The
fallow deer (
Dama dama) is a
ruminant mammal belonging to the family
Cervidae. This common species is native to western
Eurasia, but has been
introduced to
South Africa,
Fernando Pó,
São Tomé,
Madagascar,
Mauritius,
Mayotte,
Réunion,
Seychelles,
Comoro Islands,
Morocco,
Algeria,
Tunisia,
Cyprus,
Cape Verde,
Australia,
New Zealand,
Canada,
United States, the
Falkland Islands and
Peru. It often includes the rarer
Persian fallow deer as a
subspecies (
D. d. mesopotamica), while others treat it as an entirely different species (
D. mesopotamica).