Home > Species > Large Herbivore database > Deer (Artiodactyla Cervidae Cervinae) > Fallow Deer
Jump to page sections:
Scientific name
Dama dama
Common name
Fallow Deer
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Species information
Physical characteristics
| Body Length | 140-160 cm |
| Body Height | 90-100 cm |
| Tail Length | - |
| Weight | 30-85 kg |
The male Fallow Deer 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. 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 the colour of their coats, with four main variants, "common", "menil", "melanistic" and "white" - a genuine colour variety, not albinistic. The common coat variation has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. Most herds consist of the common coat variation, yet it is not rare to see animals of the menil, melanistic and white coat variations as well.
Only bucks have antlers, these are broad and shovel-shaped. They are grazing animals; their preferred habitat is mixed woodland and open grassland. Source: Wikipedia.
Habitat, behaviour, food and reproduction
Habitat
This is a highly adaptable species that can survive in a wide range of habitats, including forest, shrubland, grassland, pastureland and plantations.
Reproduction
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. Fawns are born in spring at about 30 cm and weigh around 4,5 kg. The life span is around 12-16 years. Source: Wikipedia
Predation
Wolf and Brown bear.
Population size and trends
World population
Most introduced populations in Europe are stable.
Turkey
However, in its native range in Turkey, this species has suffered severe declines and has disappeared most of its former distribution. There is only one surviving population of Dama dama that is considered to be an original native population. This population is restricted to Telmessos National Park in Turkey and numbers fewer than 30 individuals, with apparently fewer than ten animals remaining outside the fenced area. It has declined by over 50% in the last ten years and is genetically distinct from Dama dama occurring elsewhere.
Greece
The population of Dama dama on Rhodes has not been subject to any systematic research on population size. The distribution range of fallow deer on Rhodes is about 550 km², and a subjective estimate of the population size ranges between 400 - 800 individuals. Masseti estimated that there were 400-500 animals on Rhodes. There are recent signs of population recovery on Rhodes.
Fallow deer on Rhodes
Fallow deer on Rhodes
| Area | Numbers | Development |
|---|---|---|
| World | Unknown | Stable |
| Greece, Rhodes | 400 – 800 | Unknown |
| Turkey, Telmessos National Park | <30 | Decreasing |
Distribution: maps, historical and current
Further map information
Historical distribution
The European or common fallow deer, Dama dama dama, belongs to those species of the Western Palaearctic mammalian fauna whose history in the early Holocene is still far from understood. It was previously believed that Dama dama dama was excluded from most of the European mainland before the last interglacial, and its post-Pleistocene natural occurrence in western Europe had not been proven. However, current knowledge suggests that this species survived the Pleistocene in Sicily, in the southern Balkan peninsula, and in southern Anatolia.
Source: (Masseti & Rustioni, 1988; Masseti, 1996, 1999).
Current distribution
ama dama is a western Palaearctic species. Its original range is unclear, but current knowledge suggests that Turkey and southern Europe (southern Italy, Sicily and the southern Balkan peninsula) were the post-glacial refuges of the species, though the palaeontological and archaeozoological evidence of the species' diffusion in all these areas is very fragmentary.
Records from Iran and the Middle East refer to Dama mesopotamica.
Only one undoubtedly natural wild population survives, in the Düzlerçami Game Reserve in the Termessos National Park in southern Turkey, though this is now largely fenced. Other populations in Turkey, at Ayvalik Adalar, Gokova, Adakoy and Stavros-tis-Psokas appear to have died out in recent years.
The population on the island of Rhodes, Greece, is said to have been introduced in Neolithic times. Certainly, fossils of fallow deer on Rhodes go back to Neolithic times, and there are no signs of prolonged periods of domestication, and so it could be considered a native population.
The population on Cyprus was introduced in the 20th century.
The animals on Rhodes are genetically very distinct from all others, as are those in Termessos National Park.
Scattered populations
The species was introduced to the western Mediterranean by the Phoenicians, and to central and northern Europe by the Romans and Normans. However, most of the currently existing populations in Europe result from much more recent introductions (with the exception of some older ones in, for example, the United Kingdom, and at Castel Porziano in Italy).
The distribution in Europe is much more scattered and patchy than indicated on the map (which shows its general extent of occurrence). Furthermore, most European populations are fenced and closely managed, and there are rather few truly free-ranging populations (though some are in the United Kingdom). The population on Rhodes is, however, free-ranging.
