Examples include the caribou that live in Arctic tundra and taiga (boreal forests) and moose that inhabit taiga and adjacent areas. Some deer have a circumpolar distribution in both North America and Eurasia. There are also several species of deer that are highly specialized and live almost exclusively in mountains, grasslands, swamps, and "wet" savannas, or riparian corridors surrounded by deserts. Small species of brocket deer and pudús of Central and South America, and muntjacs of Asia generally occupy dense forests and are less often seen in open spaces, with the possible exception of the Indian muntjac. Fallow deer have been introduced to South Africa. Another extinct species of deer, Megaceroides algericus, was present in North Africa until 6000 years ago. Adequate forest or brush cover must still be provided for populations to grow and thrive.ĭeer are widely distributed, with indigenous representatives in all continents except Antarctica and Australia, though Africa has only one native deer, the Barbary stag, a subspecies of red deer that is confined to the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of the continent. Access to adjacent croplands may also benefit deer. Clearing open areas within forests to some extent may actually benefit deer populations by exposing the understory and allowing the types of grasses, weeds, and herbs to grow that deer like to eat.
The majority of large deer species inhabit temperate mixed deciduous forest, mountain mixed coniferous forest, tropical seasonal/dry forest, and savanna habitats around the world. While often associated with forests, many deer are ecotone species that live in transitional areas between forests and thickets (for cover) and prairie and savanna (open space). The adjective of relation is cervine like the family name Cervidae, this is from Latin: cervus, meaning stag or deer.ĭeer live in a variety of biomes, ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest. The young of small species is a fawn and of large species a calf a very small young may be a kid. In older usage, the male of any species is a hart, especially if over five years old, and the female is a hind, especially if three or more years old. The male red deer is a stag, while for other large species the male is a bull, the female a cow, as in cattle. įor many types of deer in modern English usage, the male is a buck and the female a doe, but the terms vary with dialect, and according to the size of the species. All modern Germanic languages save English and Scots retain the more general sense: for example, Dutch/ Frisian dier, German Tier, and Norwegian dyr mean animal. This general sense gave way to the modern English sense by the end of the Middle English period, around 1500. Cognates of Old English dēor in other dead Germanic languages have the general sense of animal, such as Old High German tior, Old Norse djur or dȳr, Gothic dius, Old Saxon dier, and Old Frisian diar. Old English dēor and Middle English der meant a wild animal of any kind. The word deer was originally broad in meaning, becoming more specific with time. "The Stag Hunt of Frederick III, Elector of Saxony" by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529 Deer hunting has been a popular activity since the Middle Ages and remains a resource for many families today. Their economic importance includes the use of their meat as venison, their skins as soft, strong buckskin, and their antlers as handles for knives. The musk deer ( Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains ( Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia they are not especially closely related to Cervidae.ĭeer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, and they have played a role in mythology, religion, and literature throughout history, as well as in heraldry, such as red deer that appear in the coat of arms of Åland. In this, they differ from permanently horned antelope, which are part of a different family ( Bovidae) within the same order of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla). Male deer of all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer and the Capreolinae, including reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, roe deer, and moose. A deer ( PL: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant mammal of the family Cervidae.
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