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Red deer
Cervus elaphus
56.2892, -4.29031
Field Notes
Description:
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. Generally, the male (stag or hart) red deer is typically 175 to 250 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 95 to 130 cm . In Scotland, stags average 201 cm in head-and-body length and 122 cm high at the shoulder and females average 180 cm long and 114 cm tall. 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 manes.Red deer hinds (females) do not have neck manes.
Habitat:
Is adapted to a woodland environment. The European red deer is found in southwestern Asia (Asia Minor and Caucasus regions), North Africa and Europe. In the UK, indigenous populations occur in Scotland, the Lake District, and the South West of England (principally on Exmoor). Red deer populations in Africa and southern Europe are generally declining.
Notes:
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.
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