Red Deer

One of the largest deer species is the Red deer (Cervus elaphus). The male red deer is known as a stag or hart, while the female is known as a hind. Most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, Iran, parts of western Asia, and central Asia are home to red deer. It also lives in the Atlas Mountains, which run between Morocco and Tunisia in northern Africa, and is Africa's only deer species. Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, and Argentina are among the countries where red deer have been introduced. Red deer meat (venison) is used as a food source in many parts of the world.

Red deer have a four-chambered stomach, which distinguishes them from other ruminants. Although genetic data suggests that the red deer, as traditionally characterised, is a species group rather than a single species, the number of species that make up the group is still debated. The closely related and somewhat bigger American elk or wapiti, which is native to North America and eastern Asia, was previously thought to be a subspecies of red deer, but it has lately been recognised as a separate species. All red deer, including wapiti, descended from a central Asian ancestor that resembled sika deer.

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Red Deer Mammal Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class:     Mammalia

Order:     Artiodactyla

Family: Cervidae

Subfamily: Cervinae

Genus: Cervus

Species: C. elaphus

Red Deer Mammal Physical Description

After moose, elk, and sambar deer, the red deer is the fourth-largest deer species. Like camels, goats, and cattle, it is a ruminant that eats its food in two phases and has an even number of toes on each hoof. In comparison to their Asian and North American ancestors, European red deer have a rather lengthy tail. The Corsican red deer, located on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, is the smallest subspecies of red deer, with the Caspian red deer (or maral) of Asia Minor and the Caucasus region to the west of the Caspian Sea being the largest.

The size of deer in central and western Europe varies widely, with some of the largest deer found in Central Europe's Carpathian Mountains. Given enough food (including people's crops), Western European red deer have grown to be fairly large in both body and antler size, while descendants of introduced populations living in New Zealand and Argentina have grown to be pretty large in both body and antler size. Large red deer stags, such as those found in the Caspian region or the Carpathian Mountains, can rival the size of North American elk. Female red deer are significantly smaller than males.

The male (stag) red deer measures 175 to 250 cm (69 to 98 in) in length and weighs 160 to 240 kg (350 to 530 lb); the female (hind) measures 160 to 210 cm (63 to 83 in) in length and weighs 120 to 170 kg (260 to 370 lb). The tail adds 12 to 19 cm (4.7 to 7.5 in) to the overall length, and shoulder height ranges from 95 to 130 cm (37 to 51 in). Females average 180 cm (71 in) long and 114 cm (45 in) tall in Scotland, while stags average 201 cm (79 in) head-and-body length and 122 cm (48 in) shoulder height.

During the autumn, many subspecies' males grow a short neck mane. The British Isles and Norway's male deer have the thickest and most conspicuous manes. Neck manes are absent in male Caspian red deer (C. e. maral) and Spanish red deer (C. e. hispanicus). Male deer, on the other hand, have thicker and stronger neck muscles than female deer, giving them the impression of having neck manes. Hinds (females) of red deer lack neck manes.

Red Deer Mammal Antlers

Antlers are only seen on stags, and they begin to grow in the spring and are shed each year, generally towards the end of the winter. Antlers are normally 71 cm (28 in) long and weigh 1 kilogramme (2.2 lb), while huge antlers can reach 115 cm (45 in) and weigh 5 kg (11 lb). Antlers, which are comprised of bone, can develop 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) per day. When an antler is forming, it is coated in velvet, which is highly vascular skin that provides oxygen and nutrients to the growing bone.

The antlers are testosterone-driven, and the velvet is shed and the antlers stop developing as the stag's testosterone levels decline in the autumn. The antlers begin to calcify as autumn approaches, and stags' testosterone production rises in preparation for the rut (mating season).

The fourth and fifth tines of European red deer antlers form a "crown" or "cup" in larger males, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a "crown" or "cup." Any tines growing radially from the cup in excess of the fourth and fifth tines are often lacking in the antlers of smaller red deer, such as Corsican red deer.

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Red Deer Mammal Behaviour

For the most part, mature red deer (Cervus elaphus) stay in single-sex groups. During the mating season, known as the rut, mature stags battle for hinds' attention and subsequently attempt to defend the hinds they attract. Rival stags confront each other by bellowing and walking in opposite directions. Combatants can appraise one other's antlers, body size, and fighting prowess in this way. A clash of antlers can occur if neither stag backs down, and stags can suffer catastrophic injury. The red deer is one of the mammals that demonstrate homosexual behaviour.

