Habitat selection and group formation pattern of fallow deer Dama dama in a submediterranean environment

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Abstract
We analyzed the patterns of association between sex and age classes of fallow deer Dama dama in addition to the modification of aggregation patterns as a function or the degree of cover in different habitats in a coastal submediterranean environment in Italy. Deer preferred large open grasslands, small clearings, woods and marshes. Habitat selection varied strongly according to sex, and there were also ecological differences among males of different age classes. Adult females were mostly in family groups, with subadults and fawns. These groups were very stable in time and space. On the contrary bachelor herds were unstable social associations, adapting their size to the local degree of cover. In open grasslands males and females sometimes formed mixed groups with group size similarly being adapted to degree of cover. The possibility that random events fully explained fallow deer aggregation patterns was excluded, while the existence of non‐linear mechanisms of aggregation was shown. The persistence of antipredator strategies in this managed population may account for these findings.