<P> Cervus genus ancestors of red deer first appear in fossil records 12 million years ago during the Miocene in Eurasia . An extinct genus known as the Irish elk (Megaloceros), related to the red deer, was the largest member of the deer family known from the fossil record . Early phylogenetic analyses supported the idea of a sister - group relationship between fallow deer (Dama dama) and the Irish Elk . However, newer morphological studies prove that the Irish elk is more closely related to its modern regional counterparts of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). For this reason, the name "Giant Deer" is used in some publications . </P> <P> The European red deer is found in southwestern Asia (Asia Minor and Caucasus regions), North Africa and Europe . The red deer is the largest non-domesticated land mammal still existing in Ireland . The Barbary stag (which resembles the western European red deer) is the only member of the deer family represented in Africa, with the population centred in the northwestern region of the continent in the Atlas Mountains . As of the mid-1990s, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria were the only African countries known to have red deer . </P> <P> In the Netherlands, a large herd (ca . 3000 animals counted in late 2012) lives in the Oostvaarders Plassen, a nature reserve . Ireland has its own unique subspecies . In the UK, indigenous populations occur in Scotland, the Lake District, and the South West of England (principally on Exmoor). Not all of these are of entirely pure bloodlines, as some of these populations have been supplemented with deliberate releases of deer from parks, such as Warnham or Woburn Abbey, in an attempt to increase antler sizes and body weights . The University of Edinburgh found that, in Scotland, there has been extensive hybridisation with the closely related sika deer . Several other populations have originated either with "carted" deer kept for stag hunts being left out at the end of the hunt, escapes from deer farms, or deliberate releases . Carted deer were kept by stag hunts with no wild red deer in the locality and were normally recaptured after the hunt and used again; although the hunts are called "stag hunts", the Norwich Staghounds only hunted hinds (female red deer), and in 1950, at least eight hinds (some of which may have been pregnant) were known to be at large near Kimberley and West Harling; they formed the basis of a new population based in Thetford Forest in Norfolk . Further substantial red deer herds originated from escapes or deliberate releases in the New Forest, the Peak District, Suffolk, Lancashire, Brecon Beacons, and North Yorkshire, as well as many other smaller populations scattered throughout England and Wales, and they are all generally increasing in numbers and range . A census of deer populations in 2007 and again in 2011 coordinated by the British Deer Society records the red deer as having continued to expand their range in England and Wales since 2000, with expansion most notable in the Midlands and East Anglia . </P> <P> In New Zealand, red deer were introduced by acclimatisation societies along with other deer and game species . The first red deer to reach New Zealand were a pair sent by Lord Petre in 1851 from his herd at Thorndon Park, Essex, to the South Island, but the hind was shot before they had a chance to breed . Lord Petre sent another stag and two hinds in 1861, and these were liberated near Nelson, from where they quickly spread . The first deer to reach the North Island were a gift to Sir Frederick Weld from Windsor Great Park and were released near Wellington; these were followed by further releases up to 1914 . Between 1851 and 1926, 220 separate liberations of red deer involved over 800 deer . In 1927, the State Forest Service introduced a bounty for red deer shot on their land, and in 1931, government control operations were commenced . Between 1931 and March 1975, 1,124,297 deer were killed on official operations . </P>

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