Things you need to know about FALLOW DEER!
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- Опубліковано 13 січ 2023
- Although they are not native to the UK, Fallow deer are the most widespread and according to some sources are also the most common type of deer that lives here. They are the second largest species with males, which are known as bucks growing to 46 to 93 kilos in weight and to 90cm tall at the shoulder. Females, which are known as does, are slightly smaller growing to around 80 cm tall and to weights of 35 to 56 kilos. They come in four main colour types: Tan, Menil, Melanistic and white.
Fallow deer have 2 distinct features that set them apart from all the other deer in this country. Firstly, they have long tails at 14 to 21cm in length. These are often outlined with white surrounded by a darker horse shoe pattern and secondly, the bucks are the only type of deer that grow palmate antlers. This means they are similar in shape to an open hand unlike the branched antlers of a red deer as seen here. These antlers can grow to 70cm in length and are shed and re-grown every year. It takes 4 years on average for a buck to be old enough to grow full antlers and in their younger years they instead grow smaller, less palmate antlers.
Fallow deer can be seen in a variety of habitats but they are most numerous in deciduous or mixed woodlands with large clearings. They can form large herds, especially where they are stocked into deer parks but feral populations are mostly seen in smaller groups, which usually consist of all males or all females. 60%of their diet is made up of grass which they supplement with leaves, herbs, and fruits and nuts throughout the autumn.
The Fallow deer rutting season runs from mid to late September until the beginning of November and it is during this time that the adult males will compete with one another for the right to mate. They begin by announcing their presence and intent with a deep repetitive belching noise. This is often followed up with side by side walking and posturing but if this isn’t enough, then they have no other choice but to engage in head to head, antler to antler combat. These fights can be ferocious and can rarely result in serious injury or even death. Once the winner has been determined, he will mate with the present and receptive does. Each doe is pregnant for around 230 days meaning she will give birth in June or July. The young are known as fawns and each doe will only give birth to one per year. For the first three to 4 months, the fawns will stay in a hidden spot, usually among tall grass and vegetation, only emerging every few hours when their mothers come to feed them. After this time they join their mothers herd and begin to gradually switch from a diet of just milk to the same vegetation based diet as their mothers and they are fully weaned at 7 to 9 months old. At this point the young males will usually leave their mothers and join male only groups whilst young does might stay with their mother herd for life.
As I mentioned earlier, fallow deer are not native to the UK and were first introduced to Britain around the in the roman period. At the fall of the roman empire, genetic studies have shown that these deer went extinct here and it wasn’t until the 11th century that they were reintroduced from the eastern Mediterranean. These would have been kept in deer parks and it wasn’t until the 15th century when these fell out of fashion that the deer escaped and began breeding in the wild.
Fallow deer bucks have an average lifespan of 8 to 10 years and does usually live a bit longer at 12 to 16 years. The oldest fallow deer on record died in 2006 at 21 years of age.
@WatchRWildlife provided some of the footage in this video, visit their channel for raw wildlife footage.
@HansKasza allowed me to use their fallow deer fawn footage, the original can be found here: • 💚 Cute Fallow Deer Ca...
Some of the other footage and images used in this video were obtained using creative commons licences, the originals and their licence details can be found at:
• Fallow Deer (Dama dama)
• Fallow Deer Herd, Part 1
• Fallow Deer Herd, Part 2
• 2 Fallow Deer Bucks Fi...
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• Fallow Deer, Dama Dama...
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• FaunaView: Fallow Deer...
• Free for Commercial U...
• deer st leonards fores...
• Deer in Phoenix Park, ...
• Video
• Video
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• E5D 4139 The Rut
www.flickr.com/photos/markset...
“Red Deer" by chapmankj75 is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Andy Morffew pxhere.com/en/photo/268599
#ukwildlife #deer #britishwildlife - Домашні улюбленці та дикі тварини
Fallows are living the greaf life at Castlbar Co Mayo Ireland(Eire)🏴👌🏻🇮🇪👌🏻🏴
I LOVE ANIMALS.
What a fascinating video. I’m lucky enough to live on a rural farm and see Fallow deer virtually every day. 🦌
Thank you. I'm not at all jealous of your rural location....
I mean you can see them everywhere
@@Bignfluffy what a 1st class 🛎️ end
@@vetworkerso offended 😂😂 first class prat🤡
@@Bignfluffy keep crying you big baby
Nice one, Liam. I normally see Roe deer or occasionally Muntjac when I'm out. Always a treat whichever. Adorable creatures
Cheers Ludwig, I am not sure how I missed this comment but im glad you get to see some of these species where you are.
That's 48 things I've learned. I really enjoy your channel, with all your amazing facts about wildlife. 🥰
Thanks Peter. I'm glad to be able to share some of our amazing nature with you.
Beautiful animals , you're videos awsome very good narrating
Thank you John, I'm glad you enjoyed this video.
Regards. I've been watching fallow deer in the movies lately.
Bambi 😊❤️
Cracking video keep the good work up Liam. 👌
Thank you!
Beautiful creatures very majestic, I love seeing deer out on my walks there is something very special about them ❤ thank you again for the informative video
Thanks Angela! They do have an almost mystical presence, especially if you catch them in the early morning light. (Sorry for my late reply, better late than never I guess?)
Love your vlog, you always give ample time & and information. Cute, beautiful & graceful animal
Thank you!