During the rut, from August through early winter, dominant stags trail groups of hinds. To keep other, less attractive men at bay, the stags may have as many as 20 hinds. Harems (groups of hinds) are only held by mature stags, and breeding success peaks at the age of eight. Stags under the age of two rarely have harems and spend the majority of the rut on the outskirts of larger harems, as do stags beyond the age of eleven. Young and old stags who do get a harem keep it for a longer period of time than stags in their prime. Harem-holding stags don't eat much and can lose up to 20% of their body weight.

Stags in poor condition who enter the rut are less likely to make it to the peak of conception.

Male European red deer roar during the rut, which is an adaptation to wooded habitats, but male American elk stags "bugle" during the rut, which is an adaptation to open environments. To keep his harem of female deer together, the male deer roars. Females are initially drawn to males who roar the most frequently and have the loudest roar call. During the rut, males use the roaring call to compete with other males for females, and it is a tactic used by males to assert dominance, along with other forms of posturing and antler battles.

Red Deer Life Cycle

At the age of two, female red deer reach sexual maturity. Before the first successful mating attempt, red deer usually make a dozen or more tries. Before the stag seeks out another partner in his harem, he may have to go through numerous additional matings. Females in their second autumn can have one or two offspring per year if they are lucky. The offspring weigh about 15 kg and have a gestation span of 240 to 262 days (33 lb). Calves can join the herd after two weeks and are fully weaned after two months. The children will stay with their mothers for nearly a year before departing around the time the next season's offspring are born.

As is the case with many deer species, all red deer calves are born spotted and lose their spots by the end of the summer. Some adults, like many Old World deer species, maintain a few spots on the backs of their summer coats.

In captivity, red deer can live for over 20 years, while in the wild, they can survive for 10 to 13 years, though some subspecies with less predation pressure can live for up to 15 years.

Predators

Male red deer keep their antlers for more than half the year, and when they have antlers, they are less social and less prone to form groups with other males. When assaulted, both sexes use their antlers to defend themselves, as well as a powerful front-leg kicking technique. Stags create bachelor groups after their antlers are lost, allowing them to work together cooperatively. While the remainder of the herd eats and rests, one or more members of the herd keep an eye out for any danger.

Females develop big herds of up to 50 individuals after the rut. A succession of vocalisations between the calves and the hinds keeps the newborn calves close to the hinds, and larger nurseries have continual and persistent chatter during the daytime hours. When predators approach, the largest and most strong females may take a stand, kicking at their attackers with their front legs. With all but the most determined of predators, guttural grunts and posturing are extremely effective. Apart from humans and domestic dogs, the grey wolf is the most hazardous predator that European red deer face. The brown bear will occasionally hunt on European red deer.

The calves are sometimes preyed upon by Eurasian lynx and wild boars. The Asia Minor leopard, which is now extinct, most likely preyed on eastern European red deer. In the Atlas Mountains, both the Barbary lion and the Barbary leopard undoubtedly preyed on Atlas stags, though the Barbary lion is now extinct in the wild, and the Barbary leopard is possibly very rare or extinct. They were also hunted by the now-extinct Caspian tiger in the past.

Interactions and Human Use

For a variety of reasons, red deer are kept in captivity. Venison, or deer meat, was previously only available to individuals with links to the aristocratic or poaching societies in the United Kingdom, and a licence was required to sell it lawfully, but it is now routinely available in supermarkets, especially in the autumn.

The antler velvet of a red deer can weigh between 10 and 15 kg (22 to 33 lb) per year. This velvet is harvested on ranches in New Zealand, China, Siberia, and elsewhere and sold to markets in East Asia, where it is utilised for holistic remedies, with South Korea being the largest user. Pantokrin is the brand name for a pharmaceutical made from antler velvet that is sold in Russia. East Asians think that antlers have medicinal properties, and they are commonly crushed up and utilised in little quantities.

Deer hair products are also used to tie flies in the fly fishing industry.

Deer antlers have been utilised for artwork, furniture, and other novelty products as well as for ornamental purposes. Antlers from deer were and still are used to make horn furniture. Case trophies, also known as "lusterweibchen," were used for laundry hooks, storage racks, and chandeliers as early as the 15th century. The European nobility identified red deer antlers, among other things, as a wonderful product for fashioning their manors and hunting castles in the nineteenth century. In the mid-nineteenth century, this fashion style spreads to upper- and middle-class households.