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A member of this family is called a deer or a cervid. They are widespread throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and are found in a wide variety of biomes . Cervids range in size from the 60 cm (24 in) long and 32 cm (13 in) tall pudú to the 3.4 m (11.2 ft) long and 3.4 m (11.2 ft) tall moose .
The extinct Irish elk (Megaloceros) was not a member of the genus Cervus but rather the largest member of the wider deer family (Cervidae) known from the fossil record. [11] Until recently, red deer and elk were considered to be one species, Cervus elaphus, [5] [12] with over a dozen subspecies.
A deer (pl.: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family).Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) and Capreolinae (which includes, among others reindeer (caribou), white-tailed deer, roe deer, and moose).
[citation needed] In the groin of each leg is an inguinal gland used for scent marking; [31] this deer is the only member of the Cervidae to possess such glands. The short tail is no more than 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) in length and is almost invisible, except when it is held raised by the male during the rut.
A roe deer can live up to 20 years, but it usually does not reach such an age. A normal life span in the wild is seven to eight years, [30] or ten years. [54] The roe deer population shows irruptive growth.
The Indian hog deer (Axis porcinus), or Indochinese hog deer, is a small cervid native to the region of the Indian subcontinent and Indo-Gangetic Plain.Introduced populations are established in Australia, [2] [3] as well as the United States and Sri Lanka.
The chital or cheetal (Axis axis; / tʃ iː t əl /), also known as the spotted deer, chital deer and axis deer, is a deer species native to the Indian subcontinent.It was first described and given a binomial name by German naturalist Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777.
[34] [33] The shape and span of the antlers varied significantly over time and space, likely reflecting some populations adaptation to forested environments. [11] Compared to Alces , Irish elk appear to have had a more robust skeleton, with older and more mature Alces skeletons bearing some resemblance to those of prime Irish elk, and younger ...