Cervus Elaphus
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The red deer (Cervus elaphus) 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.[2] In many parts of the world, the meat (venison) from red deer is used as a food source.
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 lb). At the other end of the scale, the Corsican red deer (C. e. corsicanus) weighs about 80 to 100 kg (180 to 220 lb), although red deer in poor habitats can weigh as little as 53 to 112 kg (120 to 250 lb).[10]
Cervus elaphus appeared in Europe by the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene around 800,000 years ago. These earliest forms belonged to the palaeosubspecies Cervus elaphus acoronatus. Other palaeosubspecies are known, including those belonging to C. elaphus rianensis from the Middle Pleistocene of Italy, C. elaphus siciliae from the late Middle and Late Pleistocene of Sicily.[36]
The International Union for Conservation of Nature originally listed nine subspecies of red deer (Cervus elaphus): three as endangered, one as vulnerable, one as near threatened, and four without enough data to give a category (Data Deficient). The species as a whole, however, is listed as least concern.[1] However, this was based on the traditional classification of red deer as one species (Cervus elaphus), including the wapiti. The common red deer is also known as simply red deer.
Mature red deer (C. elaphus) usually stay in single-sex groups for most of the year. During the mating season, called the rut, mature stags compete for the attentions of the hinds and will then try to defend the hinds they attract. Rival stags challenge opponents by belling and walking in parallel. This allows combatants to assess each other's antlers, body size and fighting prowess. If neither stag backs down, a clash of antlers can occur, and stags sometimes sustain serious injuries.[16] Red deer are among the mammals exhibiting homosexual behavior.[40]
Blood samples were obtained from 38 wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) at two sites in Ireland and subjected to PCR analysis of the 18S rRNA gene followed by sequencing. Two fragments of the 18S rRNA gene were generated by two different PCR protocols and subsequent sequencing suggested that at least six of the deer were infected by a babesia that, in those loci, is indistinguishable from Babesia divergens, an important tick-borne pathogen of cattle and of zoonotic significance. Additionally, a B. odocoilei-like parasite was detected in three samples and a babesia that did not match any sequences in the GenBank database was found in five samples. Neither B. capreoli nor B. venatorum (EU1) were found. There have been several reports of B. divergens occurring in deer species, including red deer, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). However, in view of recent re-sequencing of bovine-origin samples deposited previously in GenBank, it is unlikely that any of these sequences from deer are B. divergens. The present study describes the only deer piroplasm detected so far that shows complete identity with B. divergens, in just over half of the 18S rRNA gene. The entire gene of this deer parasite should be analysed and transmission experiments undertaken before the infectivity of B. divergens for red deer can be confirmed.
Infections with Mycobacterium microti, a member of the M. tuberculosis complex, have been increasingly reported in humans and in domestic and free-ranging wild animals. At postmortem examination, infected animals may display histopathologic lesions indistinguishable from those caused by M. bovis or M. caprae, potentially leading to misidentification of bovine tuberculosis. We report 3 cases of M. microti infections in free-ranging red deer (Cervus elaphus) from western Austria and southern Germany. One diseased animal displayed severe pyogranulomatous pleuropneumonia and multifocal granulomas on the surface of the pericardium. Two other animals showed alterations of the lungs and associated lymph nodes compatible with parasitic infestation. Results of the phylogenetic analysis including multiple animal strains from the study area showed independent infection events, but no host-adapted genotype. Personnel involved in bovine tuberculosis-monitoring programs should be aware of the fastidious nature of M. microti, its pathogenicity in wildlife, and zoonotic potential.
