Determining the age of a roe deer by the horns. European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Determination of age by teeth and skull

27.09.2019

The real roe deer is a representative of a special genus, which is characterized by rounded, slightly branched, helical rough horns, sometimes covered with beautiful tubercles and without supraorbital branches. Teeth - 32, as for the most part there are no fangs.

European wild roe deer reaches 1.3 m in length and 75 cm in height, the tail is barely 2 cm. The male weighs 1.5-2 pounds, the female is less. Compared with the red deer, the roe deer is more densely built, its head is shorter and blunt, the body is thicker in front than behind, the back is almost straight: the ears are of medium size, the eyes are large, lively, pubescent with long eyelashes. The coat consists of a short, elastic, hard and round network and a long, wavy, soft and brittle undercoat. Summer color - dark rusty color, brown-gray in winter. The eyes of the roe deer are large, expressive, dark brown, with oblique pupils. The weight of newborn roe deer cubs does not exceed 1-1.3 kilograms.

The horns of the young in the form of small protrusions appear already in the autumn of the first year, but they reach full development only by April of the next year. More often, the first horns look like a simple rod, sometimes small processes appear on them. These horns are shed in December, and by spring, second horns grow, with 2-3 ends. In the third year, the horns reach full development. In adult males, in May - June, the horns ossify and are cleared of skin. At the age of 9, the roe deer show signs of aging. The maximum age of their life is 11-12 years, some males lived up to 16 years.

The hooves of the roe deer are narrow, pointed at the front end, black and shiny. There are two pairs of roe deer on each leg (that's why it belongs to

to the detachment of artiodactyl animals): one main - on the third and fourth fingers, the other - additional - on the second and fifth fingers. Each leg of a roe deer has two pairs of hooves. One of them - larger - the main one. The second pair, consisting of small, lateral hooves, is located rather high above the main pair; roe deer rely on them only when walking on loose or marshy ground.

The roe deer does not have the first finger, it was reduced in the process of evolution. Additional hooves are half the size of the main ones and are located behind and

much higher than them, so when walking they usually do not touch the ground. On the front leg, the main outer hoof is slightly longer and sharper than the inner one; on the hind leg, both main hooves are equally developed. In males, the footprint of the front legs is more round and obtuse, in females it is more oblong and narrow.

The uneven death of roe deer of different sexes can manifest itself even during the period of embryonic development. However, more often among newborn roe deer, the number of males and females is almost equal, and a slight predominance of females is planned only a few months after their birth. By the end of summer, there are on average 1.2 females per male among calves, and already 1.5 females among roe deer older than one and a half years. Thus, these and other data indicate that female roe deer are more viable than males. It is possible that this phenomenon is based on differences in the physiological and biochemical processes occurring in the organism of animals, as well as in their behavior.

Interaction of individuals in a population

a) Main:

1) Relationships between parents during the breeding season.

Racing males are fierce not only to rivals, but also to females, especially young ones. Old females during the rut move slowly and are not afraid

males; the young ones run fast and do not immediately allow the goats to approach them, which in these cases become furious, rush at the female and beat her hard, sometimes inflicting even mortal wounds. There is no antagonism in the behavior of male and female, and all movements of animals, including

the rapid run of the male after the female, preceding mating, should be considered as elements of mating games that have an important biological meaning. Indeed, the movements of partners during the rut are closely related. With his pursuit, hissing, tactile impact, the male stimulates the female, and she stimulates the male with a quick run. Thus, the male does not chase the female, but only runs after her, trying not to lose sight of her. The female is also not afraid of her partner, but on the contrary: it is he who is in constant anxiety, fearing to lose her. In addition to running, mating games also include other elements: a game of tag - jumping and jumping over each other and "kissing" - a long sniffing of each other "nose to nose".

The controversial issue of the relationship of sexual partners in roe deer during the rut to some extent allow us to resolve the observations accurately documented with the help of radio tracking. On the first day of estrus, when the female is not yet ready to mate, she tries her best to run away from the male. The male, coming into a strong excitement, vigorously pursues her and often, blocking the path to retreat, threatens her with his horns. Approaching the female, the male often emits a characteristic hiss, which, apparently, means a threat. The female always reacts to this sound, and in a certain way: she turns her head towards the male, then crouches and urinates, and when he approaches her closer, she makes several whistling sounds and quickly runs away.

2) Mating

In European roe deer, the rut begins the earliest, in early July, in Western Europe. In European roe deer living in Switzerland and in the North-West of Russia, the rut usually occurs in August-September, in some cases capturing the beginning of October. The mass rut, during which most females are covered, lasts no more than a month, although individual chasing pairs can be found for three or more months.

Estrus in females continues for more than four to five days. The male very quickly determines the presence of a female ready for mating on his

site, guided by the sense of smell, and forms a temporary pair with it.

At first, the female runs in a wide circle, but then, tired, she begins to circle almost in one place around a bush or tree. circle diameter,

to which animals run does not exceed three to four meters. On the ground, this run leaves a trace - a circular path about thirty meters wide.

centimeters. Often roe deer run around an obstacle, almost touching it, then a circle or an ellipse with a diameter of no more than one and a half meters is obtained.

Sometimes a tired female lies down right on this path, but an excited male makes her stand up with blows of his horns and makes a cage. After that, both animals lie down to rest. In the following days, the rut passes more calmly, the male no longer holds the female so actively, but when moving, he still does not lag behind her and lies down only when the female lies down. Animal mating occurs repeatedly. The attachment of the male to the female during the rut is striking. Sometimes he does not even leave the killed female, despite the presence of people.

The rut, as a rule, occurs within the territory of the male. If only one adult female lives on the territory of the male, then he can stay with her even after her fertilization until the end of the rut. In other cases, the male leaves the female covered with it and starts chasing another one who is in estrus. The pursuit of the female in foreign territories often leads to a collision with other males. With a significant numerical predominance of females over males in a given area, the strongest males can cover five to six females.

Throughout the rut, the males are in constant excitement. At this time, they feed little and lose a lot of weight. Males spend a lot of time and energy marking their territory. In the areas where they keep, the number of trees peeled and broken by horns and the so-called patches knocked out by hooves in the ground increases every day.

By the end of the rut, when most of the females are fertilized, the excitement of the males fades.

3) Pregnancy

Pregnancy in roe deer lasts about 9 months, but from this period 4-4.5 months fall on the so-called latent period, during

which the egg, having passed the first stages of crushing, is delayed in development until December. Again, egg development begins in December and ends in late April - May. The beginning of the active development of the embryo is sometimes accompanied by the excited behavior of roe deer. There are times when females that did not participate in the rut in the summer are fertilized at this time. In them, the development of the embryo begins without a latent stage, and they bring offspring at the same time as roe deer chasing in the summer, i.e., the duration of their pregnancy is about 5.5 months.

Roe deer are born helpless, with disproportionately long legs and a small torso. The weight of newborn roe deer of European roe deer does not exceed 1-1.3 kilograms, Siberian - 2-2.5 kilograms.

4) Feeding the young.

After giving birth, the female carefully licks the cubs, eats the amniotic membranes and the grass where they lay, then also eats the afterbirth. Soon after birth, not yet dry and not trying to get up, the cubs crawl to the nipples of the lying mother and suck her for the first time for several minutes. The second feeding occurs after three to five hours. By this time, the roe deer can already rise to their feet. After the second feeding, the female alternately leads the roe deer away - 20-250 meters from the place of their birth, usually all in different directions. Here the roes lie down, and the female grazes or lies 40, sometimes 400 meters from them.

During the first two weeks, when the cubs cannot yet run fast, the mother comes to feed each separately three to four times a day, and after feeding and licking, she immediately leaves.

At the age of three months, the connection of calves with the female becomes more stable, and from that time until spring they constantly stay together with her,

creating a family group.

5) Training of juveniles.

Roe deer grow and develop very quickly: at the age of two weeks, they already double their weight. The growth rate of a female European roe deer, which at the age of 3-4 days weighs 1.6 kilograms, on the 17th day its weight increases to 3.8 kilograms, on the 40th day - up to 7.0, on the 54th day - up to 9.0 and on

70th - up to 10.2 kilograms. By this time, the body length of the young animal was 75 percent of the usual body length of an adult female, and the height was 78 percent.

