Deer
There are 6 types of deer in GB and only 2 of them are native to great britain which are the Roe deer and Red deer, the exotic deer are the ones that are not native to the country and in which this includes: Fallow deer, Reeves muntjac deer, Chinese water deer and the Sika deer
Roe Deer
(Capreolus capreolus)
The Roe deer when adult they weigh 10-25KG and are 60-70CM at shoulder.
The Bucks(Male) are sligtly larger than Does(Females)
Colouring: Summer:reddish brown. Winter:grey, pale brown or (occasionally) black.
The Does live 6-7 years and bucks rarely exceed 5 years; But the lifespan max is 16 years.
Roe deer feed on grass and herbs, brambles, ivy, heather, bilberry and coniferous tree shoots.
Red deer
(Cervus elaphus)
The red deer is our largest land mammal at adult(Stags) 90-190KG, 107-137CM at shoulder (females) 63-120kg, up to 107-122cm at shoulder.
Also deer in the open hill in Scotland are smaller than thoose is the lowland English woodland.
Exceptionally up to 18 years old.
Red deer fed on grasses, heather, bilberry, woody browse E.G tree shoots, is taken where food is limited like in the winter for example.
Chinese Water Deer
(Hydropotes inermis)
Adult size. 11 to 18 kg, 50 to 55cm at shoulder. Little variation between genders.
the Chinese water deer are russet-brown in summer pale to grey-brown in the winter.
The Chinese water deer have no antlers instead the males have long canine teeth like sabres.
Theese deer are mainly found in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, with a few scattered sighting else where.
They live up to 6 years but 40% of fawns die within 4 weeks of life.
they're Selective feeders that take small morsels from nutritious plants, especially herbs but may take woody browse, grasses and sedges if food is limited.
Fallow Deer
(Dama dama)
Red in color with white fawn like spots over body (becoming long and grey with indistinct spots in winter)on the flanks and white rump patch outlined with characteristic black horse-shoe.The Menil variety is paler, lacks the black bordered rump and keeps its white spots all year. The black variety is almost entirely black with no white coloration anywhere. Finally, the white variety can be white to sandy coloured and becomes more white at adulthood. This is a true colour variety and not albinism, which is rare. The fallow is the only British deer with palmate antlers.
Adult size. Bucks (males):46 to 94KG at shoulder,84 to 94CM. Does (females):35 to 56KG ,73 to 91CM at shoulder
Can live up to 16 years, bucks (males) rarely exceed 8 to 10 years.
Preferential grazers of grasses although trees and dwarf shrub shoots will be taken during autumn and winter. |
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