Southwest: In the Southwest, elk habitats include shrublands, pinyon-juniper (Pinus spp.-Juniperus spp.) woodlands, ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests, stream valley shrublands, and floodplain riparian hardwood forest communities. In Arizona and New Mexico, elk primarily used the ecotone between pinyon-juniper woodlands and ponderosa pine forests within the Great Basin conifer woodlands biotic province as winter range and montane mixed-conifer forests, subalpine spruce-fir (Picea spp.-Abies spp.) forests, and alpine "tundra" as summer range [262]. On the Uinta North Slope region of Summit County, Utah, elk occurred in true mountain-mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) communities [315]. In the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, elk selected Pinchot's juniper (Junipers pinchotii) woodland with lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla), common sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri), resinbush (Viguiera stenoloba), and tarbush (Flourensia cernua) in the understory; riparian Coulter's brickelbush-honey mesquite-littleleaf sumac (Brickellia coulteri-Prosopis glandulosa-Rhus microphylla) woodland, and Mexican pinyon (Pinus cembroides)-gray oak (Quercus grisea)-Pinchot's juniper woodland year-round [349]. At the Cimarron National Grassland in southwestern Kansas, elk occurred in riparian plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera) and saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) communities and in adjacent sand sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia) prairie [31].BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTSSPECIES: Cervus elaphus BIOLOGICAL DATA PREFERRED HABITAT MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS BIOLOGICAL DATA:Numerous reviews describing the biology of elk are available and cited frequently in this review. These include the following sources: [49,95,156,165,183,221,222,296,305,344,346]. Among these sources, this review relies most heavily on North American Elk: Ecology and Management (compiled and edited by Toweill and Thomas [305]), particularly the following chapters: [58,61,96,128,131,184,210,211,230,275,284,302,306]. This review does not include studies of elk outside North America. It includes information for many aspects of elk life history but focuses on those most relevant to fire. Life history Diet Life history: Physical description Courtship and mating Reproduction and development Social behavior Home range and movements Life span and survivalPhysical description: The elk is the second largest member of the deer family (Cervidae) in North America [344]. Elk vary greatly in body size depending upon latitude, habitat, and nutrition [95,210,221]. Adult female elk (cows) weigh about 80% of adult male (bull) weight [221]. Bulls weigh 778 pounds (353 kg) and cows weigh 606 pounds (265 kg) on average [210]. See Growth for more information.Courtship and mating: Hudson and Haigh [128] described elk as polygynous, whereas other reviewers described them as polygamous [221,344]. The rut or peak breeding season may begin as early as mid-August and end as late as mid-November [230]. The rut typically lasts 10 to 12 weeks [91]. The interval between estrous periods ranges from 19 to 25 days. True estrus lasts
Winter feeding of elk occurs at a number of locations in western North America, such as the Jackson Hole area, as a means of managing populations, which may affect elk habitat use, behavior, survival, reproduction, and growth. For more information, see the review by Smith [276].FIRE EFFECTS AND MANAGEMENTSPECIES: Cervus elaphusDIRECT FIRE EFFECTSINDIRECT FIRE EFFECTSFIRE REGIMESFIRE MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS: Fire has killed elk directly [92,268], but fire-caused mortality rates of large mammals are generally low (1 mile (2 km) wide and total fire runs of 4 to 13 miles (6-21 km) in a day were characteristic of the sites where elk and other large mammal mortality occurred. All dead elk were found in sites where estimated rates of fire spread ranged from 4.1 to 6.9 kilometers/hour; no elk mortality was observed in areas where slower rates of fire spread were estimated. More adult males died in the fires than expected based on the herd ratio (P
A survey of North American farmed elk (Cervus elaphus) producers was performed to determine the causes of sickness and mortality in farmed elk and to estimate mortality rates. Records over a 10-year period from 8 North American veterinary diagnostic pathology laboratories were also examined and summarized. The primary diagnosis for each record was used to classify diseases into categories such as parasitic, infectious, toxicological, and neoplastic. Nonspecific trauma was the most frequently reported known cause of mortality in both sexes and all age classes by elk producers. Ranked on perceived economic importance, producers cited trauma, chronic wasting disease, calf scours, dystocia, pneumonia, winter tick, tuberculosis, and grain overload. One-year mortality rates for adults and yearlings were 2.6% and 2.7%, respectively. Mortality rates for male and female adult animals were 2.4% and 2.7%, respectively. In general, the major findings of the survey matched reported causes for mortality provided by elk producers. 781b155fdc