Along with feeding on mother's milk, roe deer begin to eat plant foods very early. The first attempts to bite and chew on individual blades of grass and the softest leaves blooming at the ends of tree shoots appear on the fifth day of their life. But before starting to eat a new plant, roe deer test it for one or several days. At the age of one month, the diet of roe deer already includes fifteen species of trees and shrubs and nine types of grass, and at one and a half months the number of species of herbaceous plants eaten by it increases to twenty-two.

b) Industrial relations .

1) Protection of an individual site.

Male habitats. With the onset of spring, each of the sexually mature males has to defend their right to possess a certain living space with the most favorable conditions for existence. The best sites are distributed, as a rule, between old, equal in strength males. At this time, real fights take place between males. The applicant for this territory at first has to actively fight with competitors, who, even once expelled, can repeat their claims again and again. Therefore, in May, when the boundaries of the areas occupied by males are just being established, territorial males spend most of their time urinating them. "Piglets" and peeled trees are visual marks, designed primarily for visual perception. Among the visual marks there are no less number of scent marks - unpeeled trunks and branches of trees and shrubs, as well as tall grasses, on which the male applies the secret of his skin glands. The odorous secret is also applied to visual marks.

The bulk of visual and odor marks are located along the boundaries of the male's territory, usually confined to roads, clearings, forest edges, and other natural boundaries on the terrain, as well as along trails and on the territory itself. The male constantly updates his marks.

The territory of a male European roe deer averages 7.4 hectares.

On a well-developed area of ​​a male, one can distinguish a central zone and a peripheral zone that is five to six times larger than it. The central zone is always confined to the safest part of the site. The male uses it to rest and hide from enemies during the pursuit, but rarely feeds here. This zone is easy to identify by the largest number of beds, main trails and visual marks. The central zones of the males' territories are usually confined to the slopes of hills, overgrown with forests with a good, dense grass cover, and usually closer to the tops of the hills. In all cases, the places chosen by the males for the central zone of their territory are distinguished by the best opportunity for viewing and perceiving sounds. In the peripheral zone, there are mainly numerous paths connecting the central zone with places of watering and fattening on the edges, glades, clearings and fields of agricultural crops. However, the male also marks the peripheral zone, only less intensively than the central one.

Habitats of females. The living space on which females keep in the warm season, as a rule, is smaller than the habitats occupied by males. The areas of females are slightly separated from each other. In addition, they often completely overlap the area of ​​one of the males or overlap with areas of two males. But in some cases they can be equal to them or even exceed them.

The size of the plots of females, as well as those of males, is determined by the density of the population of animals in a given area, the food supply of its land and the presence of shelters in it. In summer, the sizes of females' territories are determined by the age and mobility of roe deer. At the end of July, when the grown calves are already beginning to follow their mother, but no further than within 8-15 hectares, the females expand their plots to 15-35 hectares. In August, when the calves already accompany their mothers everywhere, the areas of the females expand significantly and overlap each other.

The individual territories of females are most often smaller than those of males and are often completely superimposed on them.

2) Fight for food

When evaluating the food base of any animal species, it is necessary to take into account not only the total supply of feed, its composition and quality, but also the availability, and

if we are talking about the nutrition of ungulates, then their concentration on pastures. The latter is especially important, since if the saturation of pastures

fodder plants is too small, then the energy costs of animals for their search and production will not be justified. In the warm season, roe deer find their food, as a rule, in sufficient quantities in most stations of their habitat. In winter, the food supply can be sharply limited, as a result of which it is quickly depleted in the very first months. Often, especially in the second half of winter, food becomes inaccessible to animals due to deep snow or its excessive compaction and the formation of an ice crust. Therefore, it is the state of the winter food base that determines not only the distribution of wild animals in the region, but also the possibility of further growth of their population in the area.

Summer food reserves, despite their apparent abundance, as well as winter food reserves, with a high number of herbivorous animals, may be in short supply. This seriously affects the further fate of the entire animal population of the region and, first of all, ungulates.

3) Competition

Having settled in a certain area, the male enters into a confrontation with all other males that appear in his field of vision. AT

In confrontations between male owners of neighboring territories that take place near common borders, elements of ritual behavior are most clearly manifested. Before a direct attack on an opponent, which, by the way, is far from always done, the male shows him his

superiority, trying to intimidate with a certain set of poses. And this is often enough for the opponent to retire. But at the beginning

in the spring, in the midst of the division of territory, confrontations can turn into real battles. The behavior of males in a conflict situation is approximately as follows.

Seeing each other, the opponents approach each other. About thirty to forty meters apart, they stop in a tense pose with their heads held high. If the owner of the territory does not immediately pounce on the newcomer, then both males slowly converge to a distance of several meters. Then they stop again, stand sideways to each other and resume movement, now in a parallel course. After a while, they both suddenly turn around and walk in the opposite direction. At the same time, their neck is raised vertically, their head is directed slightly away from the opponent, but their eyes are on him. Males, as it were, demonstrate to each other their height, horns and strength. Researchers call this element of behavior a demonstration of self-confidence. Parallel walking of animals is accompanied by rubbing their horns and neck against trees and bushes, butting them and digging the ground with their front legs.

As the excitement builds, the animals increasingly begin to assume a menacing posture. At the same time, they lower their heads low, pressing their ears and directing their horns towards the enemy. The hair on the nape and the back arched upwards stands on end. Sometimes there is foam at the mouth. The posture of the threat is sometimes replaced by rapid throws in the direction of the opponent or one or both males at once. But as a rule, collisions do not occur immediately. Before reaching each other one or two meters, the animals suddenly stop and disperse. The number of such false throws can reach two dozen. In the intervals between them, the males repeatedly attack the bushes and young trees and peel them off with their horns with bitterness. Sometimes both animals begin to gore the same bush, and their horns even almost touch. Excited males puff at times. Finally, after another threat, the opponents collide with horns, trying to push each other back. If the forces of the opponents are equal, then they mark time in one place for a long time, not missing an opportunity to release their horns and strike the enemy in the head or neck. Tired, the animals disperse, but if the strongest among them is not identified, then after a new round of the demonstration described above

behavior again follows a collision. Defeated in the end, the male flees. The winner pursues him only at a short distance.

After the fight, the male, which turned out to be the strongest and drove the opponent away, continues to attack the trees and hoof the ground for some time.

The defeated beast assumes a pose of submission - it walks with its head down, does not gore trees and only touches them with its head and neck.

In some males, display behavior includes not only the so-called redirected aggression, when, as we have just seen, animals attack bushes and trees instead of the enemy. Sometimes you have to watch how one or both opponents at the same time suddenly begin to pick leaves from trees or pluck grass, imitating grazing. At the same time, they do not cease to watch each other very vigilantly.

By autumn, the aggressiveness of males noticeably decreases everywhere. During the snowy period, males show the greatest peacefulness towards their relatives than at any other time of the year. Most researchers who observed roe deer in nature in winter, during their group existence, did not note, with a few exceptions, any conflicts between animals.

4) Hierarchy

Young males are invariably the most mobile part of any population. In addition to the desire to settle, which is inherent to one degree or another in young individuals of all animal species, the mobility of young male roe deer increases significantly due to the aggressive attitude of adult males towards them. Young goats that have barely reached puberty are expelled from the territories where they were born by stronger older rivals. Not yet having sufficient experience of independent life, young males are forced to wander in search of habitats where they would not be pursued by the aggressiveness of adult animals. Such areas often turn out to be worse in terms of food and protection than the former ones. Sometimes, however, this search leads to the discovery of new good grounds, which ultimately contributes to the development of new territories by the species, that is, the dispersal of the species as a whole.

There are no cases of cannibalism.

Ways of communication.

The sound signals emitted by roe deer are the main means of their intraspecific communication. An important role in the communication of animals, especially during the period of their collective existence, is played by signals designed for visual perception: special postures, movements, the appearance of a blossoming tail "mirror".

