Lek is a territorial mating strategy which is widely spread amongst males in the fallow deer, Dama dama high density population. A group of fallow deer in Březka park, Czech Republic, was studied where males exhibit a mixed mating system with territorial (single temporary stands, leks) and non-territorial strategies during the rut. Reproductive success was estimated indirectly by counting females/minute held per male both on the lek and single temporary stands. A total of 636 records were analysed (281 on leks and 355 on temporary stands). In contrast to other reports, males on leks were accompanied with significantly less females (LSMEANs ± S.E., 3.80 ± 1.10 does present per minute of observation) compared to those on single temporary stands (6.74 ± 1.10 does present per minute of observation). The results suggest that under specific conditions (over-abundance of adult males compared to females) attracting females on the lek need not be the most effective one.
Similarly to other Cervidae, conflicts and fights are frequent during the rut of fallow deer. The part of does (female fallow deer) during buck (male fallow deer) encounters was examined in this study. Encounters between adult bucks were recorded during the rut. The numbers of encounters with and without females present were nearly equal with similar proportions of encounters when females accompanied one or both of the males. Fighting occurred in 39.5% of the encounters only. Female presence seemed to have a negligible effect on the probability of an encounter between two bucks escalating into a fight. However, fights tended to escalate more frequently when there were no females present compared to when females were present. Vocalizations were recorded in most encounters and occurred irrespectively of female presence / absence. Bucks were more likely to engage with conspecific with female consorts. When both opponents had female consorts with them, the probability of desertion of the females was significantly lower compared to when the male had some females while his opponent did not. Results in this study suggest that the presence of females did not affect male agonistic behaviour during the rut.
During the 1997 rut, we tested the hypothesis that there are lekking and territorial stags in a herd of approximately 350 free-ranging sika deer living in 5 km2 area in Northern Austria. During five 2-hour observation sessions observers recorded the callings of the sika deer stags from three high seats and simultaneously recorded the direction from which each male was calling. We recorded 2167 calling bouts consisting of 3655 calls. A calling bout consisted of 1 to 9 calls (mean ± S.D., 1.69 ± 1.09). The distance between calling stags was 85.15 ± 3.10 m (LSMEAN ± S.D.) in the centre of the lek and 121.94 ± 4.33 m at its periphery. Our observations suggested that stags were not associated with fixed territories. Rather, all stags took part in lekking with some ‘satellite’ stags more frequently at the periphery of the moving lek. Our results suggest an existence of a large, transient ‘mega lek’ with up to 23 active male participants. The location of the lek varied considerably over the period of observation, but always was associated with feeding places attractive to hinds.