Deer Rutting in Knole Park - a photo on Flickriver

This video was taken on 19th October 2020 at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent. This time of year is the rutting season.

The rut is the deers’ mating season. It happens every Autumn, when antlers and egos are fully grown and testosterone runs high. Male deer, known as bucks, assert their dominance by fighting each other with their antlers. The stronger the buck, the more likely he is to father children.

I was so pleased that they were in a copse near to the car park and it was possible to watch and shoot from a distance. The dominant male had around seven does and there were four or five males in hollows watching.

In the lead up to the rut, there are a number of physiological changes to male deer including an increase of testosterone, the doubling of neck thickness, the larynx becoming more prominent and the tongue changing shape.

Roars are used as the first line of defence as a way to deter rivals. A deeper louder roar signals a larger animal. The sound of a roar can help rival stags determine from a distance whether to try their luck, and females can use it to judge the best quality males in the area.

Stags will thrash about in the vegetation to make themselves look larger. They will also urinate and roll into muddy areas called wallows. This is their equivalent of aftershave on a Friday night!

As the rut advances, harem-holding stags become more exhausted and there is an increased chance of them being overthrown. A stag barely eats or sleeps during the rut and can lose up to a third of its weight during a fortnight of intense activity.

There are slight differences in how the fallow bucks rut. During breeding season, bucks can form a lek - a gathering of males engaging in a competitive display to attract a potential mate. Unlike the red deer who operate harems, it is not uncommon to see a group of 40 does (female fallow deer) with four or five big bucks. In common with other large deer species, during conflict, the buck’s behaviour escalates from groaning and parallel walking to fighting.

You can see more photos in my Album Deer Rut

flic.kr/s/aHsmRCnf6i

Taken on: October 20, 2020

Tags:

Deer

DeerRutting

KnolePark

Nature

DeerMating

Animals

buck

doe

stag

wildlife

throughherlens « less

Sets appears in: • Deer Rut • Videos

Groups appears in: • Wildlife & Nature UK • Nature & Wildlife Videos

Stats: 3,056 views / 6 comments

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