The fallow deer Cervus (Dama) dama
The fallow deer is a medium-sized animal: adult males stand 85 to 100 cm at the shoulders and weigh up to 100 kilograms. Their body length is about 140 cm. Broad head sharply narrowing at the small nose, long pointed ears and large brown eyes add to the beauty of the fallow deer. Its neck is relatively short measuring about the half of the body length. The fallow deer has thicker body and shorter neck and ears as compared to other deer species. It also yields to other deer in their abilities of fast running and skilful jumping. The fallow deer were originally native to Mediterranean region but at later they were artificially spread across Europe, including Great Britain, southern Sweden, and Norway. Fallow deer are mostly found in deciduous and mixed woodlands on the plains and foothills with diverse vegetation and thin snow cover in winter. These animals usually do much of their foraging during the day staying in small groups and keeping close to the forest clearings, where they graze on leaves and sprouts of threes and bushes though they can also eat herbs. The fallow deer tend to pick tree bark more often than other deer species and may constantly damage trees. The rut in the fallow deer starts in late summer or early autumn; gestation in females lasts about 8 months. The fawns are absolutely helpless at birth; they usually hide in high grass during their first days of life. The males begin growing their antlers from the age of six months. Adult males shed their antlers in May, and new antlers become solid by August or September.
