Fallow deer: identification, the four coat morphs, and the antlers that give it away.
Dama dama. Brought out from Mediterranean Europe by acclimatisation societies from around the 1830s, and now the most widespread wild deer in Australia by a distance. Roughly 39% of all wild deer herds in the country are fallow.
They are not, as most people assume, an English animal. Fallow originate in Anatolia and the Middle East. The Romans spread them across Europe, the English put them in deer parks, and the English put them on ships.
The single fastest way to identify one: look at the top of the antler. If it broadens into a flat shovel, it's a fallow. No other wild deer in Australia has palmate antlers.
Bucks typically 60 to 100kg live weight, does 30 to 50kg. Medium deer. Heavy enough that you will absolutely know about it when you drag one to the ute.
Eight to twelve years in the wild, considerably longer in captivity. Most animals you see will be well under that.
Around 48km/h flat out, and strong jumpers. When spooked they often pronk, bouncing off all four legs at once. It looks absurd and it broadcasts alarm to every animal in sight.
Both sexes carry a white rump bordered in black, with a black-tipped tail. In poor light this is often the only thing you'll see, and it's diagnostic.
Fallow are the only wild deer species with four naturally occurring colour morphs. People regularly report a "different kind of deer" and it's simply a different coat. All four can appear in the same mob.