The capreola is found in some medieval encyclopedias. It is sometimes described as a goat, and sometimes as a deer. It is probably the roe deer, a small reddish deer found throughout most of Europe.

In the De proprietatibus rerum Bartholomaeus Anglicus describes the pigarus (pygarus, phigarus) as being smaller than a stag and larger than a goat; he says it is like the hircocervus (goat-stag), and refers the reader to the tragelaphus, which is also described as being like a stag and a goat. Whether the pigarus is the capreola or the tragelaphus or something else is not clear.

The modern genus name for the roe deer is Capreolus. In modern taxonomy, Capreolus capreolus is the European roe deer. The taxonomic name of an Asian species of roe deer is Capreolus pygargus.