East European red deer
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| Cervus elaphus maral Gray, 1850 |
The East European Red Deer, (Cervus elaphus maral) also known as the Caspian Red Deer and Maral is the easternmost subspecies of European red deer that is native to areas between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea such as Crimea, Asia Minor, the Caucasus Mountains region bordering Europe and Asia, and along the Caspian Sea region in Iran. This animal is sometimes referred to as Maral or Noble deer.
There is another animal known as the Altai Maral (or Altai Wapiti), but this is a race (or ecotype) of Wapiti (Cervus canadensis canadensis) that occurs in the Altai Mountains and Tianshan Mountains of Central Asia.
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[edit] Description
This large heavily built deer has a dark slaty-gray coat with a bright yellow rump patch in winter. But color is reddish in summer. The thighs, shoulders, and underparts are black or dark brown. This deer shows both the characteristics of a typical red deer and the wapiti. Male deer roar in a fashion similar to other European red deer and have five pronged antlers with cups and may rival Rocky Mountain Elk (Cervus canadensis canadensis) in size. These deer are similar to wapitis in having large bez (second) tines and a large rump-patch.
[edit] Range
This deer is found in the lands between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea such as Asia Minor, Crimea, the Caucasus Region and in northwestern Iran.
