A 120,000-year-old Fallow Deer Population Matched the Mitochondrial Diversity of the Modern Range

June 3, 2026

Female European fallow deer standing in woodland in Jasmund National Park, Germany

Research · Genetics & genomics

Ten near-complete mitochondrial genomes from European fallow deer (Dama dama) that lived about 120,000 years ago at Neumark-Nord in central Germany revealed substantial mitochondrial diversity within a single ancient population. The single Eemian assemblage contained a level of mitochondrial diversity comparable to that found across the entire modern western Eurasian range. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited through the maternal line, so these genomes trace maternal population history rather than the deer’s full nuclear genetic diversity.

The researchers compared the ancient genomes with modern and Holocene fallow deer. Present-day European fallow deer formed a single mitochondrial clade that was closely related to, but distinct from, the Eemian lineages. Modern mitochondrial diversity was also low compared with several other deer species. The authors interpret the Neumark-Nord genomes as part of a broader Late Pleistocene diversity, only a subset of which appears to have persisted into the Holocene. They suggest that much of this maternal-line diversity was lost during or after the last glacial stage, while cautioning that mitochondrial DNA is only one genetic marker and cannot by itself reconstruct the species’ entire population history.

The genetic results also helped interpret the unusually broad morphological variation among the Neumark-Nord deer. The authors argue that these deer should not be treated as a separate species: their morphological differences could reflect local adaptation or natural variation within the species. They found no evidence that the maternal lineages recovered at Neumark-Nord persisted after the Late Pleistocene.

Sources and image credit

Rocha-Méndez, A., Arnold, P., Kindler, L., Gaudzinski-Windheuser, S., Roebroeks, W., Scherjon, F., & Hofreiter, M. (2026). Eemian palaeogenetics demonstrates loss of diversity in modern fallow deer (Dama dama). iScience, 29(6), 116204.

Image: Female European fallow deer standing in woodland in Jasmund National Park, Germany. Photo: Johannes Riese / Wikimedia Commons; cropped to 16:9. Representative image for this story; not presented as an animal or scene from the reported study or event. · https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source