Rum red deer research project

Meet the Deer

Home Page The Deer Year History of Deer Research on Rum Kilmory Research Project

Meet the Deer Research Findings Publication List People

What’s in a name?

Recognition of individual deer is key to the research conducted on red deer at Kilmory. This is made possible by both naturally-occurring differences in the way the deer look and artificial marks put in place when deer are captured. In addition to having recognisable markings, every deer in the Kilmory study area also has a name. A newborn calf, of either sex, will be named after its mother and its year of birth. For example, a calf born to a female called Viola in 1996 will begin its life as Viola96. If a female calf survives to three years old (the youngest age at which females can breed) she is given her own name. This is usually a name related in some way to her mothers. Viola96 survived to breeding age, and was re-named Cello in May 1999. In fact, Viola had two other female offspring who themselves went on to breed successfully, named Fiddle (born 1989) and Piccolo (born 1997). Fiddle, Cello and Piccolo had many successful daughters between them (including Mandolin, Banjo, Ukulele and Guitar). The initial naming process for males is similar, but those born in the study area retain their mother’s name and year throughout life. So the male calf born to Viola in 1995 would be called Viola95 throughout his life. Males who migrate into the study for the rut from other areas of Rum are given their own names and are identified by their appearance, including their antler morphology. For example, Viola’s father was an immigrant stag who rutted in the Kilmory study area. He was named LeftNick because he had a nick in his left ear.

From individuals to matrilines…

Recognition of female deer and their offspring has allowed us to build up detailed information on matrilines. The photo on the right shows a mother and daughter pair, Lapponica and Lapponica04 from the Kilmory study area. Details of their matriline, going back to a female born in the 1960’s called Upturned Hind are shown below on the right. The matrilines of hinds currently resident to Kilmory can be traced back to one of the 57 hinds present in the study area when individual-based research began in the late 1960s. Matrilines can now be traced back up to nine generations, with extremely detailed information on the lives of every individual.

… And from matrilines and DNA paternity analysis to pedigrees

Calves spend the first few months of life in close proximity to their mothers, so identifying mothers can be done through observation. Identifying a calf’s father is less straightforward as females are held in the harems of numerous stags during each rut. It is hard to determine reliably when and with which stag a female has conceived through observation alone. Instead, we use samples collected from Kilmory deer to generate DNA profiles of calves, their known mothers and rutting stags and use genetic paternity analysis techniques to identify the most likely fathers. We are now regularly able to reliably assign over 70% of calves to a father. This has allowed us to build up a detailed pedigree for the Kilmory deer population, going back numerous generations through both male and female lines. The diagram below shows a Lapponica04’s pedigree as far as we know.

Above: Lapponica04's pedigree as we currently know it. Mothers are denoted as pink circles, fathers as blue squares.

The Kilmory Hall of Fame:

By monitoring individual deer throughout their lives we are able to investigate how and why they vary in their reproductive success. Genetic paternity analysis has also meant that we can measure male rutting success as well as female success in raising calves. Many deer (around 50% in fact) do not make it through the first year of life. Of those that do, some have performed extraordinarily well. Below are some notable members of the Kilmory red deer study hall of fame.

PinkGreenBlue - The Longest Lived Deer

Born and tagged during the 1958-1972 research phase, this female deer – named after the colours of the flashes in her ears – went on to become the longest lived deer in Kilmory study. She was born in 1968 and died over winter in 1992, aged 24. No other deer in our study has made it beyond 20 yet, so this is quite an achievement. The daughter of another highly successful hind called Sobhrag, PinkGreenBlue had 13 offspring in her long life, four of whom went to become successful mothers themselves.

Aldabra – Wonder Mum

This remarkable hind was born in 1987 and is still alive, managing to produce a new calf in 2006 at a ripe old 19 years of age. She has produced 10 calves over her lifetime – a remarkable feat but not a record by any means. What is incredible is how successful her offspring have been: all have survived the trials of early life, with five daughters going to be successful mothers themselves and three sons going on to rut successfully and become fathers. It’s too early to say what will become of Aldabra’s daughter from 2003 and son from 2006, but we expect great things.

Maxi – Super Stag

Son of a hummel (a stag without antlers), Maxi rather surprisingly turned out to be one the most successful in the Kilmory projects history. Genetic paternity analysis reveals him to have fathered at least 35 offspring born between 1976 and 1982. Born in 1970 and living to twelve years of age, Maxi’s offspring have been extremely successful and many of the deer currently alive in the study area are known to be his descendants.

RedonYellow77 – Maxi’s Super Son

The son of a study area hind, called RedonYellow, genetic analysis later showed that this supremely successful stag was had been fathered by Maxi. Rutting successfully between 1982 and 1990, he died aged fourteen having sired at least 38 offspring, as many as his father.

Ruff and family – Early breeders

Hinds can first reproduce aged three years but, at least in recent times at Kilmory, most have waited until four or later to begin their reproductive careers. Not so Ruff and her female descendants. Born in 1997, Ruff gave birth to a daughter, Ripply, aged three years. Ripply, in turn gave birth to Sigourney in 2003, who herself produced a son in the 2006 calving season. Ruff, Ripply and Sigourney are still alive and are regularly seen on the Laundry Greens at the far north end of Kilmory Glen.

Zucchini96 – A fight to the death

After rutting successfully for several weeks in autumn 2005, Zucchini96, got into a fight with a younger challenger called Portia 97 on the 15^th October. During the tussle, a spike of one of Portia97’s antlers pierced Zucchini96’s skull, killing him almost instantly. Although fights resulting in deaths are relatively rare during the rut, Zucchini96’s illustrates the risks of engaging in combat for stags

Vanity – A complete failure

Born in 1995, and still alive and regularly seen in the north-east region of the study area, Vanity has never calved. Most hinds will start to reproduce at three or four years of age, or at the very latest aged five or six, but Vanity has taken the record by surviving to a relatively ripe age of eleven without ever having reproduced. The reasons for Vanity’s complete reproductive failure remain a mystery.

Gentian03 – Eagled!

On 2^nd June 2003 Gentian, a hind living in the southern part of the study area, produced a healthy daughter. Just nine days after it was born, whilst hiding in long grass waiting for her mother to return to suckle her, it was spotted by one of the golden eagles resident Rum. Researchers actually witnessed the deadly eagle attack that followed. Each year a minimum of 2-3 calves are taken by golden eagles, who are themselves feeding hungry nestlings during the calving season at Kilmory.