Half of females put off by rutting stags

RED stags are being snubbed by their females as they fight for attention during mating, research has shown.

Stags fight each other for dominance over groups of females in the breeding season.

But a long-term study on the Hebridean island of Rum shows nearly half the females in heat wander off, with some mating with stags from other groups.

Scientists from Edinburgh and Cambridge universities analysed 34 years’ worth of data from studies on Rum.

They found that an average 43 per cent of female deer in heat will drift away from their usual range. Of these, two-thirds will travel as far as two-and-a-half miles and almost half will mate with stags elsewhere.

The study, published in the journal Behavioral Ecology, suggests females in heat do not favour large “harems”, older stags or distantly related stags which pose less risk of inbreeding. This suggests that females are not searching for their preferred mate.

Katie Stopher, of the University of Edinburgh’s school of biological sciences, said: “Females change harem during the autumn rut far more than we would expect. They are much more likely to do so when they are receptive to mating.

“It’s not clear why females stray but it seems not to be out of preference for another stag.”