The generic name Dama Frisch, 1775, for the Fallow Deer was validated by Opinion 581 of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (China and Melville 1960). However several authors, such as Corbet (1978), Byerly et al. (1989), Cicognani et al. (2000) and Ünal and Çulhaci (2018) have continued to consider it congeneric with Cervus. Molecular analyses support the monophyly of the genus Dama (e.g., Mackiewicz et al. 2022). Different divergent times were estimated for this genus in relation to the selected calibration point, for example 5.7 mya before the start of the Pliocene (Mackiewicz et al. 2022), 5.1 mya, just after the start of the Pliocene (Pitra et al. 2004), or 3-0.4 mya, during the Pliocene (Gilbert et al. 2006).

Morphological and molecular analyses have shown that Dama is not closely related to Cervus but groups with Megaloceros (see Heckeberg 2020 for a review) and several studies support a sister-group relationship of giant Megaloceros giganteus and Fallow Deer. The genus Dama includes the Common Fallow Deer and the Mesopotamian Fallow Deer (Dama mesopotamica (Brooke, 1875)). These deer can be distinguished on the basis of body size (Mesopotamian is larger) and antler shape, and by some minor differences in coat and tail colour, rhinarium, and skull morphology (Chapman and Chapman 1997, Harrison and Bates 1991, Masseti 2002). The Common and Mesopotamian Fallow Deer have been regarded as sister taxa, respectively Dama dama (Linnaeus, 1758) and Dama mesopotamica (Brooke, 1875) on the basis of molecular and morphological analyses (e.g., Heckeberg 2020). The fossil record suggests a 0.7 mya divergence between the species (Pfeiffer-Deml 2018). On the contrary, Masseti et al. (2008), estimating a divergence time of 423,021 years (95% CI ¼ 430,000–116,000 years) between haplotypes of these two taxa, supported the subspecific classification of D. d. dama and D. d. mesopotamica. At present, the taxonomic debate is still open.

European regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)
EU 27 regional assessment: Least Concern (LC)

The species is assessed as Least Concern for Europe and for the EU27 Member States. However, on the island of Rhodes this species is under serious threat.

The Common Fallow Deer is one of the most widespread introduced mammals in Europe. At present, it is difficult to define in detail the species range because of numerous voluntary or accidental introductions and local extinctions. Distributional data are deficient and/or outdated for the following countries Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine and European Russia; the presence of the species in these countries is reported as “uncertain” in the countries occurrence table. In the same table the origin of the Balkan populations is indicated with the category “introduced” in those countries where Early Holocene deer remains are not available and with the category “origin uncertain” in those countries where Early Holocene deer remains were found and studied, but it still remains uncertain whether the Common Fallow Deer is native or introduced.

At the beginning of the Late Pleistocene, the Common Fallow Deer lived in continental Europe and southern Western Asia. It commonly occurred in faunal assemblages from the Last Interglacial (c. 130,000–115,000 B.C.) of mid-latitude Europe, as far north as Britain and southern Scandinavia (Masseti and Vernesi 2014). During the Last Glacial period, this deer retreated into the southern areas of its former distribution, and survived in southern Anatolia, southern Italy, Sicily, and southern Balkan Peninsula (Masseti and Vernesi 2014). During the Last Glacial Period, this deer retreated into the southern areas of its range. Two areas have been suggested as glacial refugia: southern Anatolia (Masseti and Vernesi 2014, Masseti 2023, Baker et al. 2024a,b) and southern and central Balkans (Karastoyanova et al. 2020, Baker et al. 2024a,b) but, according to the Baker et al. 2024a, the latter suggestion “is open to revision based on further genetic and archaeozoological data”. The identification of southern Italy and Sicily as further glacial refugia of the species is challenged by the finding of few deer remains in Neolithic contexts with faunal elements of eastern origin such as the wild goat Capra aegagrus and the Asiatic mouflon Ovis gmelini (Masseti and Vernesi 2014, Miccichè and Masseti 2024).

The Common Fallow Deer did not naturally recolonise the former range after the Last Glacial period (Haltenorth 1959, Heidemann 1976, 1986; Stuart 1991, Baker et al. 2017). In the eastern Mediterranean, archaeozoological evidence suggests that translocations of this deer began in the Neolithic, increasing during the Bronze Age when it began to be translocated also into the western Mediterranean (Masseti and Vernesi 2014). The Romans introduced the Fallow Deer as far as Britain (Baker et al. 2017). It cannot be excluded that medieval and post-medieval introductions gave rise to many populations today occurring in Europe (Masseti and Vernesi 2014, cf. Baker et al. 2024b).

Its original range is unclear, but current knowledge suggests that Türkiye and southern Europe were the post-glacial refuges of the specie. The expansion of this species beyond the Old World was attributed to British colonialism (Chapman and Chapman 1980, Masseti 1996 and 2011, Perdikaris 2018). Currently, the Common Fallow Deer is one of the most widespread deer species in the world. Free-living herds have been established in America, South Africa, Oceania and also on several small and medium-sized islands in different parts of the globe (De Marinis et al. 2022). Many deer are also maintained in captivity for exhibition, hunting or commercial production of meat and antler velvet.

