A stag, typically a mature male red deer or elk, is a large herbivorous mammal found across various landscapes. Their diet influences their health, physical development, and reproductive success. Stags primarily consume plant material, adapting their foraging strategies to the changing availability of vegetation throughout the year.
Primary Diet: Plant-Based Forage
Stags consume a diverse range of forage. Their diet frequently includes grasses, sedges, and various herbaceous plants known as forbs. Examples of commonly eaten plants include dandelion, clover, and fescue. They also browse on the leaves, shoots, and twigs from trees and shrubs such as willow, birch, oak, and ivy.
Stags incorporate woody browse, bark, and even fungi into their diet. In autumn, they seek out seasonal fruits like acorns and berries, which offer concentrated energy. Agricultural crops such as alfalfa, corn, and maize can also be a significant part of their diet. Stags are ruminants, possessing a specialized four-chambered stomach that allows them to efficiently extract nutrients from fibrous plant material through fermentation.
Seasonal Diet Changes
A stag’s diet adapts throughout the year, driven by seasonal food availability and nutritional needs. During spring and summer, when fresh vegetation is abundant, stags primarily consume nutrient-rich grasses, forbs, and new shoots. This period of high-quality forage is important for antler growth, which requires substantial energy, protein, and minerals such as calcium.
As autumn arrives, stags shift their focus to calorie-dense foods like acorns, berries, and agricultural crops, preparing for the energy-intensive rutting season. During the rut, male deer often reduce their food intake and can lose a significant portion of their body weight due to competition and breeding activities. Winter is challenging, as snow cover and freezing temperatures limit fresh plant growth. Stags then rely heavily on woody browse, bark, conifers, and lichens, which are less nutritious but more readily available.
How Stags Forage for Food
Stags forage for their plant-based diet through grazing and browsing. Grazing involves eating grasses and low-lying vegetation, while browsing means consuming leaves, twigs, and bark from taller plants and trees. Their keen sense of smell aids them in finding preferred food sources, even when covered by snow or hidden within dense foliage. Stags are opportunistic feeders, adjusting their diet based on what is most accessible and nutritionally beneficial.
After consuming a meal, stags typically seek a secure resting place to begin rumination, often referred to as “chewing the cud.” This process involves regurgitating partially digested plant material from their first stomach chamber back into their mouth. They then re-chew this cud thoroughly to further break down the fibrous material and mix it with saliva. The re-chewed food is then swallowed again, allowing for more complete digestion and nutrient absorption in the subsequent stomach chambers.