We all know that each God and Godesses has their own sacred animal. So has Athena an owl that stands for wisdom. Dionysus has the panther and the tiger as his sacred animal and the ram is Hermes’ sacred animal. And that is why we go dive in deeper into the animals.

Today we will look at the deer, who is the sacred animal of Artemis. Artemis held the deer sacred to herself after she fell in love with those creatures and she kept them sacred and they were the first animals she captured. 

Deers exhibit broad variation in their physical proportions. The deers are hoofed ruminant animals. They form the ‘Cervidae’ family. Since there are all different kinds and breeds of deers. Deers live in biomes which varieties. From tundra biomes to the tropical rainforests. Many deers live in transitional areas between forest and prairie and savanna. Deers are herbivores and they primarily feed on grasses, sedges, shrubs, and trees.

The typical characteristics of a deer exist out of powerful, long legs, diminutive tail, and long ears. They are excellent swimmers and jumpers. Those animals are cud - chewers and have a four-chambered stomach. Almost every deer has a facial gland in front of their eyes, which contains a strongly scented pheromone. It gets used to mark their home range. All the deers have a liver without a gallbladder and have a good night vision.

As for the coat color, this variates between red and brown, but it can be as dark as chocolate brown in the tufted deer or can have a grayish tinge as the moose. Depending on the breed of the deers, the coats can vary even more. So as - for example - the chital, the fallow deer, and the sika deer have a brown coat which features white spots. All male deers possess antlers and have long tusks - like canines that reach below their lower jaw. Most deers have 32 teeth, those are adapted to feed on vegetation.

• Did you know that the moose(also known as the ‘elk’) is the largest deer in the world? They are nearly 8.5 ft (2.6 meters) tall and can weigh up to 1.800 lb (800 kilograms.)

• Did you know that the smallest deer in the world is the southern pudu? It reaches a mere 13-14 inch (32 - 35 centimeters) and weighs 7.3 - 13.2 lb. (3.3 to 6 kilograms.)

• Did you know that Bambi is a white-tailed deer?