Fenced populations
In most places the fallow deer is managed as a park animal, as almost the whole of its present geographic range is attributable to humans. In Portugal, for example, most of the specimens occur within confined areas, such as parks and private hunting areas, and apart from a few scattered individuals there is no wild population. Also in other areas such as Sicily and Calabria (Italy) there are only fenced and managed populations. Most European animals (with the excepton those in Termessos National Park and on Rhodes) are essentially descended from domestic stock, and there are colour varieties that are considered to be a result of domestication.
Introduced populations
More recently, the species has been introduced to many countries worldwide (not included in the distribution map), including South Africa, Australia, New Zealand (considered a pest there), the United States, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, as well as islands in Fijian group, the Lesser Antilles, and off the Pacific coast of Canada.
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Threats
There are no major threats to this species in Europe.
In the species' native range, hunting and habitat conversion for agriculture caused massive declines in the past.
Turkey
The tiny remaining population in the native range in Turkey is at risk from inbreeding and hunting.
Rhodes
The Rhodian population is also at risk form poaching and from the incidence of large fires. In the future there might be the threat of outbreeding depression, as there is a tendency people on Rhodes to keep fallow deer of European origin in fenced areas, which, if they escape, could breed with the wild animals. Furthermore, damage to summer crops on Rhodes, attributable to fallow deer, has been recorded, and as there is no compensation system for damage caused by deer damages, persecution of animals could take place. Also, there is a reduction in water resources on the island due to climatic change, and this could affect the animals.
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Conservation information
IUCN Red List
Least Concern: ver 3.1
EU habitat directive
-
CITES
-
EU Wildlife trade regulation EC Reg. 338/97
-
Bern convention
Appendix III, protected fauna species
Bonn convention
-
Conservation status
As a result of introductions by the Phoenicians, Romans, and Normans, it is a widespread and abundant species in Europe, hence is listed as Least Concern. However, in its Turkish native range this species is under serious threat.
It occurs in a large number of protected areas. The main conservation priority for this species is to protect the surviving native population in the Düzlerçami Game Reserve in the Termessos National Park in southern Turkey. This will require strong anti-poaching measures, recovery management, captive breeding and re-introductions.
The population on Rhodes is also very important genetically and should also be the focus of conservation programmes. The free-ranging animals on Rhodes are protected by Greek law. Although poaching is still taking place, this is to a much lesser extent than was the case in the past. Thanks to more effective control of poaching, as well as the reduced number of large fires on the island, the fallow deer population seems to have recovered and regained much of its former range (up until 1960 it occurred in almost all of the rural and natural areas on the island).
A fallow deer conservation plan for Greece is now needed, which should include:
- the establishment of a population and habitat monitoring program
- the creation of a compensation system as well as a monitoring programme for agricultural damage caused by deer
- the introduction of fallow deer of Rhodian origin to other places in Greece
- the implementation of public awareness and participatory programmes for the conservation of the species
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Library
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Experts and scientific referees
For more detailed information view the 'Fallow Deer - Dama dama' page on to the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
Bilgin, C. Can
Ovis gmelini, Dama dama, Reintroduction, mountains, PVA, GIS
Middle East Technical University
Middle East Technical University
Can, Ozgun Emre
wildlife biologist, Turkish species
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
www.wildcru.org
Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford
www.wildcru.org
Chapman, Norma
Fallow deer Muntjac, other deer to lesser extent
McElligott, Alan
Ecology and behavioural biology, Biological and experimental psychology and Ungulate conservation
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary, University of London
www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/staff/alanmcelligott.html
School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary, University of London
www.sbcs.qmul.ac.uk/staff/alanmcelligott.html
Vreugdenhil, Stefan
Mammal research institute Arnhem, The Netherlands (Zoogdiervereniging)
www.zoogdiervereniging.nl/node/86
www.zoogdiervereniging.nl/node/86
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Sources
Masseti M, Rustioni M.
1988, Considerazioni preliminari sulla diffusione di Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) durante le epoche tardiglaciale e postglaciale nell’Italia mediterranea., Studi per l’Ecologia del Quaternario , 10: 93–119
Masseti M.
1998, Holocene and anthropochorous wild mammals of the Mediterranean islands. , Anthropozoologica , 28: 3–20
Masseti M.
