Fallow Deer

• Order: Artiodactyls
• Family: Cervidae
• Genre: Lady
• Species: Lady lady (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Average weight: Males between 52 and 63 kg, females between 28 and 41 kg ..

BIOLOGY OF THE SPECIES

It is an animal smaller than the deer and of shorter head, with thin nose and of compact body; its total length varies from 1.30 to 1.50m.

The coat undergoes two changes per year: the summer coat lasts approximately 4 to 5 months, from mid-April to mid-September, when the animal acquires the winter coat that is kept during the rest of the year.

With the summer coat, the animal has a light brownish coloration with a slightly reddish color, with white patches scattered on the back and the lower part of the body clear. In winter, the spots disappear completely and the tone is generally of a dark brown Somewhat grayish; the remaining parts of the body retain the same colors, with a darker shade. The relatively long tail (about 15 cm) is white with a black central stripe on the outer face; the anal shield is also white in color and is flanked by two black bands.

The male is distinguished from the female by presenting a frame during most of the year; this is constituted in the adult animal by two protruding rods, rounded at the base. In the upper part of the flat area, several ends are developed. At 7 years, as in the Deer, the head reaches its characteristic shape. The fallow deer prefers areas with abundant trees and scrub, with areas of pasture. Feeding is very similar to that of the deer, varying essentially with the habitat.

It begins in early autumn and lasts for about a month. During this phase, males form harems (groups of females) of composition similar to deer. For the constitution of these groups, the male previously delimits the area in which it will settle with the females, impregnating with its scent trees and shrubs. Also in these deer are common the fighting between the males but they do not present the violence of the combats between deer. The brawn – the male’s challenge cry – is much less strong than the deer’s and shorter and intermittent; in the most intense phase of heat the hamster hoars during all hours of the day.

Outside the season of estrus, males and females separate, and the young remain up to one year old with their mothers. The fall of the stems which, like other cervids, occurs every year, occurs in March-April and the growth of new stems begins immediately.

Births begin in May and females stop a baby, rarely two. With the end of summer a new biological cycle begins.