THE FALLOW DEER

This deer is quite surprising. In terms of clothing, he follows fashion. In summer, its dress pulls on the red and is speckled with white, which makes it look like a fawn, the little of the doe. In autumn, the coat turns dark brown and the spots fade.

Its antlers have nothing to do with those of the deer, they rather resemble those of the elk: they are flat and webbed, turned forward. Weighing around 5.5 kilos, they fall between April and May, before growing again around June. In three months, these antlers can reach 90 centimeters in length. Just in time to take on his sex-hungry competitors.

Deer practice sex separation, except during the mating season in October. Herds of males on one side, herds of females on the other. The latter are usually accompanied by their youngest born and, sometimes, their previous fawns (the word is used for all deer). Young males leave their mothers at 18 months.

This kind and peaceful life ends in October when the manhood of the males awakens.  Each tries to build the most abundant harems. The rutting period lasts roughly a month, between mid-October and mid-November.

In forest areas where monitoring is more complicated, the male is satisfied with a few daines, while in open meadow, he can reserve about thirty partners. As with deer, the flirting technique adapts to the circumstances. Some males prefer to defend their territory, waiting for one or more daines to put the hoof on it, while others seize their future wives by landing on their territory.

And when two rivals meet, they challenge each other. If one of them wins by size and aggressiveness, he does not even have to fight to win. If the two males are similar in size, the fight can be spectacular, sometimes deadly. The weakest quickly makes a reason.

The winner must now honor all his females so proud of their hero. For each, he frequently puts the cover back to be sure of a future paternity. Needless to say, he leaves a lot of strength there. Between the surveillance of its females and its sexual activities that leave it little time to eat, the deer can lose a third of its weight

After a gestation of 8 months, the daine isolates itself to give birth, in June, to a fawn, much more rarely to two.

Our male deserves his nickname of Attila! Much less fierce than its companions, it remains easy to observe during our safaris.

During the winter of 2019-2020, the four daines of curious nature, explored the entire territory of the Reserve. They could be seen until the end of May when they suddenly disappeared. What could be the reason? We can imagine it… The future mother prefers discretion.

Indeed on June 29, 2020, appeared behind a boxwood bush, a small head. The first fawn of deer of the Reserve! To our surprise, this birth was followed by three others. All the daines had given birth!

They remained discreet all summer, hiding their young in the bushes, then from mid-October they began to move in herds, in the meadows and undergrowth.