The Persian Fallow Deer occupies a range of woodlands, such as tamarisk, oak and pistachio woodlands. The wild population utilizes riparian forest thickets (McTaggart-Cowan and Holloway 1978). The rut is during August and early September, and calving at the end of March to early April, following a gestation period of approximately 229 days (Chapman and Chapman 1975).

Red List Category

Red List Criteria

Version

2011

Rabiei, A. & Saltz, D.

McShea, W. & Chiozza, F.

Justification

History

• 2010
  Endangered
  (IUCN 2010.2)
• 2006
  Vulnerable
  (IUCN 2006)
• 1996
  Endangered
• 1994
  Endangered
  (Groombridge 1994)
• 1990
  Endangered
  (IUCN 1990)
• 1988
  Endangered
  (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988)
• 1986
  Endangered
  (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986)

The Persian Fallow Deer was thought to be extinct by the 1940s, but a small population of perhaps 25 animals was subsequently rediscovered in Khuzistan Province, Iran during the 1950s (Davies 1982). As of the mid 1990s, the total population in Iran (including captive and re-introduced animals) did not exceed 250. By 2004, the total Iranian population had increased to approximately 340 individuals (A. Rabiei pers. comm.). By 2008, the number of animals had increased further, though only 365 of these are pure-bred, the remainder being hybrids (A. Rabiei pers. comm.). In Israel there were approximately 200 individuals in the north of the country by 2005, and around 150 in Hai Bar Carmel Reserve.

Increasing

This species has experienced numerous threats such as habitat destruction, poaching, natural predation, and competition with livestock, and this lead to its long decline and near extinction. Also they are suffering from the effects of small population size, isolation and inbreeding (Hemami and Rabiei 2002).

This species has an important and interesting conservation history. In 1960, the Iranian Game and Fish Department initiated the first conservation actions by designating the Dez Wildlife Refuge and Karkeh Wildlife Refuge around the site of this animal's re-discovery. A male and a female calf were bought from local people in south-west Iran by a team from Von Opel’s Zoo in Germany in 1957–1958. In 1960 the first fawn was conceived in Opel (a female) but the male died before conceiving a male. Subsequently a stag was sent to Germany in 1964. In the interim the female was cross bred with European males (Hemami and Rabiei 2002). The hybrids were disposed of in 1965-1966 (Jantschke 1991). Between 1964 and 1965, a 400 strong team captured 6 deer within the protected areas and transfer them to the Dasht-e-Naz Wildlife Refuge, where they were managed in a 55 hectare enclosure, and where the population increased. Iran received seven animals from Germany in 1972 which were suspected as hybrids, and kept them isolated from the pure-bred Persian population at Dasht-e-Naz. This population totalled 30 animals in 1977 and was transferred to a 6 ha enclosure in Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge to allow more space for the pure-bred population, and to prevent gene exchange between them. In December 1978, four of these animals were transferred to Israel. From 1977, specimens of pure-bred Persian fallow deer were transferred to new sites in different parts of Iran including its original habitat in Karkheh Wildlife Refuge. Signs of deer were still presented in Karkheh prior to the translocation (Hemami and Rabiei 2002). Subsequently in 1995 the new enclosure (180 ha) was established in Semeskandeh Wildlife Refuge for transferred pure-bred deer from Dasht-e-Naz, in order to reduce the population density in Dasht-e-Naz (Rabiei 2002). These conservation measures have brought the species back from the brink of extinction in Iran, and the population is gradually increasing. However, the two truly wild population remain seriously threatened and need strict protection in order to recover.

Recommended conservation actions have been compiled by Rabiei (1995, 2002, 2003), and include: further population surveys; ecological and genetic research; strengthening of existing management of protected areas; creating of new protected areas; promote protection of the last remaining truly wild populations in the Dez Wildlife Refuge and Karkeh Wildlife Refuge; re-introducing animals to these two populations; strengthening the existing captive breeding programs; and establishing a collaborative captive breeding programme and reintroductions across the historic range of the species. It is extremely important to keep the pure-bred and wild animals separate, and to concentrate all conservation efforts on the pure-bred stock.
The species is included on CITES Appendix I (as Dama dama mesopotamica).