Female Deer Play Hard to Get
A study of red deer has stripped the rutting stag of its power and instead highlighted the important role of female deer in determining which boy gets the girl.
Stags tend to fight for control of groups - or harems - of females, and the sight of two stags fighting for dominance has long been associated with strength, power and amle dominance.
However, new research from the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge found that, on average, 43% of female deer in heat will drift away from their usual ranges and mate with stags from other areas, with some travelling as far afield as 4km.
That which is unclear is why the females wander. The study, conducted over a period of 34 years on the Scottish Isle of Rum, suggests that females are not - as would be expected - moving in search of a preferred mate.
Katie Stopher, of the University of Edinburgh's School of Biological Sciences, who carried out the study, said: "Females change harem during the autumn rut far more than we would expect. They are much more likely to do so when they are receptive to mating. It's not clear why females stray, but it seems not to be out of preference for another stag."
She added: "More work is needed to understand why this happens and what the implications are."
The study, funded by the Natural Environment Research council and the James Hutton Institute, was published in Behavioral Ecology. Rum is a National Nature Reserve managed by Scottish Natural Heritage.
The BSAVA has opened submissions for the BSAVA Clinical Research Abstracts 2026.
