At the end of the last Ice Age most of Europe’s large mammals went extinct leaving the red deer as one of the largest land mammals in Europe. And the red deer is truly one of the most magnificent animals in Europe.
Taxonomy and Evolution
Red deer belong to the genus Cervus and have the scientific name Cervus elephas. How many species belong to this genus has been debated as it has been confusing about what can be classed as a species or a subspecies. For a while the wapiti, (elk), and Central Asian red deer were classified as subspecies of the wider red deer species, but mitochondiral analysis in 2005 separated these deer from C. elephas. There are around twelve confirmed subspecies of red deer with the most prominent ones being: the Scottish red deer, C.e. scoticus; the Central European red deer, C.e. hippelaphus; the Caspian red deer, C.e. maral; the Norwegian red deer, C.e. atlanticus; the Spanish red deer, C.e. hispanicus; the Italian red deer, C.e. italicus; the Barbary stag, C.e. barbarus; the Corsican red deer, C.e. corsicanus; and the Crimean red deer, C.e. brauneri. The Cervus genus first appeared around 5 million years ago in China and soon spread to Central Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North America evolving into several new species.
Biology and Behaviour
Red deer are noticeably sexually dimorphic as the males are much larger and have antlers, although not all stags will grow antlers and some does have been known to grow antlers. Some subspecies are larger than the others, with the largest Central European stags reaching between 175 and 250 centimetres and the does reach 160 to 210 centimetres in length. Meanwhile, the somewhat smaller Scottish stag reach 210 centimetres in length. They are some of the tallest deer worldwide reaching 130 centimetres in height at the shoulder. Average red deer does reach between 120 to 170 kilograms in weight compared to the staggering 160 to 240 kilograms – this can vary between subspecies with Carpathian stags weighing up to 500 kilograms to the Corsican stags’s 100 kilograms. As expected from their name, red deer have a reddish-brown coat that gets especially thick during the winter and it may go gray, and during the summer it becomes much lighter and thinner. Fawns have a lovely white spotted coat which they lose when they mature. Some stag subspecies have impressive manes, with the Scottish and Norwegian stags having some of the most impressive.
Red deer live in single sex herds most of the year, but will intermingle during the mating season – called the ‘rut’. The stags will issue an amazing roar during the spring which will mark out its territory and claim over a herd of females. Very rarely do males clash with their impressive antlers as this can lead to serious injury, and there have been cases where male antlers have gotten locked together permanently leaving both stags unable to feed. In the summer, the rut, stags will mate with hinds (the does) who will eventually give birth the following spring. Normally one fawn is born and will remain with the mother and her herd for a year – hinds will likely remain in the herd and the young stags will move away to form bachelor groups. Deer reach sexual maturity at around 16 months, although young stags will not immediately reproduce due to competition from the older stags. In the wild red deer can live up to 15 years, but captive deer can live for 20. Red deer are also known to engage in homosexual acts.
After the rut hinds can form much larger herds, some can reach into the hundreds, as a way to safely rear their fawns and defend them from potential predators. The deer are mostly active in the day, with them being the most active at dawn and dusk. Males are largely solitary, although younger deer will form bachelor groups. Stags are best known for their impressive antlers which can weigh several kilograms. During the winter they shed their antlers which will begin to grow again in the spring. This is an amazing process as the antlers themselves are made of bone, which grow at a pace of 2.5 centimetres a day, and they grow this over several months. Just imagine growing new bones every year and you can see why red deer lose so much weight growing their antlers. Initially the antlers are covered in capillaries and skin referred to as ‘velvet’ which come off by the rut. These antlers are branched and end in ‘tines’, which range from 5 to 12 in number.
Habitat and Distribution
Red deer are incredibly adaptable animals being found across various habitats across Europe, Asia, and north Africa. They are naturally found across the British Isles, Scandinavia, mainland Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Morocco, Tunisia, and northern Iran. Red deer are also a very invasive species as European colonists introducing them to southern Chile and Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand. European colonists founded ‘acclimitisation societies’ with the belief that colonised environments were ‘deficient’ and needed improvement with the introduction of European animals and plants. Red deer were some of the many organisms introduced as part of this acclimitisation project, often with disastrous impacts on the areas where they were introduced. Red deer are found in forests, grasslands, mountains, shrublands, and even in mountains.
Diet and Predators
Red deer are herbivores and have a diverse diet. Grass, lichen, mosses, roots, bark, leaves, flowers, and mushrooms all make up part of their diet, although this will change throughout the year depending on availability. Sometimes, deer will scavenge from carnivores or may eat small animals if they lack protein or need more protein – mostly when stags are growing their antlers and hinds are pregnant. Red deer, meanwhile, are also on the menu for many animals. Wolves, bears, and lynx all will hunt deer, and smaller or injured deer can be hunted by other predators. Eagles, eagle owls, wolverines, and jackals can also be predators. Throughout history humans have also hunted deer for necessity and sport – one reason why deer were introduced in colonised areas was due to Europeans wanting to hunt them. Meanwhile, ever since prehistory humans have relied on red deer meat for food, their coats for warmth, and their bones and antlers for tools. Cave art dating back 40,000 years also depict red deer! Red deer have been a major part of European art, with one of my favourite paintings depicting a red deer stag – Monarch of the Glen by Edwin Landseer. While Scotland’s national animal is the unicorn, the red deer is still seen as being one of the animals central to Scottish identity.
Conservation and Threats
While some subspecies are threatened, overall red deer are classified as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN. Certain populations, like those of the Caspain deer in Iran and Barbary deer in the Atlas mountains, are endangered by human encroachment into their environments which can cause a ripple effect for the wider population. Some are potentially threatened by hybridisation with other deer – the Scottish deer have created hybrids with introduced Sika deer. Scottish red deer are also a victim of their own success. The extinction of their natural predators in the UK has meant that their numbers have exploded, devastating their local habitats which in the future could cause a major population crash. The British government have made plans to reintroduce wolves and lynx as a natural population control, but these are not without controversy. Similarly, introduced populations have put intense pressure on native fauna and flora – such as eating the same grasses as the very endangered takahe in New Zealand. These populations are currently being culled as lacking predators they will continue devastating their habitats. Hunting as a means of conservation is controversial and has spotty impacts in regards to red deer.
Bibliography:
- ‘Red Deer’, IUCN Red List, (12/10/2015), [Accessed 07/05/2023]
- ‘Red Deer’, The Wildlife Trust, [Accessed 06/05/2023]
- ‘Red Deer’, Mammal Society, [Accessed 06/05/2023]
- Christian Ludt, Oswald Rottmann, Ralph Kuehn, and Wolf Schroeder, ‘Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus)’, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 31:3, (2004), 1064-1083
- Erlend B. Nilsen, E. J. Milner-Gulland, Lee Schofield, Atle Mysterud, Nils Chr. Stenseth and Tim Coulson, ‘Wolf Reintroduction to Scotland: Public Attitudes and Consequences for Red Deer Management’, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, 274:1612, (2007), 995-1002
- Steeve D. Côté, Thomas P. Rooney, Jean-Pierre Tremblay, Christian Dussault, and Donald M. Waller, ‘Ecological Impacts of Deer Overabundance’, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics, 35, (2004), 113-147
- David Macdonald, Mammals of Europe, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001)
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