The
Fallow Deer (
Dama dama) is a
ruminantPhysiologically, a ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first stomach, known as the rumen, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again. The process of rechewing the cud to...
mammalMammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose females are characterized by the possession of mammary glands while both males and females are characterized by sweat glands, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain.Mammals are divided into three main...
belonging to the family Cervidae.
The male is a buck, the female is a doe, and the young a fawn. Bucks are 140-160 cm long and 90-100 cm shoulder height, and 60-85 kg in weight; does are 130-150 cm long and 75-85 cm shoulder height, and 30-50 kg in weight. Fawns are born in spring at about 30 cm and weigh around 4.5 kg. The life span is around 12-16 years. All of the Fallow deer have white spots on their backs, and black tips at the ends of their tails.
The species has great variations in colour, with four main variants, "common", "menil", "melanistic" and "white" - a genuine colour variety and not a true
albinisticAlbinism is a form of hypopigmentary congenital disorder, characterized by a partial or total lack of melanin pigment in the eyes, skin and hair, or more rarely...
which is extremely rare. The common form has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. The white is the lightest coloured, almost white; common and menil are darker, and melanistic is very dark, even black (easily confused with the
Sika DeerThe Sika Deer is a member of the deer family Cervidae that inhabits much of East Asia. It is found in mixed deciduous forests to the north, and mixed subtropical deciduous and evergreen forests to the south. The Sika Deer are closely related to Red Deer, Central Asian Red Deer and elk...
). Most herds consist of the common form but have menil form and melanistic form animals amongst them (the three groups do not stay separate and interbreed readily).
Only bucks have antlers, these are broad and shovel-shaped. They are grazing animals; their preferred habitat is mixed woodland and open grassland. During the rut bucks will spread 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.
Distribution and history
The Fallow Deer was a native of most of Europe during the last Interglacial. In the
HoloceneThe Holocene is a geological epoch which began approximately 11 700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Neogene and Quaternary periods. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely...
, the distribution was restricted to the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and possibly also parts of the Mediterranean region, while further southeast in western Asia was the home of a close relative, the
Persian Fallow DeerThe Persian Fallow Deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. It is a subspecies of Fallow Deer.-Description:Persian fallow deer are bigger than Fallow Deer, their antlers bigger and less palmated...
(
Dama mesopotamica), that is bigger and has larger antlers. In the
LevantThe Levant describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the south by...
, Fallow Deer were an important source of meat in the Palaeolithic
KebaranThe Kebaran was an archaeological culture in the eastern Mediterranean area , named after the type site, Kebara Cave south of Haifa...
-culture (17000-10000 BC), as is shown by animal bones from sites in northern Israel, but the numbers decreased in the following epi-Palaeolithic
Natufian cultureThe Natufian culture existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant. It was a Mesolithic culture, but unusual in that it was sedentary, or semi-sedentary, before the introduction of agriculture. The Natufian communities are possibly the ancestors of the builders of the first Neolithic...
(10000-8500 BC), perhaps because of increased aridity and the decrease of wooded areas.
The Fallow Deer was spread across central Europe by the Romans. Until recently it was thought that the Normans introduced them to Great Britain and to Ireland for hunting in the
royal forestA royal forest is an area of land where certain rights are reserved for a monarch or the aristocracy, usually set aside for hunting . The concept was introduced by the Normans to England in the 11th century, and at the height of this practice in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, fully...
s. However recent finds at
Fishbourne Roman PalaceFishbourne Roman Palace, in the village of Fishbourne in West Sussex, England is an important Roman archaeological site in Roman Britain. The large palace was built in the 1st century AD, around thirty years after the Roman conquest of Britain on the site of a Roman army supply base established at...
show that Fallow Deer were introduced into southern England in the first century AD. It is not known whether these escaped to form a feral colony, or whether they died out and were reintroduced by the Normans.
The Fallow Deer is easily tamed and is often kept semi-domesticated in parks today. In more recent times, Fallow Deer have also been introduced in parts of the United States. In some areas of Central Georgia, wild fallow deer, not having any natural enemies, have increased to numbers that cause serious damage to young trees. Fallow Deer have also been introduced in Texas, along with many other exotic deer species, where they are often hunted on large game ranches.
One noted historical herd of fallow deer is located in the
OttenbyOttenby is a nature reserve at the southern tip of the island of Öland in Sweden. Ottenby was previously a royal game reserve stocked with fallow deer, and King Charles X Gustav of Sweden built a drystone wall to confine the native deer...
Preserve in
Öland' is the second largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area of 1,342 km² and is located in the Baltic Sea just off the coast of Småland. There are 25,000 inhabitants on the island and it is connected to the mainland across the Kalmar Strait...
, Sweden where Karl X Gustav erected a drystone wall some four kilometres long to enclose a royal fallow deer herd in the mid 1600s; the herd still exists as of 2006.
Another is
Phoenix ParkPhoenix Park is the largest enclosed urban public park in Europe located 3 km to the north west of Dublin city centre in Ireland. It measures , with a walled circumference of 16 km that contains large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues. The park has been home to a herd of wild...
in Ireland where a herd of 400-450 fallow deer descend from the original herd introduced in the 1660s.
Name
The Latin word
dāma or
damma, used for
roe deerThe European Roe Deer is a deer species of Europe, Asia Minor, and Caspian coastal regions. There is a separate species known as the Siberian Roe Deer that is found from the Ural Mountains to as far east as China and Siberia...
,
gazelleA gazelle is any of many antelope species currently or formerly in the genus Gazella. Six species are included in two genera which were formerly considered subgenera...
s, and
antelopeAntelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species found in the family Bovidae. The term does not refer to a monophyletic group, as not all members of Bovidae are considered antelope. Instead, the term refers to a ‘miscellaneous’ group within the family encompassing the species which...
s, lies at the root of the modern scientific name, and the German
Damhirsch, French
daim, Dutch
damhert, and Italian
daino. In Croatian and Serbian, the name for the fallow deer is
jelen lopatar ("shovel deer"), due to the form of its antlers. The Hebrew name of the fallow deer,
yahmur (יחמור), comes from the
Aramaic languageAramaic is a Semitic language with a 3,000-year history. It has been the language of administration of empires and the language of divine worship...
. In Aramaic language,
hamra (חמרא), means "red" or "brown".
Metaphorical meaning
In the well-known 16th Centurty English folk ballad "
The Three Ravens"The Three Ravens" is an English language folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that. More recent versions were recorded right up through the 19th century. Francis James Child recorded several versions in...
", the term "fallow doe" is used metaphorically, as meaning "a young woman".
- Downe there comes a fallow Doe,
- As great with yong as she might goe,
Further reading
- FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPER 27. (1982). Deer farming guidelines on practical aspects. ISBN 92-5-101137-0. Retrieved on 04 January 2008.
- Clutton-Brock, J. (1978). A Natural History of Domesticated Animals. London, British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
.
- Lyneborg, L. (1971). Mammals [of Europe]. ISBN 0-7137-0548-5.
- Level 1 DSC Training Manual. http://www.eskdalewildlife.com/training.html
External links