Cervidae

Also known as deer family, cervids, true deer, raghorn, deer

A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes muntjac, elk, red deer, and fallow deer) and Capreolinae (which includes reindeer, white-tailed deer, roe deer, and moose). Male deer of almost all species (except the water deer), as well as female reindeer, grow and shed new antlers each year. These antlers are bony extensions of the skull and are often used for combat between males.

OverviewAI-generated

Cervidae, commonly known as deer, is a family within the order Artiodactyla and class Mammalia. This taxon, which is a subclass of Placentalia, was described by Goldfuss in 1820. Its temporal range began in the Oligocene. The family is a source of venison.

Members of this family primarily consume Poaceae, Carex, forb, and shrubs. They are invasive to the Australian continent. Scientific literature regarding Cervidae includes 20,978 records in PubMed.

Biological occurrence data lists 4,781,403 records. Specimens are held by institutions including USNM, SDNHM, and CM in countries such as the United States, Tunisia, and Mexico. This collection includes 1,406 records and 133 media items. The topic is referenced by 4,133 other encyclopedia articles.

Synthesized by Vinony from 41 facts across 7 sources: Wikidata, GBIF, PubMed, Gbif Occ, WoRMS, iDigBio, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Species

deer

Cervidae

FAMILY

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumChordata
ClassMammalia
OrderArtiodactyla
FamilyCervidae

Observations recorded4,781,403

奔跑中的鹿鹿科，是偶蹄目反芻亚目下的一科，目前全世界約有34種。其中包括白尾鹿、騾鹿、加拿大馬鹿、駝鹿、紅鹿、馴鹿、黇鹿、西方狍等。所有的公鹿（除了獐外）及母馴鹿頭上長有角並每年更新，此點可與其他頭上長有角但終生不換角的動物例如羚羊做區別。分佈於亞洲的麝、非洲的长颈鹿以及熱帶非洲與亞洲森林裡的水鼷鹿等虽然属于广义上的鹿，但在动物分类学上不属于鹿科，而分属麝科、长颈鹿科及鼷鹿科。目录 1 分布 2 鹿角 3 习性 3.1 雪灾 3.2 地盘 3.3 天敌 3.4 自卫 3.5 食物 4 饲养 5 參見 6 外部链接分布鹿廣泛分佈於每個大陸，除了大洋洲、南極洲和非洲。鹿角通常只有公鹿长有鹿角，驯鹿是唯一一种公鹿和母鹿都长角的鹿，但母鹿的角要小得多。在每年冬天，公鹿的角都会脱落，到春天开始长出新的角，那时鹿角会覆盖着一层皮，叫做鹿茸。当鹿角成型时，鹿茸就会脱落。母驯鹿的角是在春天脱落的。另外，獐无论公的还是母的，都没有角，它们用长长的獠牙去自卫。公麂既有獠牙也有角，而母麂既没有獠牙也没有角。习性雪灾雪是鹿最大的敌人之一,但如果雪并不是很大就沒問題。但当雪变得非常厚时，牠们就很难找到食物，因为雪都把食物盖住了。另外，虽然鹿跑得很快，但由于有些鹿可达300公斤重，当牠们跑时就会陷到雪中，令牠们的速度變慢。仅50公斤的狼便很容易追上牠们。地盘不像大多数动物，鹿没有固定的家。对鹿来说，所谓的家就是地盘。夜晚它们就睡在灌木丛中。在冬天时，当鹿的地盘覆盖着厚雪时，它们就会再找一个雪相对较浅的地盘。当很多鹿都选这个地盘时，它们就会分地盘。天敌狼和美洲狮是鹿的主要天敌。自卫当鹿一旦发现危险时，第一件事情就是跑。如果跑解决不了问题了话，有些公鹿就会用它们的角去战斗。而母鹿的前蹄像刀一样尖，当它们发怒时，它们就会往敌人身上踢。食物主要以树叶为食。它们的胃较小，主要吸收各种植物性食物中的矿物质以在每年生成新的鹿角。与牛和羊不同，它们在食物方面很有选择性，只挑选易于消化的食物，如嫩叶、嫩草、软芽、水果、蘑菇等等。饲养鹿对人类长久以来就具有很高的经济价值，但是鹿并不像绵羊、山羊、猪和牛等动物那么容易驯养，因此鹿的来源主要是通过猎取。在台灣，東部是主要的養鹿場建立地區，台灣的梅花鹿於日治時前之前就已經被獵取殆盡，目前野生的族群是因養鹿場保種培育後野放的，在綠島，鹿已經多到對生態造成困擾。參見生物学主题鹿茸外部链接维基共享资源中相關的多媒體資源：鹿科（分類）维基物种中的分类信息：鹿科 Mageshima Island Homepage 物種識別信息維基數據: Q23390 維基物種: Cervidae ADW: Cervidae EoL: 7685 EPPO: 1CERVF Fauna Europaea: 12647 Fossilwor

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 1,406
With media: 133
Family: Cervidae
Collections: USNM, SDNHM, CM
Recorded in: United States, Tunisia, Mexico

iDigBio →

Research

20,978 papers

Spongiform encephalopathies in Cervidae.ReviewRevue scientifique et technique (International Office of Epizootics) · 1992Williams ES, Young SDOI: 10.20506/rst.11.2.611
Comparative studies of X chromosomes in Cervidae family.Scientific reports · 2023Proskuryakova AA, Ivanova ES, Makunin AI et al.DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39088-4
Comparative Studies of Karyotypes in the Cervidae Family.Cytogenetic and genome research · 2022Proskuryakova AA, Ivanova ES, Perelman PL et al.DOI: 10.1159/000527349
Review on PRNP genetics and susceptibility to chronic wasting disease of Cervidae.ReviewVeterinary research · 2021Moazami-Goudarzi K, Andréoletti O, Vilotte JL et al.DOI: 10.1186/s13567-021-00993-z
Organic and mechanical properties of Cervidae antlers: a review.ReviewVeterinary research communications · 2016Picavet PP, Balligand MDOI: 10.1007/s11259-016-9663-8
Aggressive interactions among white-tailed deer (Artiodactyla: Cervidae) at 4-poster devices for host-targeted tick control.Journal of medical entomology · 2024Bai N, Pesapane R, Machtinger ET et al.DOI: 10.1093/jme/tjae059
Sickled red cells in the Cervidae.ReviewAdvances in veterinary science and comparative medicine · 1983Taylor WJ
Analysis of different biological matrices for glucocorticoid detection in wild Cervidae and Bovidae from Europe and North America: a review.BMC veterinary research · 2025Barukčić V, Berlinguer F, Pasciu V et al.DOI: 10.1186/s12917-025-04678-z

via PubMed

~43 min read

Encyclopedic overview

28 sections

Contents

Etymology and terminology
Distribution
Description
Antlers
Teeth
Biology
Diet
Reproduction
Disease
Evolution
Eocene
Oligocene
Miocene
Pliocene
Pleistocene
Taxonomy and classification
External relationships
Internal relationships
Human interaction
Prehistoric
Historic
Literary
Heraldic
Economic
See also
References
Further reading
External links

The musk deer (Moschidae) of Asia and chevrotains (Tragulidae) of tropical African and Asian forests are separate families that are also in the ruminant clade Ruminantia; they are not especially closely related to Cervidae.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Cervidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.