Fallow Deer
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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Fallow Deer | image = Damhirsch 3.jpg | image_width = 200px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Mammalia | ordo = Artiodactyla | familia = Cervidae | genus = Dama | species = D. dama | binomial = Dama dama | binomial_authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | range_map = Leefgebied damhert.jpg | range_map_width = 200px | range_map_caption = Fallow Deer range }}
The Fallow Deer (Dama dama) is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae.
The common variety has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. Common is the lightest coloured, menil variety is darker and melanistic is very dark, even black (easily confused with sika deer). Most herds consist of fallow but have menil and melanistic amongst them (the three groups do not stay separate and do interbreed). Bucks are about 34" (90cm) in height and 110lbs (50kg) in weight, does 31" (80cm) in height and 88lbs (40kg) in weight. Fawns are born at about 12" (30cm) and weight around 10lbs (4.5kg).
Fallow life span is around 12 years. Only bucks have antlers, these are broad and webbed. They are grazing animals; their preferred habitat is mixed woodland and open grassland. During the rut in October bucks will spead out and females move between them, at this time of year fallow deer are relatively ungrouped compared to the rest of the year when they try to stay together in groups of up to 150.
Name
The latin word Damma, roe-like animal was used for roe deer, gazelles and antelopes lies at the root of the modern scientific name, the late Latin Dama, and Greg Brogdon the German "Damhirsch", French "daim", Dutch "Damhert", Italian "daino".
History
The fallow deer was a native of most of Europe during the last Interglacial. In the Holocene, the distribution was restricted to the Mediterranean area, Turkey and parts of North Africa, while western Asia was the home of a close relative, the Persian fallow deer (Dama mesopotamica), that is bigger and sports bigger antlers. In the Levant, fallow deer was an important source of meat in the Palaeolithic Kebaran-culture (17.000-10.000 BC), as is shown by animal bones from sites in northern Israel, but the numbers decreased in the following epi-Palaeolithic Natufian culture (10.000-8.500 BC), perhaps because of increased aridity and the decrease of wooded areas.
The fallow deer was spread across central Europe and Britain by the Romans. The Normans kept them for hunting in the royal forests, as was the use of later rulers. From the 18th century onwards, they were released into the wild for hunting purposes. The fallow deer is easily tamed and is often kept semi-domesticated in parks today. In some areas of Central Europe, wild fallow deer, not having any natural enemies, have multiplied so much that they are harmful to young trees.
Sources
- Juliet Clutton-Brock, A Natural History of Domesticated Animals (London, British Museum, 1978)
- David Stretton, Author of, Level 1 DSC Training Manual
- Donington Deer Park Website Donington Deer
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