Dama (genus)

Dama
Dülmen, Wildpark -- 2018 -- 3762.jpg
European fallow deer (D. dama)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Cervinae
Tribe: Cervini
Genus: Dama
Frisch, 1775
Type species
Cervus dama
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

Dama is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.

Name

The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word dāma or damma, used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes, lies at the root of the modern scientific name, as well as the German Damhirsch, French daim, Dutch damhert, and Italian daino. In Croatian and Serbian, the name for the fallow deer is jelen lopatar ("shovel deer"), due to the form of its antlers. The Modern Hebrew name of the fallow deer is yachmur (יחמור).

Taxonomy and evolution

The genus includes two extant species:

Extant species

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Fallow deer in field.jpg D. dama European fallow deer Confirmed native only to Turkey, but potentially native to the Italian Peninsula, the Balkans, and the island of Rhodes in Greece; introduced from Roman times onwards to the rest of Europe, and around the world in more recent times
Persian Fallow Deer 1.jpg D. mesopotamica Persian fallow deer Iran and Israel; once ranged throughout the Middle East and eastern Turkey

Some taxonomists classify the Persian fallow deer as a subspecies (D. d. mesopotamica), while others, such as the IUCN, treat it as a separate species (D. mesopotamica).



This page was last updated at 2023-02-07 00:45 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari