Red deer (Cervus elaphus)

Appearance▲ Back to top

The red deer is the fourth largest deer species behind moose, elk , and sambar deer. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, like camels, goats and cattle. European red deer have a relatively long tail compared to their Asian and North American relatives. There are subtle differences in appearance between the various subspecies of red deer primarily in size and antlers, with the smallest being the Corsican red deer found on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the largest being the Caspian red deer of Asia Minor and the Caucasus Region to the west of the Caspian Sea. The deer of Central and Western Europe vary greatly in size with some of the largest deer found in the Carpathian Mountains in Central Europe. West European red deer historically, grew to large size given ample food supply , and descendants of introduced populations living in New Zealand and Argentina have grown quite large in size and antlers. Large red deer stags, like the Caspian red deer or those of the Carpathian Mountains may rival the wapiti in size. Female red deer are much smaller than their male counterparts.

Generally, the male red deer is typically 175 to 230 cm long and weighs 160 to 240 kg ; the female is 160 to 210 cm long and weighs 120 to 170 kg . The tail adds another 12 to 19 cm and shoulder height is about 105 to 120 cm . Size varies in different subspecies with the largest, the huge but small-antlered deer of the Carpathian Mountains , weighing up to 500 kg . At the other end of the scale, the Corsican red deer weighs about 80 to 100 kg , although red deer in poor habitats can weigh as little as 53 to 112 kg . European red deer tend to be reddish-brown in their summer coats. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane during the autumn. The male deer of the British Isles and Norway tend to have the thickest and most noticeable neck manes. Male Caspian red deer and Spanish red deer do not carry neck manes. Male deer of all subspecies, however, tend to have stronger and thicker neck muscles than female deer, which may give them an appearance of having neck manes. Red deer hinds do not have neck manes. The European red deer is adapted to a woodland environment.



Only the stags have antlers which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter. Antlers are made of bone which can grow at a rate of 2.5 cm a day. A soft covering known as velvet helps to protect newly forming antlers in the spring. European red deer antlers are distinctive in being rather straight and rugose, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a "crown" or "cup" in larger males. Any tines in excess of the fourth and fifth tine will grow radially from the "cup". "Cups" are generally absent in the antlers of smaller red deer such as Corsican red deer. West European red deer antlers feature ''bez'' tines that are either absent or smaller than the brow tine. However, bez tines occur frequently in Norwegian red deer. Antlers of Caspian red deer carry large bez tines and form less-developed "cups" than West European red deer, their antlers are thus more like the "throw back" top tines of the wapiti and these are known as maraloid characteristics. A stag can have antlers with no tines, and is then known as a switch. Similarly, a stag that doesn't grow antlers is a hummel. The antlers are testosterone-driven and as the stag's testosterone levels drop in the autumn, the velvet is shed and the antlers stop growing. Red deer produce no testosterone in their bodies while they are growing antler. With the approach of autumn, the antler begin to calcify and the stags testosterone production builds for the approaching ''rut'' .

During the autumn, all red deer subspecies grow a thicker coat of hair which helps to insulate them during the winter. Autumn is also when some of the stags grow their neck manes. It is in the autumn/winter coat that most subspecies are most distinct. The Caspian red deer's winter coat is greyer and has a larger and more distinguished light rump-patch compared to the West European red deer which has more of a greyish-brown coat with a darker yellowish rump patch in the winter. By the time summer begins, the heavy winter coat has been shed; the animals are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. Red deer have different colouration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with grey or lighter colouration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish and darker coat in the summer. Most European red deer wear a reddish-brown summer coat, and some individuals may have a few spots on the backs of their summer coats.

Naming▲ Back to top

In New Zealand, and to a lesser degree in Australia, the red deer were introduced by acclimatisation societies along with other deer and game species. The first red deer to reach New Zealand were a pair sent by Lord Petre in 1851 from his herd at Thorndon Park, Essex to the South Island but the hind was shot before they had a chance to breed. Lord Petre sent another stag and two hinds in 1861 and these were liberated near Nelson from where they quickly spread. The first deer to reach the North Island were a gift to Sir Frederick Weld from Windsor Great Park and were released near Wellington and these were followed by further releases up to 1914. Between 1851 and 1926 there were 220 separate liberations of red deer involving over 800 deer. In 1927 the State Forest Service introduced a bounty for red deer shot on their land and in 1931 Government control operations were commenced and between 1931 and March 1975 1,124,297 deer were killed on official operations.

In New Zealand introduced red deer have adapted much better and are widely hunted on both islands, many of the 220 introductions used deer originating from Scotland or one of the major deer parks in England, principally Warnham, Woburn Abbey or Windsor Great Park. There is some hybridisation with the closely related wapiti or American elk introduced in Fiordland in 1921. New Zealand red deer produce very large antlers and are regarded as amongst the best in the world by hunters. Along with the other introduced deer species they are however officially regarded as a noxious pest and are still heavily culled using professional hunters working with helicopters, or even poisoned.

The first red deer to reach Australia were probably the six that Prince Albert sent in 1860 from Windsor Great Park to Thomas Chirnside who was starting a herd at Werribee Park, south west of Melbourne in Victora. Further introductions were made in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Today the red deer range in Australia ranges from Queensland down through New South Wales into Victoria and across to South Australia, with the numbers increasing. The Queensland, Victorian and most New South Wales strains can still be traced to the early releases, but South Australia's population along with all others is now largely recent farmed escapees. This is having adverse effects on the integrity of wild herds as now more and more larger herds are being grown due to the superior genetics that have been attained by select breeding.

In Argentina and Chile the red deer has had a potentially adverse impact on native animal species such as the South Andean Deer or Huemul, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has labelled the animal as one of the world's 100 worst invaders.