Odor alarm. The secret of the glands located on the head in the forehead and on the neck of males carries information for rival males that this area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe area is already occupied, and for females - that there is a male ready for breeding. The owner of the territory uses this secret to urinate the boundaries of his possessions. To do this, he continually rubs against trees and shrubs not only with his horns, but also with his head and neck, leaving scent marks on them.

However, it must be said that a histological analysis of the skin glands of roe deer, carried out by a number of researchers, showed that specialized

males do not have a frontal organ that secretes a secret for urination. A resinous odorous substance is produced by the usual, but significantly enlarged sebaceous and sweat glands of the skin of the entire head and neck. Of course, the degree of development and the intensity of secretion secretion by these glands are directly dependent on the general physiological state of the male, in particular, on the size of his testicles. By spring, males have an increase in the same glands in the back. But here they develop to a much lesser extent than on the head and neck. In winter, all these glands almost do not function.

If the glands we have mentioned develop and secrete a secret only in males, and only in a certain period, then all roe deer always

functioning metatarsal and interdigital glands. Metatarsal glands are located on the outer side of the hind legs, somewhat lower

hock joint. They are formed by large sebaceous glands and huge accumulations - "balls" of sebaceous glands. The interdigital glands, located between the pair of main hooves, are present on both the front and hind legs. They are formed by the same glands as the metatarsal ones. In addition, small patches of skin with highly developed sweat glands have been found in roe deer around the hooves. The secret of the glands located on the legs of the roe deer remains on its trail. By its smell, the relatives of the animal receive comprehensive information about it - its gender, age, physiological state. Oriented by smells, roe deer look for members of their group. In the footsteps of the male, he is looking for an opponent who has appeared on his territory, as well as females during the rut.

An important source of additional information about each other in roe deer is also the smell of urine, excrement, and saliva; they leave the latter on the plants during fattening. When meeting animals, especially unfamiliar ones, mutual and prolonged sniffing first of the nose, then the head, trunk, metatarsal glands and genitals follows.

Sound alarm. The sounds made by roe deer can be of vocal and mechanical origin. The most famous vocal sound emitted by both Siberian and European roe deer is a loud bark, very reminiscent of a dog. Both males and females bark, being frightened or disturbed by something. Usually roe deer barking is single. In more rare cases, the animal barks several times in a row for sometimes ten minutes. Most often, the animal barks while standing still, but it happens that it is on the run. Then the sound of barking becomes shorter, but repeated many times. A person can hear the barking of a male roe deer from three kilometers away.

Barking is the alarm sound of roe deer. Often it is heard at dawn, when the animals go out to feed, carefully controlling everything that happens around. Roe deer often bark at night. The voice of one animal is mostly answered with barking by several others, sometimes located at a distance of one and a half kilometers from it.

Observations of European roe deer indicate that they, apparently, are much less likely than Siberian ones to respond to disturbance.

voice, including a clear danger, in particular, when a person appears near them. The fact that during the summer period males much more often than females react to danger with a voice, apparently, can be explained by a much greater degree of their general excitement at this time of the year.

The second vocal sound made by roe deer is a whistle. It can be heard in nature only by chance. For example, we did not happen to hear the whistle of adult females. However, according to the observations of other researchers, female roe deer make such a sound when a male approaches them during the rut, as if notifying him of his readiness for mating. Roe deer whistle - high and not too loud. For human hearing, it is almost indistinguishable from the squeak of cubs, except that it has a lower tonality.

express pain in animals.

Excited males, when confronted with rivals, or even only when their smell is detected, make a sound similar to hissing or puffing. With the same sound, the male pursues the female in estrus. Occasionally, disturbed and aggressive adult females hiss.

An important signal value in the communication of roe deer is a whole group of sounds of non-vocal origin, produced during certain body movements of animals. Together with them, they usually constitute elements of exploratory, and in males, aggressive behavior, designed not only for auditory, but also visual perception. This way of communication is also characteristic of other types of deer. It includes hitting the ground with the front legs of a disturbed roe deer, forcing other members of the group to freeze in place. Very often, with this signal, the female stops the calves following her until she herself finds out the cause of the anxiety that has arisen. Often disturbed animals begin to walk, raising their front and hind legs high and lowering them with force so that the sound of hooves hitting the ground is heard. In this way, they warn nearby calves or other roe deer of a possible danger.

In the relationship of territorial males, the sound produced by the hooves when they clear "patch patches" in the forest litter or grass cover, which they leave at the base of a tree or bush marked with horns, is of particular importance.

Other sounds of mechanical origin, with the help of which roe deer inform about the danger of their relatives, include deliberately noisy and high jumps, made especially often in dense undergrowth or tall grass. The jump of the female, forcing the little calves to hide, as well as the clicking of her hooves on the run, can serve as a warning signal.

Signals designed for visual perception. These are short range signals. They are typical for roe deer in a group: in summer - in

family, and in winter - in the herd. During the group lifestyle, roe deer use visual signaling especially widely. However, they usually combine it with smell and sound. This type of signaling, like many of those listed earlier, includes various elements of the orienting-exploratory behavior of animals. This is alertness and clarification of the situation, and when the danger is clarified, flight or hiding. So, for example, noticing one of the roe deer in a pose of alarm, other animals instantly stop grazing or get up from the spoons,

huddle together and also assume a pose of anxiety. While the cause of anxiety has not yet been established, a motionless posture in one or more individuals may be replaced by walking in a posture of alarm - slow movement with a vertically extended neck and high raising of the legs. The direct visual signal for the flight of the entire group is most often the sight of a running individual with a loose "mirror".

Reasons for population fluctuations:

a) Abiotic factors.

In a large part of the range, there are cases of mass death of roe deer from exhaustion in severe and snowy winters with a long crust. Roe deer do not tolerate high snow cover: European roe deer can hardly move on snow 20-30 cm high, and Siberian ones are higher than 40-60 cm. In the snowy season, roe deer like to walk along their trodden paths.

b) Qualitative and quantitative composition of feed.

In winter and summer, predominantly solitary animals and groups of two to three individuals are found, in autumn and winter herds of four to ten and rarely from more animals appear. The size of roe deer groups during the snowy period is largely determined by their population density.

The best roe deer pastures are young deciduous species, which occur most often in clearings of deciduous and spruce forests. Such pastures are characterized by the highest concentration of easily available and nutritious branch forage. So, it is known that its stock in the felling of the second or third year of existence increases eight to nine times in comparison with native plantations. The highest productivity - 3.8-4.6 tons of shoots (meaning air-dry weight) per 100 hectares - is achieved in the fifth year of overgrowing of the felling. Similar results are also obtained for non-clear fellings, which are carried out in order to improve the lighting conditions under the forest canopy. In the sixth year after such cuttings, for example, in the oak-ash forest, the food reserves for roe deer can exceed 8 tons per 100 hectares. Roe deer also find a sufficient supply of full-fledged winter food in other habitats that are usual for them - on the edges of forests, in thickets of bushes. In mature stands, the living conditions for roe deer are much worse in winter.

In the spring, with the beginning of the vegetation of plants, roe deer drastically change the nature of their diet, as green foliage appears in mass on trees and

shrubs and grasses grow. Naturally, the supply of spring food for roe deer in any area is many times greater than winter food.

c) Predators.

The main enemy of the roe deer is the wolf. Wolves cause especially great damage to roe deer populations in winter, with high snow cover. In Europe, including

Among us in the Crimea, roe deer, especially young ones, are often attacked by a fox. In some places, for example, in Altai and the Urals, roe deer often become a victim of lynx. In the south of the Far East, the roe deer is pursued by the harza.

d) competitors.

The roe deer enters into sharp competitive relations with the red deer, which, where its numbers are significant, clearly oppresses the roe deer.

e) Influence of genetic factors, possible accidents.

Usually, females bring 2 cubs, rarely 1 or 3. There are cases when 4 and 5 embryos were found in a female, but, apparently, some of them subsequently resolve or the young are born unviable.

e) Migration.

