Recent findings in wild red deer (Cervus elaphus) suggest that maternal rank inheritance occurs between mother and her sub-adult offspring. Presuming that an offspring will inherit the dominance rank of its mother, it was hypothesized that the mother will support her offspring by directing attacks towards the peers of her offspring. The rank of an animal was assessed by its fighting success. From our observations it seems that mother affected the rank of their offspring rather indirectly by the offspring´s birth body weight, timing of delivery etc.