Mammals · Artiodactyla · Cervidae

Red Deer

Cervus elaphus

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The red deer, also called the European deer or common deer, is a deer widely distributed across the northern hemisphere. Some twenty-seven distinct subspecies have been documented, differing from one another in size, length, coat colour and antler shape, with a range extending from western Asia to the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula and Great Britain. The deer of eastern Asia and North America are accepted as belonging to a species of their own, Cervus canadensis. Deer reach puberty a year after birth.

Weight

200 kg on average

Size

up to 2.5 m

Lifespan

20 years

Diet

Herbivore

Feeds mainly on plants.

Activity

Crepuscular

Active above all at dawn and dusk.

Social structure

Herd

Lives in large groups as a strategy against predators.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

Temperate forestHerbivore Crepuscular In herds Temperate forest Mammal

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Fun facts

fisiologíaStags shed and completely regrow their antlers every year, one of the fastest-growing tissues known in any mammal.
The rut — known in Spanish as the berrea — is its most spectacular moment: in autumn the stags roar to gather and hold a harem, walk in parallel with a rival, sizing each other up, and only come to an antler fight if neither gives way.
That deep roar is an adaptation to the forest, where sound matters more than visual display.
A dominant stag can gather up to twenty hinds during the rut.
The wapiti of North America and eastern Asia was considered a subspecies of it for decades. Genetic studies separated it as a species in its own right, Cervus canadensis, although in captivity the two hybridise and produce fertile offspring.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (mammal)
Habitat & environment: Deciduous and coniferous woodland, heaths, mountain meadows and dehesa wood pasture across Europe, western Asia and North Africa; also open ground where it is not persecuted
Birth weight: About 15 kg
Sexual maturity: 2.3 years
Gestation / incubation: 8 months
Litter / clutch size: 1
Lifespan in captivity: 31