg. Scent is deposited from these glands when deer walk through and rub against vegetation. These scrapes are used by bucks as a sort of "sign-post" by which bucks know which other bucks are in the area, and to let does know a buck is regularly passing through the area—for breeding purposes. The scent from the metatarsal glands, found on the outside of each hind leg, between the ankle and hooves, may be used as an alarm scent. The scent from the interdigital glands, which are located between the hooves of each foot, emit a yellow waxy substance with an offensive odor. Deer can be seen stomping their hooves if they sense danger through sight, sound, or smell; this action leaves an excessive amount of odor for the purpose of warning other deer of possible danger.[citation needed]

text: Throughout the year, deer rub-urinate, a process during which a deer squats while urinating so urine will run down the insides of the deer's legs, over the tarsal glands, and onto the hair covering these glands. Bucks rub-urinate more frequently during the breeding season.[69] Secretions from the tarsal gland mix with the urine and bacteria to produce a strong-smelling odor. During the breeding season, does release hormones and pheromones that tell bucks a doe is in heat and able to breed. Bucks also rub trees and shrubs with their antlers and heads during the breeding season, possibly transferring scent from the forehead glands to the tree, leaving a scent other deer can detect.[70]

text: Sign-post marking (scrapes and rubs) is a very obvious way white-tailed deer communicate.[70] Although bucks do most of the marking, does visit these locations often. To make a rub, a buck uses his antlers to strip the bark off small-diameter trees, helping to mark his territory and polish his antlers. To mark areas they regularly pass through, bucks make scrapes. Often occurring in patterns known as scrape lines, scrapes are areas where a buck has used his front hooves to expose bare earth. They often rub-urinate into these scrapes, which are often found under twigs that have been marked with scent from the forehead glands.[citation needed]

text: Human interactions[edit]

text: By the early 20th century, commercial exploitation and unregulated hunting had severely depressed deer populations in much of their range.[71] For example, by about 1930, the U.S. population was thought to number about 300,000.[72] After an outcry by hunters and other conservation ecologists, commercial exploitation of deer became illegal and conservation programs along with regulated hunting were introduced. In 2005, estimates put the deer population in the United States at around 30 million.[73] Conservation practices have proved so successful, in parts of their range, the white-tailed deer populations currently far exceed their cultural carrying capacity and the animal may be considered a nuisance.[74][75] A reduction in natural predators (which normally cull young, sick, or infirm specimens) has undoubtedly contributed to locally abundant populations.

text: At high population densities, farmers can suffer economic damage by deer feeding on cash crops, especially in corn and orchards. It has become nearly impossible to grow some crops in some areas unless very burdensome deer-deterring measures are taken. Deer are excellent fence-jumpers, and their fear of motion and sounds meant to scare them away is soon dulled. Timber harvesting and forest clearance have historically resulted in increased deer population densities,[76][77] which in turn have slowed the rate of reforestation following logging in some areas. High densities of deer can have severe impacts on native plants and animals in parks and natural areas; however, deer browsing can also promote plant and animal diversity in some areas.[78][79] Deer can also cause substantial damage to landscape plants in suburban areas, leading to limited hunting or trapping to relocate or sterilize them. In parts of the Eastern US with high deer populations and fragmented woodlands, deer often wander into suburban and urban habitats that are less than ideal for the species.

text: Deer–vehicle collisions[edit]

text: Motor vehicle collisions with deer are a serious problem in many parts of the animal's range, especially at night and during rutting season, causing injuries and fatalities among both deer and humans. Vehicular damage can be substantial in some cases.[80] In the United States, such collisions increased from 200,000 in 1980 to 500,000 in 1991.[81] By 2009, the insurance industry estimated 2.4 million deer–vehicle collisions had occurred over the past two years, estimating damage cost to be over 7 billion dollars and 300 human deaths. Despite the alarming high rate of these accidents, the effect on deer density is still quite low. Vehicle collisions of deer were monitored for two years in Virginia, and the collective annual mortality did not surpass 20% of the estimated deer population.[82]

text: Many techniques have been investigated to prevent road-side mortality. Fences or road under- or over- passes have been shown to decrease deer-vehicle collisions, but are expensive and difficult to implement on a large scale.[83][84] Roadside habitat modifications could also successfully decrease the number of collisions along roadways.[84] An essential procedure in understanding factors resulting in accidents is to quantify risks, which involves the driver's behavior in terms of safe speed and ability to observe the deer. They suggest reducing speed limits during the winter months when deer density is exceptionally high would likely reduce deer-vehicle collisions, but this may be an impractical solution.[83]

text: Diseases[edit]

text: Another issue that exists with high deer density is the spreading of infectious diseases. Increased deer populations lead to increased transmission of tick-borne diseases, which pose a threat to human health, to livestock, and to other deer. Deer are the primary host and vector for the adult black-legged tick, which transmits the Lyme disease bacterium to humans.[85] Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the country and is found in twelve states in Eastern America. In 2009, it affected more than 38,000 people. Furthermore, the incidence of Lyme disease seems to reflect deer density in the eastern United States, which suggests a strong correlation. White-tailed deer also serve as intermediate hosts for many diseases that infect humans through ticks, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever.[81][82]

text: Cultural significance[edit]

text: In the U.S., the species is the state animal of Arkansas, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, the wildlife symbol of Wisconsin, and game animal of Oklahoma. The profile of a white-tailed deer buck caps the coat of arms of Vermont and can be seen in the flag of Vermont and in stained glass at the Vermont State House. It is the national animal of Honduras and Costa Rica and the provincial animal of Canadian Saskatchewan and Finnish Pirkanmaa. Texas is home to the most white-tailed deer of any U.S. state or Canadian province, with an estimated population of over four million. Notably high populations of white-tailed deer occur in the Edwards Plateau of Central Texas. Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Indiana also boast high deer densities. In 1884, one of the first hunts of white-tailed deer in Europe was conducted in Opočno and Dobříš (Brdy Mountains area), in what is now the Czech Republic.