The British New Forest

The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south west hampshire and some of contiguous southeast Wiltshire.
The name also refers to the New Forest National Park which has similar boundaries. Additionally the New Forest local government district is a subdivision of Hampshire which covers most of the forest, and some nearby areas although it is no longer the planning authority for the National Park. There are many small villages dotted around the area.
The highest point in the New Forest is Piper's Wait, just west of Bramshaw. Its summit is at 125 m (410 ft) above mean sea level.
Like much of England, the New Forest was originally woodland, but parts were cleared for cultivation from the Stone Age and into the Bronze Age. However, the poor quality of the soil in the new forest meant that the cleared areas turned into heathland "waste". There are around 250 round barrows within its boundaries, and scattered boiling mounds, and it also includes about 150 scheduled ancient monuments.
The New Forest was created as a royal forest around 1080 by William the Conqueror for the hunting of (mainly) deer. It was first recorded as "Nova Foresta" in the Domesday Book in 1086. The story that the inhabitants of thirty-six parishes were evicted is one of the many legends surrounding the forest's history. Two of William's sons died in the forest, Prince Richard in 1081 and William Rufus in 1100. The reputed spot of the Rufus' death is marked with a stone known as the Rufus Stone.
As of 2005, roughly ninety per cent of the New Forest is still owned by the Crown. The Crown lands have been managed by the Forestry Commission since 1923. Around half of the Crown lands fall inside the new National Park.
Formal commons rights were confirmed by statute in 1698. Over time, the New Forest became a source of timber for the Royal Navy, and plantations were deliberately created in the 18th century for this specific purpose. In the Great Storm of 1703, about four thousand oak trees were lost in the New Forest.
The naval plantations encroached on the rights of the Commoners, but the Forest gained new protection under an Act of Parliament in 1877. The New Forest Act 1877 confirmed the historic rights of the Commoners and prohibited the enclosure of more than 16,000 acres (65 km²) at any time. It also reconstituted the Court of Verderers as representatives of the Commoners (rather than the Crown).
Felling of broadleaf trees, and replacement by conifers, began during the First World War to meet the wartime demand for wood. Further encroachments were made in the Second World War. This process is today being reversed in places, with some plantations being returned to heathland or broadleaf woodland.
Further New Forest Acts followed in 1949, 1964 and 1970. The New Forest became a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1971, and was granted special status as the "New Forest Heritage Area" in 1985, with additional planning controls added in 1992. The New Forest was proposed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in June 1999, and it became a National Park in 2005.
Edward Rutherfurd's work of historical fiction,The Forest, is based in the New Forest in the time period from 1099 through 2000.
Forest Laws were enacted to preserve the New Forest as a location for royal deer hunting, and interference with the King's deer and its forage was punished. However the inhabitants of the area("Commoners") had pre-existing "rights of common": to turn horses and cattle (but only rarely sheep) out into the Forest to graze ("common pasture"), to gather wood ("estovers"), to cut peat for fuel ("turbary"), to dig clay ("marl"), and to turn out pigs between September and November to eat fallen acorns and beechnuts ("pannage" or "mast"). There were also licences granted to gather bracken after 29 September as litter for animals ("fern"), Along with grazing, pannage is still an important part of the forest ecology. Pigs can eat acorns without a problem, whereas to ponies and cattle large numbers of acorns can be poisonous. Pannage always lasts 60 days but the start date varies according to the weather — and when the acorns fall. The Verderers decide when pannage will start each year. At other times the pigs must be taken in and kept on the owner's land with the exception that pregnant sows, known as "privileged sows", are always allowed out providing they are not a nuisance and return to the Commoner's holding at night (they must be "levant" and "couchant" there). This last is not a true Right, however, so much as an established practice. The principle of levancy and couchancy applied generally to the right of pasture as it was unstinted but commoners must have backup land, outside the Forest, to accommodate these depastured animals as during the Foot and Mouth epidemic.
Commons rights are attached to particular plots of land (or in the case of turbary, to particular heaths), and different land has different rights — and some of this land is some distance from the Forest itself. Rights to graze ponies and cattle are not for a certain number of animals, as is often the case on other commons. Instead a "marking fee" is paid for each animal each year by the owner. The marked animal's tail is trimmed by the local "agister" (Verderers' official), with each of the four or five Forest agisters using a different trimming pattern. Ponies are branded with the owner's brand-mark; cattle may be branded, or nowadays may have the brand-mark on an ear-tag. The grazing done by the commoners' ponies and cattle is an essential part of the management of the Forest, helping to maintain the internationally important heathland, bog, grassland and wood-pasture habitats and their associated wildlife.
