Cervus elaphus

The red deer is a species of deer in the genus Cervus. It is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of Western Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains of Northern Africa, being the only living species of deer to inhabit Africa. Red deer have been introduced to other areas, including Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, Peru, Uruguay, Chile and Argentina. In many parts of the world, the meat (venison) from red deer is used as a food source.

Cervus elaphus

Lviatour · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
red deerPBDB
Sits inside
CervusPBDB
Diet
grazerPBDB, for Cervus
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Cervidae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Artiodactyla

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 116 occurrencesPliocene — about 4 of 116 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 97 of 116 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 14 of 116 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.5–3.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.3–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.9–2.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 2 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 12 occurrences583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 12 occurrences389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 12 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 58 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

116 occurrences of Cervus elaphus on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

116 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

5 formations

Unterer Travertin — 50.95°N, 11.38°EUnterer Travertin — 50.98°N, 11.31°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.46°N, 1.73°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EOberer Travertin I — 50.97°N, 11.35°ECasa Poggio ai Lecci — 43.65°N, 10.67°E

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The named rock units Cervus elaphus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 107 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cervus elaphus and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cervus elaphus and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

685 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 115 sites for Cervus elaphus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

68 references

Each of the 116 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 56 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Cervus elaphus

Credit
Lviatour
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

MorphoSource was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itCervus through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)