The 

roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), also known as the roe, western roe deer,[3][4] or European roe,

[3]
 is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a
small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. The species is
widespread in Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, from Scotland to the Caucasus, and
east to northern Iran and Iraq.

Contents

 1Etymology
 2Taxonomy
o 2.1Subspecies
o 2.2Systematics
o 2.3Hybrids
 3Description
 4Distribution
o 4.1Belgium
o 4.2Britain
o 4.3Iran
o 4.4Ireland
o 4.5The Netherlands
 5Ecology
o 5.1Habitat
o 5.2Behaviour
o 5.3Diet
o 5.4Reproduction
o 5.5Population ecology
o 5.6Community ecology
 6Uses
 7Palaeontology
 8Conservation
 9Culture
 10References
 11Further reading
 12External links

Etymology[edit]
English roe is from Old English rā or rāha, from Proto-Germanic *raihô, cognate with Old
Norse rá, Old Saxon rēho, Middle Dutch and Dutch ree, Old High
German rēh, rēho, rēia, German Reh. It is perhaps ultimately derived from a PIE root *rei-, meaning
"streaked, spotted or striped".[5][6]
The word is attested on the 5th-century Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus -a roe deer talus bone,
written in Elder Futhark as ᚱᚨᛇᚺᚨᚾ, transliterated as raïhan.[7][8]
In the English language, this deer was originally simply called a 'roe', but over time the word 'roe' has
become a qualifier, and it is now usually called 'roe deer'.[9]
The Koiné Greek name πύγαργος, transliterated 'pygargos', mentioned in the Septuagint and the
works of various writers such as Hesychius, Herodotus and later Pliny,[10] was originally thought to
refer to this species (in many European translations of the Bible), although it is now more often
believed to refer to the Addax. It is derived from the words pyge 'buttocks' and argo 'white'.
The taxonomic name Capreolus is derived from capra or caprea, meaning 'billy goat', with the
diminutive suffix -olus. The meaning of this word in Latin is not entirely clear: it may have meant
'ibex' or 'chamois'.[11] The roe was also known as capraginus or capruginus in Latin.[12]

Taxonomy[edit]
Linnaeus first described the roe deer in the modern taxonomic system as Cervus capreolus in 1758.
[2][3]
 The initially monotypic genus Capreolus was first proposed by John Edward Gray in 1821,
although he did not provide a proper description for this taxon.[13] Gray was not actually the first to
use the name Capreolus, it has been used by other authors before him. Nonetheless his publication
is seen as taxonomically acceptable.[9] He was generally ignored until the 20th century, most 19th-
century works having continued to follow Linnaeus.
The name Capreolus capreolus is a tautonym.[9]
Roe deer populations gradually become somewhat larger as one moves further to the east, peaking
in Kazakhstan, then becoming smaller again towards the Pacific Ocean.[14] The
Soviet mammalogist Vladimir Sokolov had recognised this as a separate species from 1985 already
using electrophoretic chromatography to show differences in the fractional protein content of the
body tissues,[15][16] the next year he showed that there were differences in the skull morphology,[citation
needed]
 and a year after he used sonographs to demonstrate that the fawns, females and males made
very different noises between species.[17] Alexander S. Graphodatsky looked at the karyotypy to
present more evidence to recognise these Russian and Asian populations as a separate species,
now renamed the eastern or Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), in his 1990 paper.[18]
[19]
 The taxa are differentiated by the B chromosomes found in C. pygargus, populations of this
species gain more of these strange 'junk' chromosomes as one moves further east.
This new taxonomic interpretation (circumscription) was first followed in the American
book Mammals Species of the World in 1993.[20] Populations of the roe from east of the Khopyor
River and Don River to Korea are considered to be this species.[21]

Subspecies[edit]
The Integrated Taxonomic Information System, following the 2005 Mammals Species of the World,
gives the following subspecies:[3][22]

 Capreolus capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758)

