Red deer

Appearance

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Behavior

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

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

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.

Defense

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.

Migration

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.

History and timeline

''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.

Cultural

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.

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'.