The New Forest Heritage Area covers about 580 km² (143321 acres), and the New Forest SSSI covers almost 300 km² (74131 acres), making it the largest contiguous area of un-sown vegetation in lowland Britain. It includes roughly:
146 km² (36077 acres) of broadleaf woodland
118 km² (29158 acres) of heathland and grassland
33 km² (8154 acres) of wet heathland
84 km² (20756 acres) of tree plantations ("inclosures") established since the 18th century, including 80 km² (19768 acres) planted by the Forestry Commission since the 1920s.
It is drained to the south by two rivers, the Lymington and Beaulieu. As well as providing a visually remarkable and historic landscape, the ecological value of the New Forest is particularly great because of the relatively large areas of lowland habitats, lost elsewhere, which have survived. The area contains several kinds of important lowland habitat including valley bogs, wet heaths, dry heaths and deciduous woodland. The area contains a profusion of rare wildlife, including the New Forest cicada Cicadetta montana, the only cicada native to Great Britain. The wet heaths are important for rare plants, such as marsh gentian Gentiana pneumonanthe and marsh clubmoss Lycopodiella inundata. Several species of sundew may be found in the Forest, and the area is also the habitat of many unusual insect species, including the Southern damselfly Coenagrion mercuriale, and the mole cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa (both rare in Britain).
Three species of snake inhabit the Forest. The adder is the most common being found on open heath and grassland. The grass snake prefers the damper environment of the valley mires. The rare smooth snake can be found on sandy hillsides with heather and gorse.
A program to reintroduce the sand lizard started in 1989 and the great crested newt already breeds in many locations. Numerous deer live in the Forest but are usually rather shy and tend to stay out of sight when people are around, but are surprisingly bold at night, even when a car drives past.Fallow deer are the most common followed by roe deer and red deer. There are also smaller populations of sika deer and muntjac. The semi-wild ponies mentioned earlier are possibly the New Forest's most famous common animals, however.
The New Forest is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), EU Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a Special Protection Area for birds (SPA) and a Ramsar Site, it also has its own Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP)
Among the towns and villages lying in or adjacent to the Forest are Lyndhurst (which claims to be the 'capital' of the New Forest),Abbotswell , Hythe , Totton , Blissford , Burley , Brockenhurst , Fordingbridge, Frogham , Stuckton , Ringwood , Beaulieu, Bransgore Lymington and New Milton. It is bounded to the west by Bournemouth and to the east by the city of Southampton. The forest gives its name to the New Forest district of Hampshire.
Consultations on the possible designation of a National Park in the New Forest were commenced by the Countryside Agency in 1999. An order to create the park was made by the Agency on 24 January 2002 and submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation in February 2002. Following objections from seven local authorities and others, a Public Inquiry was held from 8 October 2002 to 10 April 2003, concluding with that the proposal should be endorsed with some detailed changes to the boundary of the area to be designated.
On 28 June 2004, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael confirmed the government's intention to designate the area as a National Park, with further detailed boundary adjustments. The area was formally designated as such on 1 March 2005. A National Park Authority for the New Forest was established on 1 April 2005 and assumed its full statutory powers on 1 April 2006. The Forestry Commission retain their powers to manage the Crown land within the Park, and the Verderers under the New Forest Acts also retain their responsibilities, and the Park Authority is expected to co-operate with these bodies, the local authorities, English Nature and other interested parties.
The designated area of the National Park covers 571 km² (141097 acres) and includes many existing SSSIs. It has a population of approximately 38,000 (excluding most of the 170,256 people who live in the New Forest local government district). As well as most of the New Forest district of Hampshire, it takes in the South Hampshire Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, a small corner of Test Valley district around the village of Canada and part of the Salisbury district in Wiltshire south-east of Redlynch.
However, the area covered by the park does not include all the areas which were initially proposed; excluding most of the valley of the River Avon to the west of the forest and Dibden Bay to the east. Two challenges were made to the designation order, by Meyrick Estate Management Ltd in relation to the inclusion of Hinton Admiral Park, and by RWE NPower Plc to the inclusion of Fawley Power Station.The second challenge was settled out of court, with the power station being excluded. The High Court upheld the first challenge; but an appeal against the decision was then heard by the Court of Appeal in Autumn 2006. The final ruling, published on 15 February 2007, found in favour of the challenge by Meyrick Estate Management Ltd, and the land at Hinton Admiral Park is therefore excluded from the New Forest National Park.
