Deer modern Germanic languages save English and Scots retain the more general sense: for example, German "Tier" and Norwegian "dyr" mean "animal". For many types of deer in modern English usage, the male is a "buck" and the female a "doe", but the terms vary with dialect, and according to the size of the species. The male red deer is a "stag", while for other large species the male is a "bull", the female a "cow", as in cattle. In older usage, the male of any species is a "hart", especially if over five years old, and the female is a
Red deer caves, with some of the artwork dating from as early as 40,000 years ago, during the Upper Paleolithic. Siberian cave art from the Neolithic of 7,000 years ago has abundant depictions of red deer, including what can be described as spiritual artwork, indicating the importance of this mammal to the peoples of that region (Note: these animals were most likely wapiti ("C. canadensis") in Siberia, not red deer). Red deer are also often depicted on Pictish stones ("circa" 550–850 AD), from the early medieval period in Scotland, usually as prey animals for human or animal predators. In medieval hunting, the