---
title: "Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "The UK's largest land mammal: a stag of up to 190 kg that regrows its antlers each year and roars through the autumn rut."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/red-deer-1.webp"
published: "2026-10-06"
updated: "2026-10-10"
---
# Red Deer (*Cervus elaphus*)
> **Status**: Checked against 5 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: The UK's largest land mammal: a stag of up to 190 kg that regrows its antlers each year and roars through the autumn rut.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Opera & Romantic Vocal Drama // Jussi Björling & Robert Merrill, "Au fond du temple saint (The Pearl Fishers)"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/02IZGxUgpqZEtJASyX5F1r)
> **Vibe Match**: Two male voices in parallel, each one showing its full size before anything is settled. In the rut, stags roar and walk side by side to assess dominance, and fighting only occurs between stags of similar size that cannot settle it any other way.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Cervus elaphus*
- **Danger Level**: High
- **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2025-1.rlts.t55997072a211074984.en))
- **Superpower**: Stags that roar through the autumn rut, then regrow a full set of antlers each year
- **Habitat**: Woodland, open moor and hills across Europe, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Iran, plus the Atlas Mountains of north-west Africa
- **Diet**: Grasses, sedges, rushes, tree shoots, herbs and shrubs
- **Tags**: mammal, ungulate, hoofed, herbivore, forest, woodland, vocalist
## Natural History & Behavior
## The Monarch of the Glen
The **red deer** (*Cervus elaphus*) is the UK's largest land mammal. A stag, as males are called, weighs 90 to 190 kg and stands 1.07 to 1.37 m tall at the shoulder. A hind, the female, weighs 63 to 120 kg. Red deer in woods are bigger than deer in open country, because the food in woods is better.
The species ranges across most of Europe, the Caucasus, Asia Minor and Iran, and into the Atlas Mountains of north-west Africa. In England and southern Scotland it prefers woodland, but it can adapt to open moor and hills. Wild red deer average 10 to 11 years, and captive ones live about as long. One captive animal reached about 31.5 years.
## A Crown That Regrows
Stags carry antlers, and hinds do not. A stag's antlers start with just two points and add branches as he ages, up to 16 in most cases. He drops them each year in March or April. By August or September a full new set has grown back.
## The Rut
From late September to November comes the rut, the mating season. Stags roar and walk side by side to show dominance.
> **Fights are a last resort** Serious injury and death can result from fighting, but this only occurs between stags of similar size that cannot assess dominance by any of the other means.
When two evenly matched stags will not give way, they lock antlers and push and twist until the weaker one flees. In rich woodland, stags can be sexually mature before they turn two, but only stags over five years old tend to mate. Hinds make noise too. They bark when alarmed and moo when searching for their young. After an eight-month pregnancy, a hind in woodland gives birth to a single calf between mid-May and mid-July.
## Grazers With a Long History
Grass is the main food, along with sedges, rushes, herbs, shrubs and tree shoots. Adults in Britain have no natural predators. Foxes and golden eagles may take young calves, which are born with a spotted coat as camouflage.
Red deer are old neighbours of people. Cave art in Europe shows them. The IUCN rates the species Least Concern.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### How big is a red deer?
Big. A fully grown male tips the scales at 90 to 190 kg, with a shoulder height of around 1.07 to 1.37 m, and females come in at 63 to 120 kg. Where they live matters: deer on open upland ground tend to be smaller than deer in lowland woods. *(Source: [British Deer Society]())*
### Why do red deer stags roar?
Stags roar during the autumn rut to compete with other males. They also thrash vegetation to scare off rivals. If a rival is not put off, the pair fight with antlers locked until the weaker stag runs. *(Source: [Woodland Trust]())*
### How long do red deer live?
In wild populations the average is 10 to 11 years, and captive deer average about the same. AnAge records one captive deer that was about 31.5 years old when it died. *(Source: [AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Human Ageing Genomic Resources]())*
### Does anything hunt adult red deer in Britain?
Not any more: grown red deer there no longer have natural predators. The risk falls on the young, which foxes and golden eagles may take. A newborn calf's spotted coat is camouflage, and for its first few months it is left hidden in vegetation. *(Source: [Woodland Trust]())*
## Sources
1. [Stay away from rutting deer, Royal Parks urges visitors. The Royal Parks, 2023.]()
2. [Red deer. British Deer Society.]()
3. [Red deer. Woodland Trust.]()
4. [AnAge entry for Cervus elaphus. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database, Human Ageing Genomic Resources.]()
5. [Mattioli (2025). Cervus elaphus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025: e.T55997072A211074984.]()
*Published October 6, 2026. Last updated October 10, 2026.*
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