The forest has many well kept cycle paths for the use of the large number of cyclists that visit the forest each year. Many outlets are set up to handle the high requirement for bicycle hire, with both Burley and Brockenhurst having facilities.
The Types of Deer. The European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) is a deer species of Europe, Asia Minor, and Caspian coastal regions. There is a separate species known as the Siberian Roe Deer (Capreolus pygargus) that is found from the Ural Mountains to as far east as China and Siberia. The two species meet at the Caucasus Mountains, with the European species occupying the southern flank of the mountain ranges and adjacent Asia Minor and the Siberian species occupying the northern flank of the mountain ranges. Within Europe, the European Roe Deer occurs in most areas, with the exception of northernmost Scandinavia (north of Narvik and some of the islands, notably Iceland, Ireland, and the Mediterranean Sea islands; in the Mediterranean region it is largely confined to mountainous regions, and is absent or rare at low levels.
English roe is from Old English raha, from Proto-Germanic *raikhon, cognate to Old Norse ra, German Reh. The word is attested in the 5th century Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus inscription as raïhan.
The Roe Deer is a relatively small deer, with a body length of 95-135 cm (3.1 - 4.4 ft), a shoulder height of 65-75 cm (2.1 - 2.5 ft), and a weight of 15-30 kg (33-66 lb). It has rather short, erect antlers and a reddish body with a grey face. Its hide is golden red in summer, darkening to brown or even black in winter, with lighter undersides and a white rump patch; the tail is very short (2-3 cm, or 0.8 - 1.2 in), and barely visible. Only the males have antlers, which are lost during winter, but which re-grow in time for the mating season. The first and second set of antlers are unbranched and short (5-12 cm, or 2 - 4.7 in), while older bucks in good conditions develop antlers up to 20-25 cm (8-10 in) long with two or three, rarely even four, points. When the male's antlers begin to regrow, they are covered in a thin layer of velvet-like fur which disappears later on after the hair's blood supply is lost. Males may speed up the process by rubbing their antlers on trees, so that their antlers are hard and stiff for the duels during the mating season. Roe Deer are the only type of deer that can regrow their antlers during winter.
The Roe Deer is primarily crepuscular, or primarily active during the twilight, very quick and graceful, living in woods although it may venture to grasslands and sparse forests. It feeds mainly on grass, leaves, berries and young shoots. It particularly likes very young, tender grass with a high moisture content ie. grass that has received rain the day before. Roe deer will not generally venture in to a field that either has livestock in it (ie. sheep, cattle), or has recently had it in; this is because the livestock will make the grass very unclean. A pioneer species commonly associated with biotic communities at an early stage of succession, during the Neolithic period in Europe the Roe Deer was abundant, taking advantage of areas of forest or woodland cleared by Neolithic farmers (Boyle, 2006).
The Roe Deer attains a maximum life span (in the wild) of ten years. When alarmed, it will bark a sound much like a dog and flash out its white rump patch. Rump patches differ between the sexes, with the white rump patches heart-shaped on females and kidney-shaped on males. Males may also bark, make a low grunting noise or make a high pitched wolf-like whine when attracting mates during the breeding season, often luring multiple does into their territory. The Roe Deer spends most of its life alone, preferring to live solitary except when mating during the breeding season.
The polygamous Roe Deer males clash over territory in early summer and mate in early fall. During courtship, when the males chase the females, they often flatten the underbrush leaving behind areas of the forest in the shape of a figure eight called 'roe rings'. Males may also use their antlers to shovel around fallen foliage and dirt as a way of attracting a mate. Roebucks enter rutting inappetence during the July and August breeding season. Females are monoestrous and after delayed implantation usually give birth the following June, after a ten-month gestation period, typically to two spotted fawns of opposite sexes. The fawns remain hidden in long grass from predators until they are ready to join the rest of the herd; they are suckled by their mother several times a day for around three months. Roe deer adults will often abandon their young if they sense or smell that an animal or human has been near it. Young female roe deer can begin to reproduce when they are around 16 months old.
Muntjac are deer of the genus Muntiacus, also known as Barking Deer. Muntjac are the oldest known deer, appearing 15-35 million years ago, with remains found in Miocene deposits in France and Germany.
The present-day species are native to South Asia and can be found from India and Sri Lanka to southern China,Taiwan,Japan (Boso Peninsula and Oshima Island), and Indonesian islands. Reeves's Muntjac has been introduced to England and is now common in some areas there. Inhabiting tropical regions, the deer have no seasonal rut and mating can take place at any time of year. However, this behaviour is retained by populations introduced to temperate countries. Males have short antlers, which can regrow, but they tend to fight for territory with their tusks (downward pointing canine teeth).
