maral

The maral is a subspecies of red deer, Cervus elaphus maral, native to the mountain regions of Central Asia, including the Tian Shan and Pamir-Alai ranges. The name maral is used in several Central Asian languages to refer to deer. Maral deer inhabit montane forests, forest-steppe, and alpine meadows at elevations roughly from 1,000 to 3,000 meters.

Maral deer are large ungulates. Males, or stags, are bigger and grow antlers that are shed and regrown annually, with multiple branches; females, or hinds, are smaller and do not have antlers. The coat is brown in summer, often with a lighter rump patch; winter fur tends to be grayer. They are herbivores, feeding on grasses, leaves, bark, and shrubs, and may migrate seasonally to exploit forage.

Socially, females and their young form herds, while males may form separate bachelor groups outside the mating season. The breeding season, or rut, occurs in autumn, when stags contest rivals through displays and fights to gain access to females. Calves are born after a gestation period of several months and are tended by females.

Conservation and human use: Maral populations are affected by hunting, habitat loss, and fragmentation in parts of their range. Some subpopulations are protected in national parks, and there are regulated hunting and captive breeding programs in certain areas. The meat of maral deer is consumed locally, and antlers have historically been used in traditional medicine and as a commodity in wildlife farming.

In culture, the maral is associated with the high mountains of Central Asia and appears in local folklore and place names.