During the course of the widespread exchange of species which took place during those years, some mistakes which were to have horrific consequences occurred as animals, plants and insects finding circumstances to which they were uniquely suited, exploded into populations which could not have been dreamed of at the time. Other introductions were less spectacular or failed to survive, but those that did became in many instances exactly what their benefactors set out to achieve - beautiful and useful things.

We only have to look around us to see that almost all of our food resources, for instance, are provided by introduced species.

The deer of literature as it has sometimes been referred to is due to the immense volume of material written about it. Like the fallow deer, the red deer and related species are widely spread throughout the world. The second largest of the deer in Australia, a stag stands about 120cm at the shoulder and weighs about 160kg (hinds 90cm, 90kg).

Coat colour ranges from a dull brown in winter coat to a rich reddish brown in summer; a permanent straw-coloured rump or caudal patch is retained throughout the year. Antlers are a complex combination of long beams with numerous points or projections, the terminal tines at the upper end of the beams sometimes forming a cuplike shape.

A stag with six points on each antler, comprising brow, bez, and trez tines (pronounced 'bay' and 'tray') on the beam and with three terminal tines (twelve in all for the two antlers) is referred to as a 'royal', but exceptional park bred deer have been known to have in excess of 50 points in all.