Muntjac are of great interest in evolutionary studies because of their dramatic chromosome variations and the recent discovery of several new species. The indian muntiac is the mammal with the lowest recorded chromosome number with the male having a diploid number of 7, the female of only 6 chromosomes. Reeves's muntjac (Muntiacus reevesi) in comparison has a diploid number of 46 chromosomes.
Eleven species:
Indian Muntjac or Common Muntjac, Muntiacus muntjak
Reeve's Muntjac or Chinese Muntjac, Muntiacus reevesi
Hairy-fronted Muntjac or Black Muntjac, Muntiacus crinifrons
Fea's Muntjac, Muntiacus feae
Bornean Yellow Muntjac, Muntiacus atherodes
Roosevelt's Muntjac, Muntiacus rooseveltorum
Gongshan Muntjac, Muntiacus gongshanensis
Giant Muntjac, Muntiacus vuquangensis
Truong Son Muntjac Muntiacus truongsonensis
Leaf Muntjac Muntiacus putaoensis
Sumartran Muntjac Muntiacus montanus
The Sika Deer (Cervus nippon) is a member of the deer family Cervidae that inhabits much of East Anglia. It is found in mixed deciduous forests to the north, and mixed subtropical deciduous and evergreen forests to the south. The Sika Deer are closely related to Red Deer,Central Asian Red Deer and elk. It is a subspecies of Black-Tailed Deer and Mule Deer and therefore, a different species.
There are many subspecies of Sika Deer
North Honshu Sika Deer C. n. aplodontus
Dybowski's Sika Deer C. n. dybowskii
Shanxi Sika Deer C. n. grassianus
Ryuku Sika Deer C. n. keramae
South China Sika Deer C. n. kopschi
North China Sika Deer C. n. mandarinus
Manchurian Sika Deer C. n. mantchuricus
Vietnamese Sika Deer C. n. pseudaxis
Tsushima Sika Deer C. n. pulchellus
Sichuan Sika Deer C. n. sichuanicus
Formosan Sika Deer C. n. taioanus
Hokkaido Sika Deer C. n. yesoensis
The largest race of Sika deer (found in the colder north) are Dybowski's Sika Deer (C. n. dybowskii) of Manchuria and Ussuri Region, and the Hokkaidō Sika Deer (C. n. yesoensis) of Hokkaidō Island in Japan. The Kerama Sika Deer (C. n. keramae) of the Ryukyu Islands is one of the smallest, and unlike other subspecies, has the whole body (including the rump patch) dark brown. The Formosan Sika Deer (C. n. taioanus) is rather large for an island form being larger than the Kerama Sika Deer and similar in size to deer from Southern China. There are several geographically separated subspecies, but due to the long history of the velvet antler trade (for medicinal values) and farming of Sika deer for antler production in much of Turkestan, China, Mongolia, Manchuria, and the Ussuri Region, the integrity of these subspecies is questionable as many populations have already mixed gene pools. Dybowski's sika deer (Cervus nippon dybowskii) and Formosan sika deer (Cervus nippon taioanus) are highly endangered and possibly already extinct in the wild. They can be found in several zoos and are being kept alive by a captive-management program.
Sika deer are found from the Ussuri region of Siberia south to Korea,Manchuria and Northern and Southern China, with a possibly isolated population in Vietnam. It is also native to Taiwan and Japan and were possibly introduced to a number of countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania. Sika deer are known to escape deer farms and many of the so-called wild sika deer populations in Central and Southern China are descendants of those that have escaped and have re-established themselves in the wild.
Sika Deer are widespread in Japan, and readily become tame; at one time they were regarded as sacred. The largest wild populations are in the northern island of Hokkaido. Following Japanese settlement of Hokkaidō in the latter half of the 19th century, the deer there were hunted almost to the point of extinction, and were reduced to a few small populations. Legal protection put in place in the mid 20th century was followed by rapid population recovery from the 1950s to the 1980s. In the absence of the natural predators (wolves, now extinct in Japan), some hunting is now encouraged in order to stabilize the population and limit the agricultural damage done by the deer. The present Hokkaidō deer population is still concentrated in the eastern half of the island, and many deer that frequent other parts of the island migrate back to this area during the winter months.
