[HPFGU-OTChatter] More linguistic confusion--deer, elk, and moose

[KEN ADAMS]

I agree entirely that the moose (Alces alces ) doesn't look like any other variety of deer, which is perhaps why its males are referred to as bulls rather than stags, which seem to belong only to the genus Cervus.
You sre quite right in pointing out that your two species of deer are about the size of the Fallow Deer although wrong in suggesting that Fallow Deer fawns lack spots. Although yr Elk and the English Red are conspecific, Scottish Reds have inerbred so extensively with the introduced Sika deer (Cervus nippon) that practically all Scottish reds are now hybrids. This is probably now occurring in England as well.
KEN

 

________________________________
From: Carol <justcarol67 at yahoo.com>
To: HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, 15 January, 2009 5:12:29 PM
Subject: [HPFGU-OTChatter] More linguistic confusion--deer, elk, and moose


KEN ADAMS wrote:
>
> The largest deer as far as i know is the moose (N Am) Elk (Europe).
A male moose is definately a bull moose.

Carol responds:

Most people, though, don't think of moose (what Europeans call elk) as
deer even though they're a member of the deer family. They look less
like deer than American elk do. (Male elk are also called bulls in the
U.S.)

I started to mention American deer in another post but forgot to
complete my sentence. The only two varieties that I know of are mule
deer and white-tailed deer, which are smaller than the English red
deer but possibly larger than the fallow deer (I don't know; I'm
guessing). The males of both species are called bucks, the females
does, and the babies, regardless of sex, fawns. (Only the fawns have
spots, unlike the fallow deer.)

Carol, who just discovered through a bit of Googling that English red
deer and American elk are different subspecies of the same species,
Cervus elaphus, but American elk are larger and more brownish

http://www.suwannee riverranch. com/reddeer. htm


 

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