 Capreolus capreolus canus Miller, 1910 - Spain
 Capreolus capreolus caucasicus Nikolay Yakovlevich Dinnik, 1910 - A large-sized subspecies found
in the region to the north of Caucasus Mountains, although Mammals Species of the
World appears to recognise the taxon, this work bases itself on a chapter by Lister et al. in the
1998 book The European roe deer: the biology of success, which only recognises the name as
provisional.[9]
 Capreolus capreolus italicus Enrico Festa, 1925 - Italy
This is just one (extreme) interpretation among a number. Two main specialists did not recognise
these taxa and considered the species to be without subspecies in 2001.[23] The European
Union's Fauna Europaea recognised in 2005 two subspecies, but besides the nominate form
recognises the Spanish population as the endemic Capreolus capreolus garganta Meunier, 1983.[24]
  In 2008 the IUCN recognised three infraspecific taxa: the nominate and the
[25]

subspecies garganta and italicus.[1]

Systematics[edit]
Roe deer are most closely related to the water deer, and, counter-intuitively, the three species in this
group, called the Capreolini, are most closely related to moose and reindeer.[26]
Although roe deer were once classified as belonging to the Cervinae subfamily, they are now
classified as part of the Odocoileinae, which includes the deer from the New World.[23]

Hybrids[edit]
Both species have seen their populations increase, both around the 1930s. In recent times, since the
1960s,[23] the two species have become sympatric where their distributions meet, and there is now a
broad 'hybridization zone' running from right side of the Volga River up to eastern Poland. It is
extremely difficult for hunters to know which species they have bagged.[27] In line with Haldane's rule,
female hybrids of the two taxa are fertile while male hybrids are not.[25][28] Hybrids are much larger
than normal and a cesarean section was sometimes needed to birth the fawns, becoming larger than
their mothers at the age of 4–5 months. F1 hybrid males may be sterile, but backcrosses with the
females is possible.[28]
22% of the animals around Moscow carry the mtDNA of the European roe deer and 78% of the
Siberian. In the Volgograd region the European deer predominates.[27] In Stavropol and
Dnepropetrovsk regions of Ukraine most of the roe are Siberian.[27][29] In northeastern Poland there is
also evidence of introgression with the Siberian deer, which was likely introduced.[30] In some cases,
such as around Moscow, former introductions of European stock is likely responsible.[27]

Description[edit]

Roe deer in a grassland area

Young roe deer

Roe deer antler

The roe deer is a relatively small deer, with a body length of 95–135 cm (3 ft 1 in–4 ft 5 in)
throughout its range, and a shoulder height of 63–67 cm (2 ft 1 in–2 ft 2 in), and a weight of 15–
35 kg (35–75 lb).[31] Populations from Urals and northern Kazakhstan are larger on average growing
to 145 cm (4 ft 9 in) in length and 85 cm (2 ft 9 in) at shoulder height, with body weights of up to
60 kg (130 lb), with the deer populations becoming smaller again further east in
the Transbaikal, Amur Oblast, and Primorsky Krai regions.[citation needed] Bucks are slightly larger than in
does in healthy populations (where the population density is restricted by hunting or predators).
Males from populations in bad conditions are similar or slightly smaller than females.[31]
Bucks in good conditions develop antlers up to 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long with two or three, rarely
even four, points. When the male's antlers begin to regrow, they are covered in a thin layer of velvet-
like fur which disappears later on after the hair's blood supply is lost. Males may speed up the
process by rubbing their antlers on trees, so that their antlers are hard and stiff for the duels during
the mating season. Unlike most cervids, roe deer begin regrowing antlers almost immediately after
they are shed.[citation needed]

Distribution[edit]

Roe deer, male and female in Segovia, Spain

Within Europe the roe deer occurs in most areas with the exception of northernmost Scandinavia, in
Norway it occurs throughout the country with the exception of parts of northern Vestland and
northernmost Nordland (north of Narvik),[32] and the islands of Iceland, Ireland and those of
the Mediterranean Sea islands.[24] In the Mediterranean region, it is largely confined to mountainous
areas, and is absent or rare at low altitudes.[citation needed]
There is an early Neolithic fossil record from Jordan.[22]
It is known that there are roe deer that live in the Red Forest near Chernobyl in Ukraine.[33]