The eastern roe deer, also called the Siberian roe deer, is a medium-sized deer of northern and eastern Asia with a big white rump patch. It does not live wild in the United States. It was long treated as the same species as the European roe deer but is now recognized as its own, larger species.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Long neck and large ears. Up to about 4.8 ft (146 cm) long and 130 lb (59 kg). Reddish in summer, grayish brown in winter, with a white rump. Only males grow antlers, which are larger and more branched than a European roe deer's.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Forest
- Forest-steppe
- Tall-grass meadows
- Range
- From Kazakhstan across Siberia, Mongolia, the Tian Shan, northern China, and eastern Tibet to the Korean Peninsula. Not native to the Americas.
- Preferred conditions
- Forest and steppe; densest in tall-grass meadows and river floodplains.
Behavior
- Diet
- Eats more than 600 plant species, mostly herbs plus grasses, sedges, and woody browse. Visits in summer and slows its metabolism in winter when food is poor.
- Social life
- Males mark their territories by rubbing their antlers on branches and by leaving droppings, especially in the breeding season.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- Mates in August and September.
- Gestation
- The embryo pauses its development and implants only in January, so pregnancy lasts about 280–300 days.
- Litter size
- Usually twins, weaned at 4–5 months.
- Time to maturity
- Females usually breed from their second year, males from their third.
- Lifespan
- Typically 8–12 years in the wild.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Formerly treated as part of the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Two subspecies are usually recognized: C. p. pygargus and C. p. tianschanicus of the Tian Shan.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Overhunting in the late 1800s and early 1900s shrank its range in Eastern Europe, northern Kazakhstan, and Siberia.
More species to explore
Record what you meet and build your own collection
Your photos are kept with their date and place, and you can fill regional albums one species at a time.