Deer

• 1. Ancient Antlers And Tusks

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  Fossils from the early Eocene period, dating back 50 to 55 million years ago, reveal an ancestor named Diacodexis. This creature was nearly the size of a rabbit and featured the talus bone characteristic of all modern even-toed ungulates. Analysis of a nearly complete skeleton discovered in 1982 suggests this ancestor could be closer to non-ruminants than ruminants. The evolution of deer took nearly 30 million years to reach its current form. Early ancestors possessed tusks rather than antlers, resembling modern duikers. These tusked forms gradually developed into the first antlered cervoids during the Miocene epoch. By the time the earliest members of the superfamily Cervoidea appeared in Eurasia, the tusks had disappeared along with upper incisors. Fossil evidence shows that Dicrocerus featured single-forked antlers that were shed regularly. Stephanocemas had more developed and diffuse crowned antlers. Procervulus also had antlers that were not shed. Contemporary forms such as merycodontines eventually gave rise to the modern pronghorn.

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• 2. Biology Of Bone And Blood

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  The largest extant deer is the moose, which stands nearly two meters tall at the shoulder and weighs up to 700 kilograms. The northern pudu is the smallest deer in the world, reaching merely 40 centimeters at the shoulder and weighing less than four kilograms. All male deer have antlers, with the exception of the water deer, in which males have long tusk-like canines that reach below the lower jaw. Antlers emerge as soft tissues known as velvet antlers and progressively harden into bony structures following mineralisation. This process blocks blood vessels in the tissue from the tip to the base. A study of antlered female white-tailed deer noted that antlers tend to be small and malformed. They are shed frequently around the time of parturition. Deer possess a liver without a gallbladder. Nearly all deer have a facial gland in front of each eye containing a strongly scented pheromone used to mark its home range. Bucks open these glands wide when angry or excited. Deer undergo two moults in a year, replacing thin summer coats with dense greyish brown winter coats in autumn. Their eyes contain a tapetum lucidum, which gives them sufficiently good night vision.

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• 3. Continents And Forests

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  Deer live in a variety of biomes, ranging from tundra to the tropical rainforest. While often associated with forests, many deer are ecotone species that live in transitional areas between forests and thickets. The majority of large deer species inhabit temperate mixed deciduous forest, mountain mixed coniferous forest, and savanna habitats around the world. Clearing open areas within forests may actually benefit deer populations by exposing the understory. Access to adjacent croplands also benefits deer. Adequate forest or brush cover must still be provided for populations to grow and thrive. Indigenous representatives exist on all continents except Antarctica and Australia. Africa has only one native deer, the Barbary stag, confined to the Atlas Mountains. Another extinct species, Megaceroides algericus, was present in North Africa until 6000 years ago. Fallow deer have been introduced to South Africa. Small species like brocket deer and pudús occupy dense forests and are less often seen in open spaces. Some deer have a circumpolar distribution in both North America and Eurasia. Examples include caribou living in Arctic tundra and moose inhabiting taiga. Huemul deer of South America's Andes fill ecological niches similar to ibex and wild goat.

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• 4. Myth And Heraldry

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  Deer appear in art from Paleolithic cave paintings onwards, including some 90 images of stags at Lascaux in southwestern France dated 17,300 years old. The Stag Hunt Mosaic of ancient Pella depicts Alexander the Great hunting a deer with Hephaestion. In Japanese Shintoism, the sika deer is believed to be a messenger to the gods. Spotted deer accompany the god of longevity in Chinese belief. Deer were the principal sacrificial animal for the Huichal Indians of Mexico. Medieval Europe featured deer in hunting scenes and coats-of-arms. Stags' heads are frequently used in heraldry, typically portrayed without an attached neck and facing the viewer as caboshed. Examples include the arms of Hertfordshire, England, and its county town of Hertford. A deer appears on the arms of the Israeli Postal Authority. Coats of arms featuring deer exist in Baden-Württemberg, Dotternhausen, Thierachern, Friolzheim, Bauen, Albstadt, and Dassel in Germany. Red deer appear in the coat of arms of Åland. Winged stags are used as supporters in the arms of the de Carteret family. The sea-stag has the antlers, head, forelegs and upper body of a stag and the tail of a mermaid.

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• 5. Economy And Disease

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  Deer meat known as venison is highly nutritious and represents a significant trade domestically. The 2006 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that license sales generate approximately $700 million annually. This revenue generally goes to support conservation efforts in the states where licenses are purchased. Overall big game hunting generates approximately $11.8 billion annually in travel and equipment expenditures. In the U.S., about 1.5 million deer-vehicle collisions occur each year according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those accidents cause about 150 human deaths and $1.1 billion in property damage annually. In Scotland, roads including the A82, the A87 and the A835 have had significant problems with deer vehicle collisions. Some areas of the UK have implicated fallow deer as possible reservoirs for bovine tuberculosis. In 2005, this disease cost £90 million in attempts to eradicate it. White-tailed deer are generally asymptomatic carriers of brain worm parasites. Moose and elk can carry rabies. Deer, elk and moose in North America may suffer from chronic wasting disease identified at a Colorado laboratory in the 1960s.

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