Red Deer

The red deer is one of the largest species of deer, native to most of Europe, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Iran and parts of western Asia, and the only deer species native to Africa, where it survives in the Atlas Mountains of the northwest. It has also been introduced to Australia, New Zealand and the Americas, and its meat, venison, is widely used as food. A ruminant with a four-chambered stomach, the red deer is genetically better understood as a group of related species than a single species, and though once rare in parts of Europe it has recovered through reintroduction and conservation efforts in places such as the United Kingdom and Portugal.