Deer are also present in the more populated islands of Japan: for example, in the ancient capital city of Nara, as well as the sacred island of Miyajima, they wander at will among the temples, and are much photographed (and fed) by tourists. In other parts of Asia, the deer have also been extensively hunted, and legal protection has been less effective, so that several populations and subspecies are now endangered.
Sika Deer have been introduced into a number of other countries including Australia,Austria,Denmark, Germany, Britain ,France, Ireland , Jolo Island (south of the Philippines),New Zealand,Poland, Morocco and the United States (Maryland and Texas). In many cases they were originally introduced as ornamental animals in parkland, but have established themselves in the wild.
In Britain and Ireland several distinct wild and feral populations now exist. Some of these are in isolated areas, for example on the island of Lundy, but others are contiguous with populations of the native Red Deer. Since the two species sometimes hybridise, there is a serious conservation concern.
Across its original range, and more intensively in many countries to which it has been introduced, the sika is regarded as a particularly prized and elusive sportsman's quarry. In Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe it has been noted that sika display very different survival strategies and escape tactics from the indigenous deer. They have a marked tendency to use camouflage and concealment in circumstances when Red deer, for example, would flee; and have been seen to squat and lie belly-flat when danger threatens in the form of human intrusion. Hunters and control cullers have estimated that the sika's wariness and "cleverness" makes it three or four times more difficult to bring to bag than a Red or Fallow deer. It has also been widely remarked that sika are much more tenacious of life, and harder to kill with a rifle bullet, than the native deer of Europe and North America. In the British Isles sika are widely regarded as a very serious threat to new and established woodlands, and public and private forestry bodies adopt policies of rigorous year-round culling, generally with little effect.
Among aficionados of venison, sika flesh is regarded as one of the very finest and most flavourful of all game meats at the dinner table.
The Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) is one of the largest deer species. The Red Deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region,Asia Minior and parts of western and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being the only species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red Deer have been introduced to other areas including Australia,New Zealand and Argentina. In many parts of the world the meat (venison) from Red Deer is widely used as a food source.
Red Deer are ruminants, characterized by an even number of toes, and a four-chambered stomach. Recent DNA evidence indicates that the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) and the East Asian and North American Elk(Wapiti) (Cervus canadensis) represent two distinct species. They also hint at an additional primordial subgroup of Central Asian Red Deer. The ancestor of all Red Deer probably originated in Central Asia and likely resembled Sika Deer.
Although at one time Red Deer were rare in some areas, they were never close to extinction. Reintroduction and conservation efforts, especially in the United Kingdom, have resulted in an increase of Red Deer populations, while other areas, such as North Africa, have continued to show a population decline.
The Red Deer is one of the largest deer species. It is a ruminant, eating its food in two stages and having an even number of toes on each hoof, similar to camels,goats and cattle. European Red Deer have a longer relative tail length compared to their Asian and North American relatives. There are subtle differences in appearance between the various subspecies of Red Deer primarily in size and antlers with the smallest being the Corsican Red Deer found on the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and the largest being the (or maral) of Asia Minor and the Caucasus Region to the west of the Caspian Sea. The deer of Central and Western Europe vary greatly in size with some of the largest deer found in the Carpathian Mountains in Central Europe. West European Red Deer historically, grew to large size given ample food supply (including peoples' crops), and descendants of introduced populations living in New Zealand and Argentina have grown quite large in size and antlers. Large Red Deer stags, like the Caspian Red Deer or those of the Carpathian Mountains may rival the Wapiti in size. Note that the large size is applied to male deer only. Female Red Deer are much smaller.
Generally, the male (stag) Red Deer is typically 175–230 cm (69-91 in) long and weighs 160–240 kg (350–530 lbs); the female is 160–210 cm (63–83 in) and weighs 120–170 kg (264–374 lbs). The tail adds another 12-19 cm (5-7.5 in) and shoulder height is about 105-120 cm (41-48 in). Size varies in different subspecies with the largest, the huge but small-antlered deer of the Carpathian Mountains (C. e. elaphus), weighing up to 500 kg (1,100 lbs). At the other end of the scale, the Corsican Red Deer (C. e. corsicanus) weighs about 80-100 kg (176-220 lbs), although Red Deer introduced to other parts of the world can weigh as little as 53 kg (117 lbs). European Red Deer tend to be reddish-brown in their summer coats. All Red Deer subspecies are between 2.1 and 2.4 metres (7 to 8 ft) in length from nose to tail. The males of many subspecies also grow a short neck mane ("mane" of hair around their necks) during the autumn. The male deer of the British Isles and Norway tend to have the thickest and most noticeable neck manes, relative to the other subspecies. Male Caspian Red Deer (Cervus elaphus maral) and Spanish Red Deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) do not carry neck manes. Male deer of all subspecies, however, tend to have stronger and thicker neck muscles than female deer, which may give them an appearance of having neck manes. Red Deer hinds (females) do not have neck manes. The European Red Deer is adapted to a woodland environment.