In European roe deer, with the exception of those that live in mountainous areas, the habitats of both individual individuals and groups of animals usually represent an integral territory. At the same time, however, not all of its area is used evenly: in different seasons, animals prefer to stay in one or another area. The annual habitats of these animals in their configuration approach the circle. Their area in males is on average about 150, in females - about 120 hectares. Seasonal plots are located within annual ones in such a way that they overlap each other by about half. The centers of seasonal plots are close to each other. In each season, most animals prefer to stay in the center of the corresponding seasonal area, moving away from it no further than half a kilometer. Due to the long-term course of changes in weather conditions, and, accordingly, in the food base, the boundaries of annual and seasonal plots may change. Human economic activity also has a significant impact on the change in the boundaries of habitats.

In some regions of the Asian part of the range, roe deer are characterized not only by migrations, but also by long-distance migrations. In the latter case, summer places

roe deer habitats are separated from winter areas by tens and sometimes hundreds of kilometers. Naturally, in migrating animals, the living space is quite clearly divided into seasonal areas and the territory connecting them, along which the animals move in spring and autumn. At the same time, with the exception of the time of migration, the lifestyle of these roe deer, as well as the nature of their territorial distribution in each of the seasonal areas - summer or winter - are very similar to those of roe deer living settled throughout the year.

The nature of the distribution of individuals in space.

herding

For most of the year, the roe deer's gregarious instinct is weakly expressed. Roe deer should be considered animals that lead not only single, but even

hermit lifestyle. The formation of small herds by them is an exceptional phenomenon caused by local unfavorable conditions. Throughout October, roe deer unite in small herds of two to eight individuals, which exist throughout the entire snowy period. The emergence of winter herds occurs on the basis of the association of family groups - females with calves, the number of single animals at this time, compared with summer, decreases by three to five times. Thus, there is every reason to classify roe deer as animals leading a solitary-family and seasonal-group lifestyle.

Large herds, including several dozen animals, are observed, as a rule, only in field roe deer. At the same forest - meetings of herds,

consisting of more than eight to ten animals are very rare and are usually observed in the most severe and snowy winters. Large concentrations of roe deer outside the period of their migrations can be considered only as a result of the forced concentration of animals in limited snowy areas with sufficient food supplies, and not as their natural seasonal desire for a united lifestyle.

The ability of roe deer to form groups is usually judged by the seasonal or annual herd rate, that is, the average number of animals in one group, calculated from the data of all animal encounters for a certain season or the whole year.

The main variants of variability.

Summer color - dark rusty color, brown-gray in winter.

Conclusion: All these indicators determine the main property of the population - the reproduction of individuals.

Man and the population specific form of life.

1) To reduce the size of the population lead to:

The main types of roe deer hunting. At present, hunting in most industrialized countries has already lost its original, utilitarian character, when its main task was the extraction of meat. Now the hunter has become an athlete who, through hunting, satisfies his desire to communicate with wild nature, receives a release from the ever-increasing nervous tension of city life. Hunting is also of great cognitive importance for him, the purpose of which is not only the extraction of the beast, but also the study of its life.

Roe deer of all types of hoofed animals is the most successful object for sport hunting, as it requires the hunter-athlete to show

great mobility, the ability to combine quick reaction with good endurance, excellent command of weapons. A successful shot that brings the coveted trophy is preceded by a search for the beast, requiring knowledge of its habits. Hunters and specialists who study the behavior of roe deer are well aware that it is useless to hide these animals in the wind, which allows them to smell a person in the forest for more than two hundred meters, and in open space even for four hundred meters. It is also useless to try to approach the roe deer along the rustling forest floor. Nevertheless, experienced hunters are able to get close to roe deer within a sure shot. Sport hunting for roe deer is widespread in European countries, and in recent years it has gained an increasing place in the European part of the former USSR. But in the expanses of Siberia and the Far East, commercial hunting still prevails, in which roe deer are harvested by whole teams of hunters-traders. Commercial shooting of Siberian roe deer is carried out even in suburban hunting farms.

For the sports hunter, hunting alone is most interesting, allowing him to fully use his experience and skill in tracking down the beast. During this hunt, shooting from the approach to grazing or resting roe deer is most often used. In winter, tracking down roe deer is much easier, as their tracks are clearly visible in the snow. However, the inevitable noise made by the hunter when roe deer are hiding along the snow trail, especially in frosty weather, makes this type of hunting ineffective. It is much easier to get a roe deer using a rifled weapon that allows you to shoot from a long distance - up to 300 meters. Such shooting is always fatal for roe deer, especially in open areas, since in this case the animals cannot determine the direction from which the danger comes, and often approach the shooter themselves.

In autumn and winter, they often practice hunting from the entrance to animals on a cart or sleigh pulled by a horse, since where roe deer often graze along the roads, they get used to the type of transport and are not afraid of it. The art of the shooter with this method of hunting, first of all, consists in getting off the wagon in the most convenient place for shooting, unnoticed by the animals. In winter, the hunter usually just falls out of the sleigh into the snow, and the team, driven by the carter, continues on his way, thereby diverting the attention of the animals.

One of the widely used methods of individual hunting is shooting from ambush, which is arranged near the places of permanent fattening or crossings of roe deer. Very convenient for hunters in these cases are small platforms fortified on trees, or special towers placed on the border of the forest and open space. With them, the hunter, having a good view, can shoot animals of his choice. With the help of such ambush in hunting farms, selective shooting of roe deer is usually carried out. In Poland, autumn hunting for roe deer is very popular on moonlit nights, when animals that have come out to feed in the field are shot from a choke with an optical sight.

In more rare cases, hunting for male roe deer is allowed during the rut, in July-August. This hunt is very interesting, it requires great skill and ingenuity from the hunter-athlete, since the males have to be lured to shoot, using a decoy that imitates the voice of the female.

Sometimes sport hunting is carried out collectively. If hunting is carried out in the mountains, where roe deer escape from persecution through saddles and gorges along

one and the same paths, then most often roe deer are driven by one or two beaters to several shooters, settling in the places of the most probable crossings of animals.

Quite widespread, especially in the European part of the former USSR, until recently had a wild hunt for roe deer. A dozen or more shooters took part in such a hunt, not counting the same number of beaters. The essence of the matter was to drive the animals that were in the salary to the line of shooters located on the leeward side. At the same time, each shooter had to take one or another number from permanent paths or other animal manholes. This type of hunting is the most lucrative, and therefore causes great damage to the population of roe deer. Because of this, it is currently banned in many hunting farms.

Very interesting hunting for roe deer with hounds. It is known that dogs of this breed prefer a roe deer to a hare and work on it with great passion. However, in some countries, such as Bulgaria, roe deer hunting with hounds is prohibited. The fact is that roe deer, like other ungulates, often escape from the pursuit of dogs in the water, which is why they catch a cold in cold weather, and then often die from pneumonia and other lung diseases. The animals that have been ill, being weakened, cannot participate in the reproduction of the next season. It was also found that from those places where roe deer are often disturbed by dogs, they generally go to quieter areas. Therefore, in many countries of Western and Eastern Europe it is recommended to use dogs only when looking for wounded animals. For this purpose, several specially trained hounds, cops, terriers or cocker spaniels are kept in hunting farms, working on the blood trail.

An increase in the population is caused by:

Roe deer everywhere belongs to the game, the extraction of which is allowed only under license. The license must necessarily indicate the terms of the hunt, the area where the animal is to be caught, the names of the hunter and the huntsman who controls the shooting.

Determination of sex and age of roe deer

Determination of sex, as a rule, is not difficult. In summer, males are easily recognizable by their horns, in winter by a long tuft of hair located on the penis, clearly visible under the belly. It is more difficult to identify annual males with barely growing horns; here you should pay attention to the scrotum. Female roe deer, unlike males, are hornless in summer. In winter, they are easy to identify by a tuft of hair protruding from the vulva, which is clearly distinguished by a yellow spot against the background of a white mirror (Fig. 1).

Cubs differ from adult roe deer in body size until the next spring. Their figure undergoes certain changes with age. One-year-olds of both sexes do not have a massive body, so that their legs seem relatively long, and the croup is slightly raised behind; after the autumn molt, these differences largely disappear. Two-year-old males look more robust than one-year-olds, but still slender. The body of 4-5-year-old males that have reached their maximum weight seems to be squat, the legs are short.

