King of the Forest 6 is a photograph by Jenny Rainbow which was uploaded on September 27th, 2016.
Title
King of the Forest 6
Artist
Jenny Rainbow
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
King of the Forest by Jenny Rainbow.
This gorgeous male deer I met in Obora Holedna - natural reserve near Brno, Czech Republic. He was quit posing for me for a while and I definitely praise his beauty by my camera!
The Manchurian sika deer (Europe) is the larger of the sika species. The males can weigh from 110 to 140 lbs and the females from 80 to 100 lbs. They have bright reddish brown coats with eight to ten rows of bright white spots running horizontally from the shoulders to the hindquarters. A black streak of hair starts at the base of the neck and fallows the ridge of the back to the tail. The coat gets much darker in the winter and typically the deer will have relatively darker hair on the necks. The tail has a bright white underside and when the deer is alarmed the tail fluffs up creating a double half moon shape. When alarmed they sound off with a high pitched bark and bounce off very similar to a pronghorn antelope trot.
The males prefer to be by themselves or in very small groups of 3 to 5 males. The sika deer can be aggressive and tremendous fighters during the rut. By the end of the rut it is very difficult to find mature males that have not broken off tines. The deer has keen senses and is very leery. The rut occurs in September and October and the offspring are born in May generally. During the pre rut and rut the Sika Bull's bugles very similar to Elk with a much higher pitch. The deer are primarily browsers and grass occasionally supplementing their diet. The bull sports impressive antlers that are typically massive with main beam lengths averaging 26 - 30 inches. Manchurian sika deer easily interbred with the sub species of sika and red deer.
Uploaded
September 27th, 2016
