Fallow deer

Quick Take

• Fallow deer have a coat color that defies the usual rules, with one variation keeping its spots year-round while others lose theirs completely. See coat variations →
• During the rut, a buck stops eating entirely, and the physical toll it pays is more extreme than most people would expect. Explore rut behavior →
• Female fallow deer are the ones who choose their mates, not males, and the courtship ritual the buck performs to earn that choice is surprisingly elaborate. See the courtship ritual →
• Humans have hunted fallow deer for hundreds of thousands of years, but the reason they prized these animals goes well beyond just the meat. Discover their hunting history →

Some fallow deer are white, some are black, and many have what is called melanistic coloration, which means the spots stand out more and there is no black on the tail or the rump. The spots persist throughout the winter, while with the common coloration the coat turns gray and the spots fade. The deer’s hind legs are also longer than the front legs, and the male has a distinct Adam’s apple that bobs up and down when it calls.

The fallow deer is native to Europe and Asia Minor and probably North Africa, and it’s been introduced in countries around the world as a game animal. It’s also raised for its meat and for the male’s antlers, which are supposed to have health-giving properties. Many zoos have a small herd of fallow deer.

3 Incredible Fallow Deer Facts

• Humans have been hunting fallow deer since the Old Stone Age, which occurred between 420,000 and 200,000 BC. Humans at the time not only ate the meat of the deer but also its bone marrow.
• Over the centuries, it has been introduced around the world, including Australia, Canada, the United States, Madagascar, and South Africa, and there are fairly large herds in England and Wales.
• There’s a herd found in Dublin’s Phoenix Park that’s descended from deer that lived in the park in the 17th century.

Classification and Scientific Name

The deer’s scientific name is Dama dama. Dama is simply the Latin word for deer and related species such as antelope. Fallow refers to the light brown color of the deer’s pelt. The classification of fallow deer subspecies is debated among taxonomic authorities, with some recognizing the Persian fallow deer as a separate species, Dama mesopotamica, rather than a subspecies of Dama dama. Current subspecies are:

• European fallow deer (Dama dama dama): These cervids, which are capable of weighing 220 lbs and measuring 37 inches at the shoulder, prefer woodland and grassland. They are quite adaptable in terms of habitat.
• Persian fallow deer (Dama dama mesopotamica): A shy, elusive creature, it prefers to graze in pistachio and tamarisk groves. Once widespread throughout the Middle East, it is currently only found in Iran and Israel, where it was reintroduced.

Appearance

Fallow deer also differ from other deer in that males are much larger than females. Males can weigh twice as much as females, and the largest buck weighed as much as 330 pounds. Beyond their use in hunting and as livestock, fallow deer are also valued for their beauty and grace.

The texture of the deer’s coat differs with the season. During the warm season, the colors of the coat are paler, and the hair is shorter and smoother. The winter coat is shaggy, darker, and has an undercoat. If the deer has white spots, they are abundant on the back and sides of the animal, absent on the legs and the head, and sparse on the neck.

Only the male fallow deer has antlers, and his antlers are large, shaped like shovels, and have many points. Indeed, they resemble the antlers of the bull moose and are usually between 1.6 and 2.29 feet long. The buck starts growing palmate antlers when he’s about three years old. Before that, his antlers are simply spikes. The buck loses his antlers in April and grows another pair that are fully grown by August.

Behavior

Fallow deer are nocturnal and are most active from just after sunset to sunrise. During those hours, they feed, forage, or rest. Bucks usually keep to themselves, but at the end of summer, they start to gather into herds that are made up of no more than six individuals. By the fall, which is their breeding season or rut, these bachelor herds drift towards herds made up of females and juveniles.

The senses of the fallow deer are quite acute, and their vision is especially sharp. They communicate with each other through posturing, vocalization, and smells. They have an impressive array of vocalizations, including:

• The bark: this sound is uttered by females as an alarm call.
• The bleat: this is made while females are giving birth or communicating with their fawns.
• The mew: this is a sound of submission.
• The peep: this is the sound a baby deer makes when it wants its mother.
• The wail: this is the cry the baby makes when it’s in distress.
• The grunt and the groan: these sounds are made by rutting males.

The deer also uses its body to communicate. An alert stance is a raised head and rigidly held body. They also trot, gallop, and pronk, which is when the animal leaps high in the air on all four stiffly held legs. Like white-tailed deer, the fallow deer raises its tail when it runs.

Because fallow deer are the prey of so many carnivores, including humans, they are vigilant. This is especially true of females with fawns.

Habitat

The fallow deer can thrive in a variety of habitats, as long as they can support the vegetation that they eat. They do best in old-growth forests dominated by broad-leafed, deciduous trees such as oaks, especially if these forests contain glades. Fallow deer can also be found in forests of deciduous trees and conifers, in grasslands, savannas, and scrublands.

Diet

Like many types of deer, fallow deer are herbivores, but they are not particular when it comes to their diet. They eat grasses, acorns, and other tree fruit, leaves, twigs, and shrubbery. They’ll also take herbs, shoots, and buds and will even eat bark. Their preferences depend on what is available.

Predators and Threats

Fallow deer are hunted by humans and other predators that are big or clever enough to bring them down. The mammal’s overall alertness to its surroundings and its tendency to gather in herds protect it from predators that are not hunting with firearms.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Fallow deer have a complex reproductive strategy. When they enter the rut, bucks stop eating. Since the rut can last for 135 days, a buck can lose as much as 17 percent of his body weight and develop a fatty liver. If the deer lives in the northern hemisphere, the rut occurs in October. If they live in the southern hemisphere, it happens in April.

During the breeding season, the buck establishes a rutting stand or a territory. He does this by attacking low-hanging branches and leaves with his antlers, groaning and grunting, scraping the ground, and urinating in the area. Each buck has its own distinctive vocalization that both warns other bucks away and entices females. If a buck enters another’s territory and refuses to leave, the two may fight by shoving their antlers together. The antlers might sustain damage, but a severe injury to the body is unusual. On the other hand, females visit the males’ territories and choose a mate. The male will sniff the female and “dance” around her to impress her before she allows him to copulate.

Sometimes a group of bucks will claim a small territory in an area. This area is called a lek.

Female fallow deer are polyestrous, which means that they can go into heat several times during the breeding season if they don’t become pregnant. However, the doe usually does become pregnant during her first heat. Does can become pregnant when they are 16 months old, even though they are not fully grown until they are between four and six years old. Males are fertile when they’re 17 months old, but due to the dominance of older males, they usually don’t have a chance at mating until they are four years old. Bucks are fully grown when they are between five and nine years old.

The doe is pregnant for around 230 days, or approximately 32 to 33 weeks. When the time comes to give birth, she’ll find a hiding place and then bear a single fawn, rarely twins. The baby weighs between 4.4 and 8.8 pounds, and its mother keeps it hidden in a thicket. She’ll leave to forage, then come back to nurse it every four hours or so. When the fawn is about a month old, its mother will introduce it to the herd of other mothers and their fawns. Bucks do not help care for fawns.

The mother starts to wean the fawn after about 20 days, and weaning is complete when the fawn is about seven months old. It is completely independent when it’s a year old.

Population

The fallow deer’s conservation status is Least Concern, and there are places where they are considered either livestock or an invasive species. The former is true in Pennsylvania and other states, while the latter is true in parts of California. There are at least 100,000 animals in Great Britain and 4,431 in Australia.

The Persian fallow deer is rare and considered endangered. It is only found in Israel and Iran. There are over a thousand of them as of 2021. The lifespan of this deer seems to be around 11 years in the wild, much less than the lifespan of D. dama.