1999, The European fallow deer, Dama dama (L., 1758), in the Aegean region. , Contributions to the Zoo- Geographyraphy and Ecology of the Eastern Mediterranean Region 1, (Suppl.): 17–30.
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
All comments on Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
-
Hans Kampf wrote on 13/07/2010 11:32am (2 years ago):
Dr. Alan McElligott, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London asked us by e-mail:
One of my work colleagues here (Fanis Missirlis) is Greek and he discovered a Greek researcher involved in work on fallow deer on Rhodes (Anastasios Legakis). I wrote to Dr. Lagakis, but did not receive a reply.
THE QUESTION:
I have worked on the behavioural ecology of fallow deer for quite a few years. My publications are listed here - http://sites.google.com/site/alanmcelligott/publications
Let me know if you would like pdf copies of any papers. The numbers 26 and 22 on this list are "open access". So, anyone could access them from anywhere. They are fallow deer behavioural biology papers rather than conservation ones.
I recently became concerned about the fallow deer on Rhodes, because I heard that they are perhaps threatened with extinction. They seem to represent an extremely important genetic group for fallow deer, so this would be a great shame if it happened. I am really happy to know that there is ongoing research on these animals.
Are the animals deer living all over Rhodes or in some parks? -
Hans Kampf wrote on 07/07/2010 2:38pm (2 years ago):
====================
Roland Wirtz wrote by e-mail:
Hi Wolfgang,
just back from the EAZA Conservation Forum, where Hans Kampf, Executive Director of the Large Herbivore Foundation ( see www.largeherbivore.org) Simon Stuart and I talked about the last pure fallow deer in Turkey and Rhodes. Simon Stuart, by the way, is fully aware of the fallow deer problem and it is also mentioned on the Red list site (see entry for Fallow deer at www.iuncredlist.org) - in fact Simon started to raise the issue with Hans.
Hans is keen to communicate to you about this.
Hans wants to start some efforts for the Fallow deer.
===========================================
Hans Kampf reflected:
dear Wolfgang and Ronald
Thank you very much for the good talk we have had. I am also very worried about the numbers of the pure fallow deer. I was mailed a couple of months ago by Alan McElligot: http://www.largeherbivore.org/person/show/amcelligott about the fallow deer at Rhodos. I am also looking forward to get contact with Emre Can again, since we have met each other in Turkey. Could you bring me again in contact with Emre?
The website is developed in a way that everyone with a password can enter the interactive discussion.
The website is an open source website, with WIKI-like possibilities. If you have comments or information or if you would like to start a discussion about a species or a landscape etc., please put your comments direct on the website, where the discussion should have to take place. We are still in a trial and error phase, but the subjects Wolfgang mentioned are very interesting to start with. I am very pleased to play the role of mediator.
We have about 35 species in our region, I hope that the support network can be developed in such a way that we get interest groups for the important species, so that we get a more and more improved website community, with the most actual situation and clear needs what has to be done, besides a number of priority issues, such as E. bison in Europe. That would become the base for further (internal and external) communication and fundraising.
====================================
Roland Wirtz wrote by e-mail:
Thank you, Hans, for following up on this right away. Wolfgang has the contact details for Emre Can, he wil lsurely provide these to you.
You might perhaps consider, throuzh EAZA, to get in touch with the two leading zoos in Turkey and Greece (Attika Zoo near Athens and Bursa Zoo in Turkey) - these zoos might in some way or another perhaps be interested in assisting with conservation of the native Fallow deer in their countries. I don't know the people at theses zoos, but people at the EAZA office will undoubteldy be able to give you names. Koen Brouwer, former Director of the EAZA office and now based in Spain is, as far as I know , still doing consultancy work for Bursa zoo, hence he might be another contact (if you want, ask for Koen's mail address as well at the EAZA office).
The problem really is that NOBODY really is aware of this conservation issue relating to the 'common' Fallow Deer, so lobbying even the "experts" (the people in zoos, conservation, sience) etc is important.
==================================================================
Wolfgang wrote Emere Can:
Dear Emre,
Hans Kampf (ECNC, The Large Herbivores, Eurasian Support Network), Roland Wirth (Munich Zoological Society - ZGAP) and I are concerned about reports claiming that there are less than 40 individuals of the unique fallow deer left in Turkey. This is the only surviving autochthonous population of this species and an outstanding part of the natural heritage of your country and also of Europe as a whole. We are interested in supporting its recovery and therefore would be very obliged for any information about plans and activities of the appropriate authorities concerning this matter.