To avoid running over Fallow Deer,
IF you see any crossing the road ahead of you,
remember that, they have a habit of,
just following the one in front of them, (fawns are prone to doing this)
so if you see any Fallow Deer crossing the road ahead of you,
dont just assume that because that herd has crossed the road,
its safe to drive on, as there's a chance that there may be stragglers
emerging from the side of the road that may simply bolt across the road,
to join the rest of their herd,.
This is good advice. So many times I have seen it where a car will think the deer have all crossed just for another one to hurriedly run out.
Another great video, thanks, Liam.
Thank you!
Thanks so much!!
This is very interesting, thank you for this amazing information. 🦌
Thanks Susie, I am glad you enjoyed the video!
Good one! Thank you.
You forgot to mention the spots. When do they turn white? The Fallow Deer in Texas is new to me. I have always seen Mule or White Tail. Again,
Thank you.
thank you
Thank you!
Another great video, thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks.
@@AShotOfWildlife I did thank you. Can you please make a "Things you should know about" video on the grass snake and adder? I know you have covered the grass snake in one of your previous videos, but it would be good to learn more about them. Thank you very much in advance.
@@auroraborealis2442 sure thing. I tried to track down adders last year and will try again this year. I added "things you need to know about grass snakes" to my future video list yesterday funnily. I'll gey it done in time for when they emerge in the spring :)
Great content
that was a great video Liam, packed with some great information. Enjoy the rest of your week :)
Thanks Calvin! Enjoy the rest of your week too!
Thanks for the great video Liam, I didn't know that there was 4 different colour types of Fallow deer, I always learn something new from you 😀
Thanks Raymond. Glad to be of assistance :)
Hi Liam brilliant video thanks again for your videos always full of great information love the way you put the information across and the amazing wildlife you show keep up the amazing work Bernard
Cheers Bernard. Sorry for the late reply, I am gradually going back through comments trying to get back to everyone, but they're coming in almost as fast as I can get back to them (which is a great problem to have!)
Very interesting thank you. Love your channel ❤
Thank you :)
great information thanks for a very informative video liam thanks for sharing
Thanks Keith, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Fabulous, nothing else to be said 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you!
Another good vid with lots of info. Interestingly some of the Red deer at Woburn Park, Bedfordshire have palmate antlers, I’ve plenty of photos of them.
Thanks Sue. Yes, those red deer have been bred to have lots of tines on their antlers so they can look very palmlike.
Thanks.
Thank you!
These creatures are just fascinating
Cheers!
Don’t think I am taking the Michael out of you
Your videos are great I have subscribed
Will you do a video of the green American deer the John Deere
Please keep up the good work
Lol, its not really my sort of thing. I always thought John Deere was a UK company so every day is a school day! Cheers!
Great video Liam, we get a few here in the Chilterns but mainly in the southern Oxfordshire region. There’s a large herd in Stonor Park.
Thank you Philip, sorry for the late reply :)
Good one
Thank you!
Really enjoyed this !!!!! Brilliant Liam !!👏🏻🦌👍 interest if that fallow buck that lived to 21years was that in a deer park or in the wild ?? I’m guessing a deer park ??? Interested on that ? Like you’ve always said every day is a school day !! Always learning something new !! Take care my friend 👍👍
Hi Craig. Hopefully it's not too late to say happy new year! The deer that lived to 21 was a doe and she was a rescue apparently living in the grounds of a castle. Cheers!
@@AShotOfWildlife hi Liam cheers for that !! Ya makes sense !! Again great information & research goes into your posts !! Top channel 👍🎥👏🏻
Bonus: they are positively delicious!
eah, I think venison is too rich but each to their own :)
@@AShotOfWildlifenever had it😅 my brother had although
100,000k? Surely must be more? Overall UK deer numbers are estimated between 2m (pre-COVID), some estimating 4m.
Hmm, yes, I see the same figures as you when looking online. As I alluded to in my introduction, I don't think the statement that they are the most numerous is true... but that is quite a difference. I'll look into it. Cheers.
@@AShotOfWildlife great video regardless 👍😎👍
@Technical Enduro Skills Training thank you
this isa brilliant channel
Thank you! I've got loads more videos lined up so stay tuned for that.
@@AShotOfWildlife good!
👍👍👍
👍
Cheers Jill.
It’s a shame that the Irish elk is no longer around.
Did you know that the "giant deer" is a more accurate common name for it. It’s actually used in some scientific journals and papers.
@@Mikailodon Really?
Thanks for the comment. I'm not ashamed to admit I hasn't heard of the Irish elk before, looks like I've got some reading to do!
@@AShotOfWildlife What a truly magnificent deer 🦌 it was!
Well that deer had gone extinct a long time ago...
Fallow deer are the only deer related to the now extinct Irish elk.
First they taste good. And that’s all
haha, I disagree, but each to their own.
3rd largest no? Red,sika,fallow,roe,cwd, muntjac
Kinda random thing to say but this is why you should keep your cats inside: so I have a cat that goes outside but if I force him to stay in he’ll be to stressed but he has killed around 20 different species of wildlife but he has killed invasive species like rats, but please keep them inside
You are right, this was a very random comment for this video. I think you may have meant to comment on a different one but I understand the sentiment. I think most deer are safe from house cats though.
About the fallow? And don't call me dear.
and yet the also love to eat magic mushrooms for gut health
Hmm, I havent heard this before. I wonder if its specifically liberty caps or just all mushrooms.
there are plenty fallow deer in northeast scotland
I have to say, I haven't been there to look but I went based on online records. Sometimes they're outdated though so that might be what's happened here.