European Fallow Deer - South America | Online Record Book Preview

Dama dama

Gamo (Sp), Damhirsch, Damwild (G), Daim (F). "Fallow" is from the Old English fealu, a light yellowish-brown color.

DESCRIPTION (male) Shoulder height 36 inches (91 cm). Weight 140-200 pounds (64-91 kg). Females are smaller.

European fallow deer have more color variations than any other deer, the four principal ones being: (1) common or spotted or brown--a summer coat of rich brown with many white spots and lighter underparts, changing to dark gray-brown in winter with spots barely visible; (2) menil--pale fawn with white spots; (3) white (but not albino); and (4) black-not actually black, but very dark brown. There are also many intermediate color variations. Lighter-colored males will have antler velvet that is gray, cream or pink, whereas dark-colored bucks have dark velvet. The antlers have brow and trez tines (bez tines are usually absent) and are well palmated at the top, with a number of tines coming off the rear edge of the palmation. Males have a prominent Adam's apple.

DISTRIBUTION Free-ranging in a number of areas in Peru, Chile and Argentina. Also on private properties in Argentina and Chile.

REMARKS Fossils reveal that fallow deer, or something very similar, lived in many parts of Europe during the Pleistocene, mostly (if not entirely) dying out during the last glaciation when most of Europe was covered by ice. Modern fallow deer are believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, the island of Rhodes, and Anatolia (Asian Turkey), and to have been introduced (or reintroduced?) in many other parts of Europe by the Romans, or perhaps by the earlier Phoenicians. Fallow deer have also been introduced in many other places with the result that they now are found in the wild in 38 countries on six continents.

The first introductions in South America were probably in Chile in 1887, and then in Argentina shortly after 1900. Today, many thousands of fallow deer live in the wild in a number of areas in Argentina. Introductions were also made in Uruguay in the 1930s and in Peru in 1948.