The new issue of the journal of ZGAP will go to the printers by the end of this month. In order to draw attention to the subject in question it would be very helpful to include a note on the situation of the Turkish fallow deer and if possible also to add a picture.
Any help you can provide us concerning this important conservation issue would be appreciatied.
Thank you very much for your kind cooperation.
========================================
Roland Wirth mailed:
Dear Hans and Simon,
Wolfgang Frey already found out that:
(a) The present stock of original Fallow Deer in Turkey is presently around 100 in the enclosure and an estimated 30 in the protected area nearby. The number is 30 is based on very poor date (could be less or more)
(b) One stag of the semi-domestic stock, that exists across Europe was introduced to the population years ago (by local authorities, who obviously don't realize the genetic importance of their population). It is not certain though that this animal really bred and spread ist genes in the population.
(b) In addition to poaching and poor population management the risk of further wll-meant but totally ill-guided population augmentation with semi-domestic Fallow Deer imported form wherever in Europe is seemingly a major risk and could happen anytime.
Wolfgang is trying to find out more.
Obviously the population on Rhodes Island is potentially very important (and if the stag introduced in Turkey years ago did breed, it might be the last pure population on the planet).
Neither I nor Wolfgang have any contacts in Greece. Any suggesteion of people one cold contact to help with this in Greece (or who at least could giude us to people in Greece who might have an interest in this) ?
Best wishes,
Roland
Simon N. Stuart PhD, Chair IUCN Species Survival Commission commented:
==================================
Dear Roland,
Many thanks for this. I find it impossible to imagine that, over the last 2,000 years, wild fallow deer in Turkey have not on occasion interbred with animals of domestic origin. So in that sense, probably no animals can be considered to be 100% representative of the original wild fallow deer in a genetic sense. So the semi-domestic stag we know about was probably only the latest in many such incidents going back to ancient times. I think we have to admit that the animals in Turkey are simply the closest thing we have to wild European Fallow Deer.
The animals introduced to Rhodes, apparently in Neolithic times, represent the other significant population that might be genetically close to wild animals (though outside the natural range). The person who has really studied this issue in depth is Marco Messeti - marco.masseti@unifi.it. I see that a certain D. Mertzanidou contributed the Greek information to the Red List. I don't know this person, but I'm sure we could track down him/her if you wish.
I have copied various people from the Deer SG here, because there is clearly a cloud over the current IUCN Red List status of this species (see http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/42188/0). Its current Red List status is Least Concern, and this can only be justified if we include animals in mainland southern Europe (supposedly in the natural range) as wild. I know that Marco was not happy with the assessment, and I wonder if the RL assessment should be based on the Turkish population alone. So over to the DSG on this one!
Concerning the conservation of the animals in Turkey, you might want to contact Guven Eken, who runs Doga Dernegi, an important conservation NGO in Turkey. His email address is guven.eken@dogadernegi.org.
I hope this helps, and all the best,
Simon N. Stuart PhD, Chair IUCN Species Survival Commission
=============================
Roland Wirth:
Thank you, Simon. I have copied Marco Masseti as well now. Right, of course, previous interbreeding could have happened, but based on Masseti's data of a significant genetic uniqueness of the Turkish and Rhodes population, it would not seem to have had a major influence. I haven't seen any photos of these animals, but hear they also look somewhat different from the introduced populations across Europe.
Taking, therefore, morphological and genetic date into consideration (and further accepting Helmut Hemmer's conclusion that many semi-captive or introduced populations show signs of beginning domestication) one could make a point of treating the populations on Rhodes and Turkey as different from the other populations as for example African wild asses from domestic donkeys (well, not quite as different, but clearly along the same route).
If, the Deer Group (of which, incidentally, I am also still a member) therefore would adopt the separation of the Turkish/Rhodes population versus the rest based on the above arguments, we would immediately get a red list status of some level for the 'original' Fallow Deer - an important first step to draw wider attention to the conservation of the Rhodes/Turkish population.
I am sure a press release on this 'surprise status' of a species considered very common by almost everybody might be picked up widely across Europe and perhaps catalyze action.
What does everybody think ?
Best wishes,
Roland
================
Post your comment
Only users with an account can post comments.
- If you have an account login by clicking here.
- If you like to participate in the discussion, you can request an account by contacting LHNet. Please provide a short description of your background with your request.
Comments