Red Deer stag Scotland uk
Scotland has the largest population of red deer almost 30 of the European total The current concentration of red deer is centred in the Highlands and Islands and the southwest of Scotland They have been present since at least the end of the last Ice Age but it is only in the Highlands that they have survived without a break in that time Formerly red deer were abundant in the extensive woodlands which covered most of Scotland but their range began to diminish 5 000 years ago due to forest clearance by people By the mid to late 18th century their population was at its minimum because of extensive forest loss for agriculture industrial demands for wood hunting and sheep farming purposes They became extinct from most of the Scottish lowlands by the end of the 18th century and most deer were living in marginal mountainous areas of the Highlands In the 19th century deer stalking became fashionable and with sheep farming becoming less profitable this led to large tracts of land being dedicated to deer allowing their numbers to increase From 1883 to 1912 deer forests open hill land that is managed specifically for deer nearly doubled in size from about 800 000 hectares to over 1 5 million hectares Many Highland estates today still maintain high deer numbers and the current population is estimated to be 350 000 individuals more than double the number in the early 1960s The red deer is the largest surviving wild mammal in Scotland It makes an impressive sight even when seen at a distance and an adult measures between 105 120 cm in height at the shoulder Their weight is variable depending upon the food available and in the Highlands stags average between 90 140 kg and hinds 65 70 kg However most deer in Scotland are not reaching their full potential size because of a combination of living in high densities and surviving on a limited range of food plants in a degraded landscape outside their natural forest habitat
Size: 5120px × 3413px
Location: Aviemore, Scotland uk
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: aberdeenshire, adult, alert, animal, animals, antler, antlers, area, backlit, beast, birch, braemar, breed, bright, brown, buck, cairngorm, cairngorms, caledonian, calling, cervus, cold, color, colour, contra, countryside, deer, deeside, detail, early, eating, ecology, elaphus, environment, environmental, estate, event, exhaling, fauna, flora, food, forest, game, glen, grampian, grassland, grazing, group, head, heath, heather, heathland, herd, highland, highlands, hill, hillside, horned, horns, horny, land, landscape, landscapes, leaf, leaves, male, mammal, mammals, mar, mating, mist, monarch, moor, moorland, moors, morning, mouth, national, natural, park, peaceful, picturesque, pine, points, pure, red, river, riverside, roaring, royal, ruminants, rural, rut, rutting, scenery, scenic, scotland, scottish, season, slopes, species, stag, stags, standing, travel, travelling, uk, vegetation, walking, weather, wild, wilderness, wildlife, winter, woodland
