On Sat, 3 Jun 2000, Todd Moody wrote:

> On Sat, 3 Jun 2000, Ray Audette wrote:
>
> > Reindeer live on the tundra of the Arctic.
>
> Are they the same species as deer?  I had the idea that they were
> different species of the same class, but I could easily be
> mistaken.  Are modern deer supposed to be the descendants of
> reindeer of this sort?  That would make sense, but it would also
> be rather rapid evolution, I suppose.


Reindeer are not the same species as the deer that Ray is
talking about, but they are indeed members of the deer
family, as are moose, elk, red deer, muntjac, and so on.
Deer are wildly successful and live in many environments.
They range from solitary tropical slinkers to massive
herds in the tundra to desert dwellers.  Tropical deer,
like the axis, do not have much fat but deer living
in cold climates do indeed get nice and fat.

The deer that Ray is refering to is, I believe, the
animal often called the "Irish Elk", although a better
name would be "Giant Fallow Deer".  This deer had the
largest antlers of any deer (although it was not the
largest in body size nor in antler weight/body weight
ratio).  They did not live in forests, but were
cursorial, like bison and caribou today.  Cave paintings
of this deer exist and it is likely that we ate the
last one of its kind.

There were a number of deer related to the Irish
Elk and except for one they all became extinct at
the end of the Pleistocene.  Even as we pushed already
struggling species to extinction, we did save the
only remaining megacerine deer,  the modern
day fallow deer.  Its range was severely restricted
after the last glaciation but the fossil record
suddenly shows it turning up all over the place,
including islands.  Since no wings are ever found,
this suggests human intervention.  Fallows are
probably best classed as "semi-domesticated" since
they have now been transplanted worldwide and
show classic signs of domestication - they are now
found in a variety of colors and sometimes sport
long fur.

Fallows are also very, very tasty.  Probably the
reason we saved them from extinction in the first
place :)

Julie