Such a figure is characteristic all the time while the male is at the highest point of his development. Elderly males often again acquire the body shape characteristic of young individuals (Fig. 2).

Other signs in determining the age of roe deer can be the shape of the head and neck and the color of the muzzle. One-year-olds have a narrow head; gradually it becomes wider, especially in males, and therefore appears shorter. The neck of the latter is thin and long, set vertically when moving. Over the years, it becomes thicker, more powerful and leans lower. Nevertheless, the situation in which the animals are located should be taken into account: young animals also tilt their necks when feeding; disturbed adult males, on the other hand, hold their neck upright.

Assessment of the age of animals by the color of the muzzle is possible only in the case of a completely completed molt, approximately from June to August. From the end of August, the hair color begins to change again as a result of the autumn molt, which can lead to an incorrect determination. The muzzle of one-year-olds has a single-color dark, sometimes black color. However, in developed males, the white spot on the nose is already well expressed, in two-year-old males it is always clearly demarcated, but increases in size with age, the white color is lost and turns into gray. In aging males, due to gray hair, the forehead turns gray, gray hair extends to the eyes and gradually the whole head becomes gray. Dark gray rings around the eyes ("glasses") are a distinctive feature of old males (Fig. 3).

Many hunters often make the mistake of considering, first of all, the crown of horns as a criterion of age. The so-called "crown", or "coronal", processes are observed in all age classes, but among one-year-old animals there are practically no individuals with processes of horns directed backward; they are found only in older age classes.

The timing of formation, de-skinning, and shedding of antlers is also highly dependent on age. Adult males shed their horns first and form new ones about 3 weeks earlier than young ones and clear them of their skin. In some old specimens of the European roe deer, antlers are fully formed already at the end of February, in middle-aged males - in mid-March, while in one-year-old individuals, their development begins only in March (see Fig. 4). The formation of horns is greatly influenced by the general physical condition of individuals. At the same age, animals in particularly good physical condition clear their antlers a few weeks earlier, resulting in the appearance of their older age. Wintering conditions can affect the timing of horn formation for all individuals.

Autumn molting occurs in the same sequence. First, young individuals lose their summer color, then middle-aged individuals, and lastly, old ones. The period from mid-September to mid- or late October is the most favorable time for determining the age of roe deer on this basis.

The delay in molting is most often due to diseases or caused by metabolic disorders. Such animals are to be shot.

Their behavior largely contributes to determining the age of roe deer. One-year-old individuals can be observed together with their mother for a relatively long time, sometimes up to childbirth. This age class is characterized by playful behavior, curiosity and less caution. Based on the behavior of two-year-old and older males, it is impossible to determine the exact age, but it is possible to draw a conclusion about "younger" and "older" animals. Over the years, animals become more cautious and distrustful, and, as a rule, they are the last to leave the feeding grounds. In collisions, it is inferior to the younger one, regardless of the development of horns and physical strength; in individuals of the same age, the owner of the territory turns out to be the winner. When defeated, the young male runs back a short distance and then barks for a long time, the old male does not cry at all or barks several times.

Roe deer skull treatment

The remnants of the skin are removed from the skull, the lower jaw, tongue are separated, all muscles and eyes are removed. The brain is crushed with a spoon or wire hook and washed with a strong jet of water through a hole in the base of the skull. The more carefully the brain is removed before boiling, the easier it will be to clean and degrease the skull.

Most hunters saw the skull in order to mount the horns with the skull and nasal bone on a wooden plank. This is best done with a special saw after removing the muscles of the head. Nowadays, the custom is becoming more and more widespread to dissect the horns with the skull in its entirety and hang it on the wall without a plaque. Well-developed horns with a full skull make a stronger impression and are of great scientific value.

After a rough preparation, the skull is immersed in cold water for at least 24 hours until all the blood has been washed out. At the same time, it is useful to leave it in the water for several days, so that the process of muscle decay begins. Then, when cooking, they are separated from the bones much better. If the horns need to be dissected together with the upper part of the skull, then before cooking the fleshy palatine membrane is cut across, otherwise it tightens and tears out the bones.

It is best to boil the skull in pure water without adding any reagents. This avoids their aggressive effect on the bones and preserves the color of the horns. The length of the boil time depends on the age of the roe deer. The skull is removed when the muscles begin to flake off the bones. The bones are cleaned of large muscles, the water containing fat is replaced with clean warm water and boiled until all the muscles can be easily separated.

The skull is dissected, the teeth that have fallen out are glued in, dried and bleached, repeatedly wiping with a cotton swab moistened with a warm 5% hydrogen peroxide solution. To do this, use rubber gloves or work with tweezers.

Bleaching can be done in other ways. Powdered chalk is mixed with a 5% hydrogen peroxide solution to form a slurry. The skull is wrapped in cotton wool smeared with this gruel and placed in a shallow bowl with a 5% hydrogen peroxide solution. Due to the suction action of cotton wool, the slurry remains constantly moistened. The skull packed in this way is left for 24 hours. Then the cotton wool is removed, the skull is dried and brushed.

When bleaching, make sure that the bases of the horns and teeth are not wetted, otherwise they will lose their natural color. Do not bleach with 30% hydrogen peroxide as recommended in many reference books. Such a concentrated solution has an aggressive effect on the bone. In addition, its use is uneconomical and can greatly damage human health.

The sawn-off skull is fixed on a wooden plank fitted in size and shape. In this case, it is important that the bones of the skull evenly fit to the stand. Small size trophies can be glued on a wooden stand. All horns, the parameters of which lie within the limits of the medal, must be attached with screws, since during the trophy assessment their weight and volume must be measured without a stand. The screws are driven through the board into the base of the horns.

The wig-like and similar horns require special treatment. To protect against insects and decay, they are injected with a solution of arsenic with formalin: 1 part of formalin and 1 part of a saturated solution of arsenic are taken for 4 parts of water. To prevent shrinkage of soft wig-like or similar ugly horns, they are paraffinized.

Roe deer are one of the smallest representatives of the deer family in the artiodactyl order. Being close relatives of deer and fallow deer, these animals derive their name from goats that are not at all related to them. With the latter, they are brought together only by size, and not by appearance. Until the end of the 20th century, it was believed that there was only one species of roe deer with two subspecies in the world. Currently, these subspecies are considered as two independent species - European and Siberian roe deer.

Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) at the beginning of spring molt. The growing horns of males at this time are still covered with skin, so they seem thick and velvety.

The appearance of these animals is typical for deer: a graceful body on high legs, a short tail, a slightly arched neck, giving a proud posture, and a small shortened head, which in males is crowned with a pair of horns. Compared to deer, the antlers of roe deer look shorter and do not branch as much. At their base, bumps and warts are often noticeable.

Sometimes individuals with ugly or different-sized horns come across.

Females are almost always hornless, while males grow horns in late winter - early spring, persist until October, and then fall off. The color of the fur in both sexes is the same, but subject to seasonal dimorphism. In summer, roe deer are monochromatic red with a white spot (the so-called mirror) on the rump, and by winter they become gray, and the mirror stands out more during this period. In some populations there are individuals with black or gray summer fur. It is also noteworthy that both types of roe deer look the same. The only sign by which they can be distinguished is their size. The European roe deer reaches 60-80 cm at the withers with a body weight of 20-37 kg, the Siberian roe deer is noticeably larger: its height reaches 80-94 cm at the withers with a weight of 32-60 kg.

Male European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) in summer plumage.

The range of the European roe deer covers the whole of continental Europe, Great Britain, as well as Asia Minor, the Caucasus and Iran. Its eastern border runs along the Volga and comes close to the western border of the range of the Siberian roe deer, which lives, in addition to the expanses of Siberia, also in the Far East, northern Kazakhstan and Mongolia, in some areas of Tibet and China. In areas of range overlap, European and Siberian roe deer can form hybrids.

