Red Deer

Name: Red Deer

Scientific name: Cervus elaphus

Category: Mammals

Nature Stars: 60

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About:

Our largest deer, standing more than 1 metre tall at the shoulder. Males have large, branching antlers, increasing in size as the male gets older. Red Deer are dark russet-brown in colour, with a paler buff rump patch and a pale tail. In the autumn breeding season, known as the rut, males bellow to proclaim their territory and will fight over the females, sometimes injuring each other with their sharp antlers. The Red Deer lives on moorland and mountainsides as well as grasslands near to woodland. They can also be seen in many deer parks throughout the country.

Go to the red deer's Beast of the Month page for more fantastic facts!

How to identify: A herd of large, sturdy but elegant deer with larger, branching antlers on a moorland will be Red Deer.

Where: Common in Scotland. Also found in the Lake District, Exmoor, the New Forest and Thetford Forest.

Natural Superpowers

• Predator: 10
• Agility: 70
• Rarity: 70
• Cute factor: 60
• Traveller: 60

Fantastic fact: A male Red Deer is called a Stag, the female is a Hind.

Photograph credit: Wildstock