Distribution▲ Back to top

''Cervus'' genus ancestors of red deer first appear in fossil records 12 million years ago during the Miocene in Eurasia. An extinct genus known as the Irish Elk , not related to the red deer but to the fallow deer, is the largest member of the deer family known from the fossil record.

Status▲ Back to top

Male red deer retain their antlers for more than half the year and are less gregarious and less likely to group with other males when they have antlers. The antlers provide self-defence as does a strong front-leg kicking action which is performed by both sexes when attacked. Once the antlers are shed, stags tend to form bachelor groups which allow them to cooperatively work together. Herds tend to have one or more members watching for potential danger while the remaining members eat and rest.

After the rut, females form large herds of up to 50 individuals. The newborn calves are kept close to the hinds by a series of vocalizations between the two, and larger nurseries have an ongoing and constant chatter during the daytime hours. When approached by predators, the largest and most robust females may make a stand, using their front legs to kick at their attackers. Guttural grunts and posturing is used with all but the most determined of predators with great effectiveness. Aside from humans and domestic dogs, the Wolf is probably the most dangerous predator that most European red deer encounter. Occasionally, the Brown bear will predate on European red deer as well. Eurasian Lynx and wild boars sometimes prey on the calves. The leopard in Asia Minor probably preyed on East European red deer. Both Barbary Lion and Barbary Leopard probably once preyed on Atlas stags in the Atlas Mountains, although Barbary Lion is now extinct in the wild, and Barbary Leopard either very rare or extinct.

Behavior▲ Back to top

Mature red deer usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year. During the mating ritual, called the rut, mature stags compete for the attentions of the hinds and will then try to defend hinds that they attract. Rival stags challenge opponents by belling and walking in parallel. This allows combatants to assess each other's antlers, body size and fighting prowess. If neither stag backs down, a clash of antlers can occur, and stags sometimes sustain serious injuries.

Dominant stags follow groups of hinds during the rut, from August into early winter. The stags may have as many as 20 hinds to keep from other less attractive males. Only mature stags hold harems and breeding success peaks at about 8 years of age. Stags 2–4 years old rarely hold harems and spend most of the rut on the periphery of larger harems, as do stags over 11 years old. Young and old stags that do acquire a harem hold it later in the breeding season than those stags in their prime. Harem holding stags rarely feed and lose up to 20% of their body weight. Stags that enter the rut in poor condition are less likely to make it through to the peak conception period.

Male European red deer have a distinctive "roar"-like-sound during the rut, which is an adaptation to forested environments, as opposed to male wapiti which "bugle" during the rut in adaptation to open environments. The male deer roars to keep his harem of females together. The females are initially attracted to those males that both roar most often and have the loudest roar call. Males also use the roar call when competing with other males for females during the rut, and along with other forms of posturing and antler fights, is a method used by the males to establish dominance. Roaring is most common during the early dawn and late evening, which is also when the crepuscular deer are most active in general.

Reproduction▲ Back to top

Red deer mating patterns usually involve a dozen or more mating attempts before the first successful one. There may be several more matings before the stag will seek out another mate in his harem. Females in their second autumn can produce one and very rarely two offspring per year. The gestation period is 240 and 262 days and the offspring weigh about 15 kg . After two weeks, fawns are able to join the herd and are fully weaned after two months. All red deer fawns are born spotted, as is common with many deer species, and lose their spots by the end of summer. However, as in many species of Old World Deer, some adults do retain a few spots on the backs of their summer coats. The offspring will remain with their mothers for almost one full year, leaving around the time that the next season offspring are produced. The gestation period is the same for all subspecies.

Red deer live up to over 20 years in captivity and in the wild they average 10 to 13 years, though some subspecies with less predation pressure average 15 years.

Predators▲ Back to top

Male red deer retain their antlers for more than half the year and are less gregarious and less likely to group with other males when they have antlers. The antlers provide self-defence as does a strong front-leg kicking action which is performed by both sexes when attacked. Once the antlers are shed, stags tend to form bachelor groups which allow them to cooperatively work together. Herds tend to have one or more members watching for potential danger while the remaining members eat and rest.

After the rut, females form large herds of up to 50 individuals. The newborn calves are kept close to the hinds by a series of vocalizations between the two, and larger nurseries have an ongoing and constant chatter during the daytime hours. When approached by predators, the largest and most robust females may make a stand, using their front legs to kick at their attackers. Guttural grunts and posturing is used with all but the most determined of predators with great effectiveness. Aside from humans and domestic dogs, the Wolf is probably the most dangerous predator that most European red deer encounter. Occasionally, the Brown bear will predate on European red deer as well. Eurasian Lynx and wild boars sometimes prey on the calves. The leopard in Asia Minor probably preyed on East European red deer. Both Barbary Lion and Barbary Leopard probably once preyed on Atlas stags in the Atlas Mountains, although Barbary Lion is now extinct in the wild, and Barbary Leopard either very rare or extinct.

Migration▲ Back to top

Red deer in Europe generally spend their winters at lower altitudes in more wooded terrain. During the summer, they migrate to higher elevations where food supplies are greater and better for the calving season.

Cultural▲ Back to top

Red deer are widely depicted in cave art and are found throughout European caves, with some of the artwork dating from as early as 40,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic. Siberian cave art from the Neolithic of 7,000 years ago has abundant depictions of red deer, including what can be described as spiritual artwork, indicating the importance of this mammal to the peoples of that region in Siberia, not red deer).
Red deer are also often depicted on Pictish stones , from the early medieval period in Scotland, usually as prey animals for human or animal predators. In Medieval hunting the red deer was the most prestigious quarry, especially the mature stag, which in England was called a 'hart'.