Despite such a wide distribution, the habitats of both species are similar - these are forest-steppes, mixed and deciduous forests. Roe deer never enter the real treeless steppe, they do not like the dense gloomy taiga, devoid of undergrowth. In coniferous forests, if they are found, then only where they are dotted with edges, clearings, clearings. This is explained by the fact that roe deer are very picky eaters. Although these herbivores, like deer, are able to feed on poisonous plants, mushrooms, lichens, branches of shrubs and trees, in practice they rarely condescend to eat such food, preferring to pluck only tender leaves, the tops of fruit-bearing and flowering herbs, and berries. It is glades, interspersed meadows, near-river thickets that can provide them with an abundant food base.

For the same reason, roe deer often visit fields, pastures, hayfields, but only in those places where they are not systematically hunted.

In addition, the small size of these ungulates makes it difficult for them to move through deep snow. Snow cover with a height of 20-50 cm is already critical for them, so thickets where snowdrifts form early and persist for a long time, roe deer avoid.

In the most dangerous and hungry time, in winter, roe deer are kept in small mixed herds of 5-20 heads. At the same time, European roe deer make only short migrations, while Siberian roe deer make real migrations. On migratory routes, herds may temporarily unite into larger aggregations of hundreds of individuals. During migrations, such accumulations are able to overcome even large rivers. With the onset of spring, the animals return to their summer habitats and the herds disintegrate: the males occupy individual plots, which they will guard until the very rut, the females also hasten to retire in anticipation of offspring.

Roe deer cubs are born spotted and always lie in a characteristic pose, curled up. In the first days of life, this helps them keep warm.

Rutting in roe deer is not the same as in other deer. Firstly, it does not occur in the fall, but in July-August, because of which the pregnancy is stretched for 9-10 months. Females that missed the summer rut can be fertilized by males at the end of autumn, but their pregnancy in this case lasts only 5.5 months. This is explained by the fact that the embryo in roe deer does not develop at first, and its growth begins only in December. The "late" females do not have this hidden period of gestation, so they bring offspring at the same time as the rest. Pregnancy with a latent period is characteristic of mustelid predators, but among herbivorous animals this phenomenon is observed only in roe deer. Secondly, the rut itself proceeds somewhat unusually. Roe deer males do not roar, calling "ladies" to harems, but confine themselves to mating with several females living within their territory. True, they still have to defend this right in battle, since contenders for the attention of their neighbors strive to invade the territory of their owners. Fights between males are rarely long and bloody, but males show aggression towards females. In nature, this looks like an obsessive pursuit, ending in mating, but in captivity, due to lack of free space, males sometimes beat lovers to death.

Roe deer are more prolific than large deer, they give birth more often than 2 cubs, less often 1 or 3. Calving occurs in late April-May. Within half an hour after birth, the roe deer gets to its feet, but after drinking milk, it does not follow its mother, but lies down in the bushes or tall grass. If the mother has more than one cub, then they hide in different places, and the mother feeds them in turn. This tactic helps defenseless babies go unnoticed by predators. In addition to immobility, camouflage is also provided by the absence of smell in cubs.

A week later, the babies begin to follow their mother, and at 2-3 weeks of age they begin to try green food.

Thanks to high-calorie milk, they grow quickly, as a rule, lactation lasts 2-3 months, rarely up to six months. But even after weaning from the udder, the young do not leave the parent, following her almost until the next calving. Roe deer reach puberty already in the first year of life, but females begin to participate in the rut at the age of 1.5 years, and males - not earlier than 3 years.

In nature, these animals live up to 10-12 years, in captivity - up to 15-18. However, under natural conditions, half of the young animals do not survive the first winter, since roe deer have many enemies in nature. A common enemy for both species is the wolf, in addition, lynxes, bears, golden eagles, and in the Far East - tigers and kharza (large marten) can attack roe deer. For cubs, even foxes, jackals and stray dogs are dangerous. Ungulates are saved from predators by acute hearing and sense of smell. Usually roe deer move at a leisurely pace, constantly raising their heads, looking around, sniffing and listening.

In case of danger, they take off and fly away, bouncing high.

A white mirror flickering with each jump signals danger to fellow tribesmen. However, jumping is exhausting, therefore, having moved away from danger by 500-1000 m, roe deer begin to dodge. They strive to make a circle, to go on their own trail, which they follow for several more kilometers. This not only allows you to visually hide from the pursuer, but also prevents him from finding the roe deer by smell (and in these ungulates, though not strong, it is very persistent).

However, roe deer have enemies from which no tricks can save. This is a high snow cover, dooming them to hunger, and ... deer. Since red and spotted deer occupy the same ecological niche as roe deer, they act as food competitors in relation to the latter. That is why where there are many deer, roe deer are few. In general, these animals are not rare and belong to one of the most popular and favorite types of game. Intensive hunting is compensated by the high natural fertility of roe deer and artificial breeding in hunting farms. In captivity, these animals easily adapt and quickly get used to humans. But in fiction and folklore, roe deer occupy a disproportionately modest place. By the way, the famous Bambi, whom everyone considers a deer with the light hand of translators and animators, was actually a roe deer cub. Re-read this tale again and see how accurately the author was able to describe the habits of roe deer, adding mature drama to his story.

Roe deer are known to have an average lifespan of about fifteen years. The approximate age of this animal can be determined by some external signs. For example, a young individual has a slender long neck, a vigorous tread and a raised head. The old male has a thicker neck, a heavy body and a slightly lowered head, as well as clumsy and slow movements. In a dead animal, the exact age can be found only by the lower jaw, and the approximate age by the cranial sutures and the thickness of the outgrowths. It is known that the older the animal, the more worn its molars, etc. There is another way to determine the age of the animal - by the horns.

What kind of horns does a roe deer have and when does it shed them? And how to determine their age? The answers to these questions can be found in this article, having read the information presented in it.

A bit of history

The roots of the genus Capreolus Gray lead to the Miocene muntjacs belonging to the subfamily Cervulinae. During the period of the Upper Miocene - Lower Pliocene, a group of forms already inhabited Europe and Asia, similar in some characteristics to modern roe deer (genus Procapreolus Schloss). Closer to them is the genus Pliocervus Hilzh (Middle Pliocene).

The genus Capreolus dates back approximately to the Upper Pliocene or Lower Pleistocene, and the existence of the species Capreolus capreolus (European roe deer) at the end of the Ice Age has been reliably established.

In the relatively recent past, the habitat of the roe deer (a photo of the animal is presented in the article) in temperate latitudes was continuous. The zone of the greatest abundance of this animal covers areas with a snow depth not exceeding ten to twenty centimeters. In connection with predatory extermination in the years before the revolution, the habitat of these animals fell apart. Only as a result of certain measures, in recent years, roe deer began to repopulate areas where it had been absent for several decades.

Today this animal inhabits the territories of European countries up to Scandinavia and the Gulf of Finland. Roe deer live in the vast expanses of Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic republics. Crimea, the Urals, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Tien Shan and Altai, Siberia, Korea, northern Mongolia and northeastern China are also the natural habitat of this animal.

Although the habitat of roe deer covers vast territories, their widespread (continuous) settlement in these parts is not observed. Where roe deer live, there are vast forest-steppes and deciduous light forests with large glades overgrown with thick grass. Under the influence of an active human attack on the forest-steppe regions (both in Europe and in most regions of Asia), as well as in connection with the occupation of vast lands for agricultural land, roe deer began to be pushed further and further into mixed forests (except for taiga zones).

On the territory of the southern borders of the range, roe deer have taken root well in mountain forests, in reed and shrub thickets, in lake reeds and forest plantations, in farmland fields, and so on.

Description

The second name of the roe deer is a wild goat. The animal has a relatively short body, and its back part is slightly higher and thicker than the front. An adult male reaches 32 kilograms at a height of up to 126 centimeters. The average height at the withers is 66-81 cm. The female roe deer is smaller than the male, and sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed.

The head of the roe deer is short and wedge-shaped, narrowed towards the nose. Oval-shaped long ears have a noticeable point. The large eyes are slightly protruding and have oblique pupils. The legs of the animal are long and thin, with short and narrow hooves.

