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Fallow Deer Stag, Bushy Park

Fallow deer are a medium to large sized deer. Fully grown males (bucks) stand at around 0.84 to 0.94m tall at the shoulder and weigh between 46 to 93kg.

 

Fully grown females (does) are 0.73 to 0.91m at the shoulder and weigh between 35 to 56kg. By comparison, an average adult man in Britain is 1.77m high and weighs 79kg.

 

Fallow deer have four main variations of coat:

 

Common – tan/fawn, with white spotting on flanks and white rump patch outlined with black horseshoe shaped border. Coat fades to a general grey colour during the winter

 

Menil – paler colouration with white spots year-round and a caramel horseshoe shape on rump

 

Melanistic – black, almost entirely black or chocolate coloured

 

White – white to pale sandy-coloured turning increasingly white with age (this is a true colour and not albino).

 

Fallow deer often have a distinctive black inverted horseshoe shape on their rumps, and a black stripe on their tails which are the longest of all British deer.

 

The Fallow deer is the only species in Britain with palmate antlers. These become full-sized after the deer are three/four years old and can reach up to 0.7m in length. Facially, their head is more elongated than some species with large angular ears.

 

Does and their young give short barks when alarmed. Bucks groan loudly during the breeding season.

 

Fallow deer leave large hoof prints (slots), about 6cm long in soft ground. Their feet are more elongated than Roe deer and are heavier, creating deeper prints

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Uploaded on November 1, 2020
Taken on October 30, 2020