Only the stags have antlers which start growing in the spring and are shed each year, usually at the end of winter. Antlers are made of bone which can grow at a rate of 2.5 centimetres (1 in) a day. A soft covering known as velvet helps to protect newly forming antlers in the spring. European red deer antlers are distinctive in being rather straight and rugose, with the fourth and fifth tines forming a "crown" or "cup" in larger males. Any tines in excess of the fourth and fifth tine will grow radially from the "cup". "Cups" are generally absent in the antlers of smaller red deer such as Corsican Red Deer. West European Red Deer antlers feature bez (second) tines that are either absent or smaller than the brow tine. However, bez tines occur frequently in Norwegian Red Deer. Antlers of Caspian Red Deer carry large bez (second) tines and form less-developed "cups" than West European red deer. A stag can (exceptionally) have smooth antlers, and is then known as a switch. Similarly, a stag that doesn't grow antlers is a hummel. The antlers are testosterone driven and as the stag's testosterone levels drop in the autumn, the velvet is shed and the antlers stop growing.
During the autumn, all Red Deer subspecies grow a thicker coat of hair which helps to insulate them during the winter. Autumn is also when some of the stags grow their neck manes. It is in the autumn/winter coat that distinguishes most subspecies. The Caspian Red Deer's winter coat is greyer and has a larger and more distinguished light rump-patch (similar to Wapitis and some Central Asian Red Deer) compared to the West European Red Deer which is more of a greyish-brown coat with a darker yellowish rump patch in the winter. By the time summer begins, the heavy winter coat has been shed; the animals are known to rub against trees and other objects to help remove hair from their bodies. Red Deer have different colouration based on the seasons and types of habitats, with grey or lighter colouration prevalent in the winter and a more reddish and darker coat in the summer. Most European Red Deer wear a reddish-brown summer coat, and some individuals may have a few spots on the backs of their summer coats.
Stag and hinds in Killarney National Park,Co.Kerry, Ireland. Cervus genus ancestors of Red Deer first appear in fossil records 12 million years ago during the Pliocene in Eurasia. An extinct species, known as the Irish Elk (Megaloceros) was not related to the red deer but to the fallow deer, was the largest member of the deer family known from the fossil record.
The European Red Deer is one of the largest game animals found in Southwestern Asia (Asia Minor and Caucasus Regions), North Africa and Europe. In Europe, The Red Deer is the largest non-domesticated mammal still existing in some countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland. A deer known as the "Barbary Stag" which resembles the West European Red Deer, is the only member of the deer family that is represented in Africa, with population centred in the northwestern region of the continent in the Atlas Mountains. As of the mid 1990s, Morocco,Tunisia and Algeria were the only African countries known to have Red Deer.
In New Zealand, and to a much lesser degree in Australia, there is only a couple of small herds left of the original deer brought over for attempted breeding. Most Red deer in Australia are on slaughter farms. Introduced Red Deer have adapted well and are widely hunted in New Zealand. Red Deer populations in Africa and southern Europe are generally declining. In Argentina, where the Red Deer has had a potential adverse impact on native animal species, the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has labelled the animal as one of the world's 100 worst invaders.
Red Deer in Europe generally spend their winters in lower altitudes and more wooded terrain. During the summer, they migrate to higher elevations where food supplies are greater for the calving season.
Biologists have until recently stated that Red Deer and Wapiti (or Elk) are the same species forming a continuous distribution throughout temperate Eurasia and North America, based on fertile hybrids that have been produced under captive conditions. Animal behaviour is generally different in captivity than in the wild, and the assumption that the same results would happen in the wild as in captivity is not necessarily the best test methodology to determine speciation.
Recent DNA studies conducted on hundreds of samples from Red Deer and Elk subspecies concluded that no more than 9 distinct subspecies of Red Deer exist and that they should be considered to be two separate species. The Wapiti or Elk from Northern and Eastern Asia and North America and the Red Deer from Europe, western Asia and North Africa represent two distinct species. Surprisingly the Elk is more closely related in DNA to the Sika Deer and to Thorold's deer than to the Red Deer.