A study, published in the open access journal BMC Biology, describes how the acoustic qualities of a deer’s call change year by year and reflect changes in status and age.

Fallow deer become hoarse when trying to attract a mate, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.

This new finding might do Barry White proud - deeper voices can help male deer get it on. Scientists investigated male fallow deer (Dama dama), which regularly groan 60 mating calls per minute during breeding season to attract females - although they can groan up to 90 times per minute right after sex. "They must be the most vocal deer species in the world," said researcher Alan McElligott, a behavioral ecologist now at the University of Nottingham in England.