Name

Red deer

Scientific Name

Cervus elaphus

Characteristics

The Red deer is the largest native land animal to be found in the UK.

Male Red deer are known as stags and females as does, their young are called fawns. A doe usually gives birth to one fawn each year but occasionally can have twins.

The coat is reddish brown in summer but becomes brown or grey in winter. Only stags have antlers which grow in the spring and shed in the winter. The males are larger in size than the females and have impressive branched antlers that can reach up to 1 meter in width. During the spring, a soft coating protects the new antler growth, this is called velvet.

Diet

Their diet consists of shrubs, tree browse, grasses, sedges and rushes, as well as heather. 

Size Fact

Antlers are made of bone and grow 2.5 centimeters a day.

Food Fact

Young feed on their mother’s milk until 8 months of age.

Fun Fact

Males have roaring contests during the mating season.

IUCN Red list

Red deer are classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. They are protected in the UK by the Deer Act 1991.

Where do I live?

Red deer occupy a range of habitats across the UK, including grassland, woodland and upland moors.  They are one of six species of deer living wild in Great Britain.