On the basis of national statistical data on population sizes and hunting bags, Bijl and Csányi (2022) reported that the average growth rate of the fallow deer populations increased to a large extent in most European countries during the period from 1984-2020s as well as the harvest. Despite the large variability among countries in population census methods, hunting strategy and effort, these increasing trends can clearly be discerned and are higher than expected compared with the Roe and Red deer populations.

The only geographical area where Common Fallow Deer have persisted as a native form is southern Anatolia (Masseti 2002, Masseti et al. 2008). Here its historical range extended from the Marmara region through the coastal mountains to the southeast till the first half of the twentieth century (Borovali 1986, Danford and Alston 1880). This range has drastically decreased during the second half of the last century, when the species was reported only from Balıkesir, Muğla, Antalya and Adana provinces (Masseti 1999, Durmuş 2019). Today a small number of deer have survived in a single site in Düzlerçamı (Antalya province). To preserve this population, in the 1960s the Turkish government began a breeding program. The Fallow Deer number of the last autochthonous stock from 1966 to 2009 shows strong fluctuations throughout the years (Masseti 2007, Arslangündoğdu et al. 2010). As far as is presently known, the latest study carried out in the breeding station using camera traps and the method of individual identification based on spot distribution and antler structure (Ünal and Çulhacı 2018), identified 80 adult deer and estimated a population density of 20.1 deer/km². Attempts to reintroduce Fallow Deer in the former ranges of the species (Gökova and Adaköy, Muğla province; Ayvalık, Balıkesir province and Pos-Çatalan, Adana province), translocating animals from the Düzlerçamı Breeding Station in the 1980s and 1990s, have not been successful (Masseti 1999, 2002). Reintroduction projects carried out in the second decade of the twenty-first century, have instead successfully translocated Fallow Deer in the National Park of Dilek Peninsula and Büyük Menderes Delta, Aydın province, and in the Köyceğiz Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area, Muğla Province (Durmuş 2019).

The population of Common Fallow Deer on the island of Rhodes, Dodecanese (Greece), can be regarded as the oldest still surviving on any Mediterranean island (Masseti 1996, 2002). The deer occurrence on Rhodes is documented since Neolithic times (6th millennium BC) and is of certain anthropochorous origin. Masseti et al. (2008) analysing mitochondrial DNA sequences revealed that the Rhodian Fallow Deer population possesses a set of mitochondrial lineages, never found in any other population. Rhodian Fallow Deer are distinct even from the extant deer surviving in Düzlerçamı. Today this insular population is reputed not to exceed a few hundred individuals in the wild. Spotlight counts carried out in the north-central part of the island, gave a mean value of Kilometric Abundance index of 1.4 deer/km (De Marinis and Masseti 2021).

Current population trend
According to Bijil and Csányi (2022) the European populations of Common Fallow Deer, starting from more than 100,000 individuals, increased five-fold from 1984 to the early 2020s and the harvest increased six-fold in the same period. Monitoring programs are needed to efficiently manage the increasing Fallow Deer populations and mitigate the potential negative impacts on the natural resources.

A highly adaptable species that can survive in a wide range of habitats and can exploit a wide spectrum of food resources, depending on the availability and accessibility. The main factors affecting species distribution are freshwater along with high altitude and long snowy winters. The most suitable habitats are plains and slightly rugged or hilly areas covered by deciduous or mixed mature woodland with grassy and brushy open areas. Habitat use changes seasonally with food availability and accessibility, differs between daytime and nighttime and varies a lot according to sex and age classes.

Populations are currently expanding into areas composed of a mosaic of human settlements gardens, orchards, parks, farmland, and pastures; in such habitats, human activity may greatly affect the distribution, population dynamics and behaviour of deer. For example, females that beg consistently food from humans produce heavier fawn at birth which is associated with survival advantages (Griffin et al. 2022). This human-wildlife feeding interactions providing reproductive advantages for the individuals involved has been interpreted as a driver of artificial selection in wild populations (Griffin et al. 2022).

There are no major threats to this species in Europe, except for the population living on the island of Rhodes, Dodecanese (Greece) (cf. Masseti 2023). Currently many are the factors that can threaten its survival. The main factor of risk is always illegal hunting or poaching (Masseti 2023). To this factor, the increasing anthropic pressure due to touristic exploitation and the major destructive fires which struck Rhodes during the last decades must also be added (Masseti 2023). Farmers come into conflict with deer due to presumed but not documented damages to their crops (Papaioannou 2010, Masseti 2023). Last but not least, the unattended domestic caprines (goats and sheep) on the island appear to impact Fallow Deer, in particular during fawning season (Masseti and De Marinis 2022).

This is a game species, hunted for meat, for recreation and other uses.

The species is listed on Appendix III of the Bern Convention and CITES Appendix I (as D. dama mesopotamica).