Persian fallow deer - Video Learning - WizScience.com

• published: 14 Aug 2015
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The "Persian fallow deer" is a rare ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. Its taxonomic status is disputed, with some maintaining it as a subspecies of the fallow deer, while others treat it as a separate species, "Dama mesopotamica", where the Spanish word "Dama" means "fallow deer". Feldhamer et al. and Geist included "Dama mesopotamica" as a subspecies of "Dama dama", though it was regarded as a separate species by Haltenorth , Ferguson et al. , Uerpmann , and Harrison and Bates . We follow Pitra et al. and Randi et al. in treating "D. mesopotamica" as a separate species, based on a major study on the evolution and phylogeny of old world deer. Thus, the majority of the scientists consider it as "Dama mesopotamica". Moreover, Khuzestan Province, where they found the 25 deer, is historically a part of ancient Mesopotamia. Persian fallow deer are physically larger than fallow deer, their antlers bigger and less palmated. They are nearly extinct today, inhabiting only a small habitat in Khuzestan, southern Iran, two rather small protected areas in Mazandaran , an area of northern Israel and an island in Lake Urmia in north-western Iran and in some parts of Iraq. They were formerly found from Mesopotamia and Egypt to the Cyrenaica and Cyprus. Their preferred habitat is open woodland. They are bred in zoos and parks in Iran, Israel, and Germany today. In 1978 as the Iranian Revolution was unfolding, with the help of Prince Gholam Reza Pahlavi and the chief of the games and wild life of Iran, the Israeli conservationists carried a all the captive fallow deer out of Iran and into Israel for safe keep. Since 1996 they have been gradually and successfully reintroduced from a breeding center in the Carmel, into the wild in northern Israel, and more than 650 of them now live in the Galilee, Mount Carmel areas and the Brook of Sorek. Due to the rarity of this species, little information exists on their behavior and social structure in the wild; therefore, most biological information comes from captive-bred or reintroduced deer, which may not present an accurate representation of the natural population. Wiz Science™ is "the" learning channel for children and all ages. SUBSCRIBE TODAY Disclaimer: This video is for your information only. The author or publisher does not guarantee the accuracy of the content presented in this video. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Background Music: "The Place Inside" by Silent Partner (royalty-free) from YouTube Audio Library. This video uses material/images from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian+fallow+deer, which is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . This video is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . To reuse/adapt the content in your own work, you must comply with the license terms.