The color of the roe deer coat (the photo of the animal is presented in the article) is different in summer and winter. In the warm period of the year, its coat in color can be from gray to reddish-brown, and in the cold season - brownish-gray. The lower part of the body is usually lighter than the upper. In addition to the habitually colored roe deer, black, white and motley ones are sometimes found.

Lifespan

Under natural habitat conditions, the life expectancy of roe deer is, as noted above, about fifteen years, but it is unlikely that any of them can reach this age in the wild.

Even the most experienced and cautious animals are likely to die for a variety of reasons. To a greater extent, they are shot by hunters and do not live up to even half the age limit.

More about horns

Roe deer horns are divided into two types according to their structure:

1. European horns. They are small in size (usually equal to the length of the skull) and their trunks, located vertically, are directed almost parallel to each other. Such horns usually have no more than three processes. One of them (front) is directed forward, the second is backward, and the third, representing the end of the horn, is directed upwards. At the bases there are large rosettes (bone outgrowths) with a complex surface, on which tubercles (pearls or pearls) are developed. The length of the horns is more than thirty centimeters.
2. Horns of Siberian roe deer. In size, they are much larger (more than 45 centimeters). The horns are set wider and diverge more strongly to the sides. Their apices are often bent inward towards each other, and the posterior processes bifurcate at the ends. The anterior processes are directed inward. In Siberian roe deer, rosettes are less developed, but wider than in European roe deer, and do not touch. Their tubercles are also less dense, but the tubercles are higher and larger (similar to processes). Each horn has three to five processes.

When do deer shed their antlers?

Roe deer, like deer, shed their antlers in winter. They develop in the following sequence. In male goats, the first horns appear in the first year of life, in autumn (in October-November). These are low bone processes (“pipes”) covered with skin. By the spring of next year (April-May), they grow just above the ears and are already unbranched thick “pins”, which, after peeling, become smooth and pointed (“rods”). Males wear them until December-January, after which the first horns fall off and only stumps remain on the skull, overgrown with skin.

After about two months (in spring), young male roe deer begin to grow horns again, but larger and also covered with skin. They are fully formed by the summer and already have 2-3 processes. Around the middle of summer (the beginning of the rut period), the horns are again cleared of "velvet". and differ from the horns of adults only in a thinner shaft and processes, as well as a slightly noticeable rosette. At the age of more than 2 years (November-December of the third year), the second horns are also shed. And again they have stumps, overgrown with skin, and again they form until next year. The last horns no longer differ from the horns of older individuals. There is a cyclical shift annually, but the number of processes is no longer added. They only become more prominent. In older goats, there may be a change in the shape of the horns and a decrease in their weight.

About the age of the animal

How to determine the age of a roe deer by the horns? It is not difficult to determine the sex of an animal, especially in summer, since males have them during this period. How to determine age?

With this, things are a little worse, although this is a rather important point in the use of roe deer for economic purposes. In an animal over two years old, the exact age is more difficult to determine, especially from a distance. Yet roe deer antlers are one of the most reliable indicators of age. This is especially true for the height of the bases of the horns. Due to the fact that they are reset annually, this figure decreases every year.

In the case when the horns of the male are “planted” on the skull and covered with hair, this indicates that the individual is old. Another indicator of the old age of the male is the presence of processes on the horns. This is a sign that the horns are not the first. Adults always have processes on their horns, and the shafts of their horns are thick.

The age indicator is also the shedding of the horns. Adult males are the first to drop them. In them, this happens about three weeks before new horns grow and peel off the skin in young individuals. In addition to all this, in old animals, horns are fully formed by the end of February, and in middle-aged males - by about mid-March. In young individuals, their development only begins in March.

Trophy antlers of roe deer

In addition to the skin and meat of the hunted animal, its horns are also of value. Among the numerous trophy collections of hunters, the most valuable are exhibits of ungulates, including roe deer. Horns with skulls, and even obtained with their own hands, are the pride of every hunter. Most often, specialists are engaged in the manufacture of a trophy. However, if desired, everyone can independently make a high-quality trophy skull.

Many people decorate hunting rooms with products made from roe deer horns, but there are also people who collect antler products and take part in various exhibitions. The hunter, before processing the trophy, must take care of it immediately, at the hunting place.

Most often, people, without the necessary skills, perform actions incorrectly and damage the skull and horns during transportation. There are internationally accepted requirements regarding trophies.

How are they evaluated?

Horns are one of the most significant trophies. However, each of the exhibits is unique and different in its qualities and characteristics. In this regard, the question arises: how to evaluate them correctly? To this end, in 1952 in Madrid at the International Congress of Hunters, a methodology for evaluating hunting trophies was adopted. In Copenhagen in 1955, at the International Council of Hunting, some additions and changes were made to the methodology that had been adopted earlier.

When roe deer antlers are evaluated by points, weight, thickness, length, number of processes, color and other indicators are taken into account. Linear measurements are made both in centimeters and millimeters, and weight - in grams and kilograms. The collapse and span of the horns are calculated by the ratio of the distance between them to the average value of the size of the right and left horns. The measurement values ​​are then multiplied by the factors set for each part. The maximum coefficient has an indicator of the mass of the horn. Information about the measurements obtained is recorded in a special trophy list, which indicates the data of the person who killed the animal, the date and place of production, the total and net weight of the animal. The signature on the trophy sheet is put by all representatives of the commission evaluating the trophy, and the document is certified by the seal of the hunting ground where it was obtained.

Some interesting facts

The following is noteworthy:

1. As a rule, each horn of an adult wild goat has no more than three processes. The animal acquires such horns in a fairly short period of time, and its further exact age (after the horns are fully formed) is quite difficult to determine by the horns.
2. Some individuals have an anomaly in the development of these processes. Roe deer antlers begin to develop at the age of 4 months. European females are generally hornless, but some are found with malformed horns.
3. The tone of the color of the horns depends on the health of the animal and the food it takes, as well as on the type of woody plant, on the trunk of which the roe deer peels off the skin from its processes. For example, the tannin contained in oak bark gives them a dark brown color.
4. The horns of the same locality, as a rule, are similar to each other. For example, all Central European age males have fairly close corollas, often touching and preventing each other from developing. On the other hand, roe deer in Siberia (Altai) have horns that are very different from Central European ones. Their corollas are much smaller, do not touch, and are even removed by about five centimeters from each other, and the antlers themselves, having a bend characteristic of deer, reach a great length and branch in a peculiar way.
5. There is some suggestion that the name of this animal is associated with the structure of its eyes, the pupils of which are slanted, and the color is necessarily brown. The coquettish eyes of the roe deer have long and fluffy upper eyelashes. Small lacrimal fossae are disproportionate and are expressed by shallow six-millimeter hollows without hair in the form of a triangle.
6. For unknown reasons, males sometimes grow abnormal horns that do not have processes. It is known that such individuals are very dangerous for their relatives, since during ritual battles their horns can pierce the opponent through and through.

It is also important to note that the roe deer is the oldest representative of deer. Archaeologists have found the remains of animals similar to them, belonging to individuals that lived on Earth about forty million years ago.

Finally

When determining the age of an animal by its horns, the following should be taken into account: their formation is quite strongly influenced by the physical condition of the individual. If it is at a high enough level, then the development of the horns will occur earlier, and this can give the appearance that the animal is much older than it really is.

The animal has a relatively short body, and the back of the artiodactyl is slightly higher and thicker than the front. The body weight of an adult male roe deer is 22-32 kg, with a body length of 108-126 cm and an average height at the withers - no more than 66-81 cm. The female of the European roe deer is slightly smaller than the male, but signs of sexual dimorphism are rather weakly expressed. The largest individuals are found in the northern and eastern parts of the range.

Appearance

The roe deer has a short and wedge-shaped nose narrowed towards the nose. head, which is relatively high and wide in the eye area.

cranial part with an expansion in the eye area, with a wide and shortened front part. Long and oval ears have a well-marked point.

Eyes large, convex, having oblique pupils. The neck of the animal is long and relatively thick.

