The Fallow deer is a Eurasian deer that is native to western Eurasia, but in the past century the deer has been introduced into other parts of the world, including the United States. In some portions of the U.S., free-ranging fallow deer populations have increased to the point that they cause serious browsing damage to young trees and compete with native white-tailed deer. Fallow deer have also been introduced in Texas along with many other exotic deer species, where they are often hunted on large game ranches.
Fallow deer have a lot of variations in the color of their coats, with four main types: common, menil, melanistic (black) and white. The white-colored fallow is actually white, and not an albino of any sort. In addition, white fallow deer are often mis-identified as albino white-tailed deer. Melanistic fallow deer are often mis-identified as Sika deer or even melanistic whitetail deer. The common coat variation has a brown coat with white mottles that are most pronounced in summer with a much darker coat in the winter. The white is the lightest colored, almost white. The common and menil colored deer are darker. Continue reading Fallow Deer – What are They?