The musk deer of Asia and Water Chevrotain (or Mouse Deer) of tropical African and Asian forests are not typically regarded as true deer and form their own families, Moschidae and Tragulidae, correspondingly.
The word deer was initially quite broad in meaning, but became more exact over time. In Middle English der meant a wild animal of any kind. Cognates of English deer in several other languages still have the general sense of animal for instance German Tier, Dutch dier, and Scandinavian djur, dyr. Deer is the same in the plural as in the singular.
For mainly deer the male is called a buck and the female is a doe, according to the size of the species. For many average sized deer the male is a stag and the female a hind, while for many larger deer the same words are used as for cattle: bull and cow. Terms for young deer vary similarly, with that of most being called a fawn and that of the superior species calf; young of the smallest kinds may be a kid. A group of deer of any kind is a herd. Usage of all these terms may also vary according to vernacular. The adjective of relation pertaining to deer is corvine; like the family name Cervidae this is from Latin cervus, deer.
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Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the relations Cervidae. They include for instance Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates) are often also careful to be deer these include muntjac and water deer. Male (and a few female) deer of every species (except the Chinese Water deer who only have short tusks instead) grow and shed new antlers each year in this they differ from permanently horned animals such as antelope.
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the relations Cervidae. They include for instance Moose, Red Deer, Reindeer, Roe and Chital. Animals from related families within the order Artiodactyla (even toed ungulates) are often also careful to be deer these include muntjac and water deer. Male (and a few female) deer of every species (except the Chinese Water deer who only have short tusks instead) grow and shed new antlers each year in this they differ from permanently horned animals such as antelope.
