📸 PhotoPhoto: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Western Red Deer
Cervus elaphus (Western Red Deer · アカシカ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Its maximum weight of 497 kg is equivalent to about 25 bags of 20 kg rice (Comparison).
- 💡 Since ancient times, people have used its meat, fur, teeth, hide, and antlers, and today it is also valued for tourism, hunting, and the venison industry (Animal Diversity Web).
- 💡 The National List of Species of Korea records this deer as the largest deer distributed in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The Western Red Deer is a large deer that favors open woods and avoids dense forests. Only males have widely branching antlers.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
The coat is dark brown in winter and yellowish brown in summer, with a light yellowish-brown patch on the rump. Male antlers span 1.1 to 1.5 m from tip to tip, and a dark mane hangs from the neck to the chest.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It eats grasses and sedges in summer and twigs in winter, chewing the cud. During the autumn breeding season, males guard harems of females while roaring loudly, and females usually give birth to a single calf.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
In the National List of Species of Korea, the entry for 'Malsaseum' is linked to this species and states that it is the largest deer in Korea, distributed in the northern regions.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2018) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/55997072/142404453
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • mammaldiversity.org — 1006313
- • iucnredlist.org — 142404453
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000053350 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000053350
- • wikidata.org — Q79794
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Red deer (Cervus elaphus) hind.jpg
- • animaldiversity.org — Cervus elaphus
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Ferran Sayol · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.