Legs thin and long, with narrow and relatively short hooves.

tail section rudimentary, completely hidden under the hairs of the "mirror".

In the spring-summer period, the sweat and sebaceous glands of the males greatly increase, and through the secret, the males mark the territory. The most developed sense organs in roe deer are hearing and smell.

It is interesting! The horns of males are relatively small, with a less or more vertical set and a lyre-shaped curvature, close together at the base.

Supraorbital offshoot no, and the main horny trunk is characterized by a backward curvature.

Horns rounded section, having a large number of tubercles - "pearls" and a large rosette. In some individuals, an anomaly in the development of horns is noted. Roe deer calves develop antlers from the age of four months. Horns reach their full development by the age of three, and they are shed in October-December. European roe deer females are usually hornless, but there are individuals with ugly horns.

Color adults are monochromatic and completely devoid of sexual dimorphism. In winter, the animal has a gray or grayish-brown body, turning into a brownish-brown color in the posterior region of the back and at the level of the sacrum.

The caudal "mirror" or caudal disk is characterized by a white or light reddish color. With the onset of summer, the body and neck acquire a uniform red coloration, and the belly has a whitish-red color. In general, the summer color is more uniform than the winter "outfit". The existing population of melanistic roe deer inhabits the low-lying and swampy regions of Germany, and is distinguished by a black shiny summer color and matte black winter fur with a lead-gray belly coloration.

History and distribution of roe deer

The roots of the genus Capreolus Gray lead to the Miocene muntjacs (subfamily Cervulinae). Already in the Upper Miocene and Lower Pliocene, both in Europe and Asia, there lived a group of forms similar in a number of characters to modern roe deer and united in the genus Procapreolus Schloss. The Middle Pliocene genus Pliocervus Hilzh is even closer to them. The genus Capreolus dates back to the Upper Pliocene or Lower Pleistocene, and the species Capreolus capreolus was established with certainty only at the end of the Ice Age.

In the relatively recent past, the range of the roe deer, at least in temperate latitudes, was continuous. Its northern border is connected with the line of the average maximum snow cover depth of 50 cm. The zone of maximum abundance of this animal covers areas where the snow depth does not exceed 10-20 cm. Due to predatory extermination in the pre-revolutionary years, the area broke up into several parts; only as a result of the measures taken in recent years, the roe deer began to repopulate areas in which it had been absent for several decades.

Roe deer species

A large number of local forms are described, accepted by different authors either as subspecies or as independent species. At present, the point of view, which considers all local forms of the genus Capreolus as subspecies of one species, is considered more generally accepted.

There is also no consensus on the number of subspecies. Some accept over fifteen subspecies. More correct should be considered the point of view of K. Flerov, who reduces their number to four.

1. European roe deer- C. capreolus capreolus L. The dimensions are relatively small; body length about 125 cm, height at the withers about 80 cm; skull length from 190 to 216 mm; live weight up to 41 kg. The general background of winter coloration is grayish-brown, darker than in other races, especially on the back of the back and on the rump. In the summer coat, the color of the head is gray or brown, sharply different from the color of the back and sides. Bases of hair up to half of length gray-brown or dark brown. Auditory blisters on the skull are small. The horns are thin, usually no longer than 30 cm; the bases are very close together, so that the sockets often touch each other. The trunks of the horns from the bases are directed upwards almost in parallel, sometimes even with an inward inclination. Pearls on them are poorly developed. Distribution: Western Europe (including the British Isles and the Scandinavian Peninsula), the European part to the Volga and the Caucasus, Crimea, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Iran.

2. Siberian roe deer- C. capreolus pygargus Pallas. The sizes are large; body length about 140 cm, height at the withers up to 90 cm or more; skull length 215-250 mm; live weight up to 65 kg. The coloration is gray in winter, brownish on the back with an admixture of reddish tones. In summer coloring, the head is monochromatic with the back and sides. The hair on the whole body, except for the ridge, has white bases. The blisters on the skull are large and swollen. Horns up to 40 cm long or more, often have 4 or more processes, widely spaced at the bases; the distance between the rims is almost equal to the diameter of the horn, or even more. The trunks of the horns already from the base are directed to the sides and up. Pearls on them are strongly developed and sometimes take the form of short processes. Distribution: eastern regions of the European part of the USSR beyond the Volga, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Urals, Siberia up to Transbaikalia and Yakutia inclusive, western China (Xinjiang), northern and northwestern Mongolia.

3. Manchurian roe deer- C. capreolus bedfordi Thomas. The sizes are large, but somewhat smaller than the previous form; skull length 211-215 mm. Winter color is grayish-red, a mirror with a slight reddish tint. The head is more rufous and brown than the whole body. Summer color is intensely red, sometimes turning brown on the upper side of the body. The proportions of the skull, as in S. s. pygargus. Distribution: Khabarovsk and Primorsky Territories, northern and northeastern China, Korea.

4. Sichuan roe deer- C. capreolus melanotis Miller. Similar to the Siberian and Manchu race, but somewhat smaller; the greatest length of the skull is from 207 to 223 mm. The coloration in winter fur is brownish or reddish-gray, the head is rusty-brown with a dark forehead. The ears are more brownish than the head. Summer fur is red. Auditory vesicles are more swollen than even in the two previous subspecies. Distribution: China - eastern Tibet, provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Nanshan north to Gobi, Kam.

European roe deer diet

The usual diet of European roe deer includes almost a thousand species of various plants, but the artiodactyl prefers easily digestible and water-rich plant foods. More than half of the diet is represented by dicotyledonous herbaceous plants, as well as tree species. An insignificant part of the diet is made up of mosses and lichens, as well as club mosses, mushrooms and ferns. Roe deer most readily eat greens and branches:

• aspens;
• poplars;
• mountain ash;
• lindens;
• birches;
• ash;
• oak and beech;
• hornbeam;
• honeysuckle;
• bird cherry;
• buckthorn.

In order to make up for the lack of minerals, artiodactyls visit salt licks and drink water from springs that are rich in mineral salts. Animals get water mainly from plant foods and snow, and the average daily requirement is about one and a half liters. The winter diet is less diverse, and is most often represented by shoots and buds of trees or shrubs, dry grass and loose leaves. In starvation, mosses and lichens are dug out from under the snow, and tree needles and bark are also eaten.

Roe deer breeding

Roe deer, unlike other deer, prefer solitude and form small groups only when necessary.
As a rule, in the summer, family groups are formed of a mother and two deer, males and childless females keep apart. Winter colds force Roe deer to huddle in small herds - it is easier to survive frost and hunger.

The mating season falls on the summer months and the beginning of autumn. Males make loud sounds that attract females, tear and scatter the ground and foliage with their horns, fight among themselves, finding out who is stronger. The strongest male will get the right to become a family man and create his grief.

The gestation period for Roe deer is from 5 to 10 months, it all depends on when the mating took place.
If mating took place in the fall, then after 5 months, in the spring, a pair of small deer will be born.

But if the female became pregnant in the summer, and not in the fall, then the pregnancy will have a latent period - a kind of "pause" when the embryo temporarily stops developing - and then the pregnancy will last as long as 10 months until the next summer.
Roe deer are the only species of deer that have a latent period of pregnancy, it is necessary so that babies cannot be born in winter, when lack of food and cold doom them to a quick death.

On average, two deer are born to Roe deer, babies are born in April-July. They have a motley spotted skin and almost immediately know how to walk and even run, but they are still too weak and can easily fall into the clutches of predators, so they spend the first days of their lives in shelter, drink mother's milk, grow and gain strength.
All summer the kids spend next to their mother, the kids will become adults next year, at the age of 14-16 months.
The average lifespan of Roe deer is 10 years, sometimes living up to 15.

Roe deer enemies

The roe deer is perfectly adapted to life in the forest-steppe zone - and this is no accident, because it has many enemies: lynxes and wolves able to catch adult roe deer, birds of prey, foxes and wild dogs prefer to prey on helpless deer.

The short stature of the roe deer allows it to be invisible among low bushes, the brownish skin of an adult roe deer is almost invisible against the background of tall grass and tree trunks, and the motley skin of deer merges with the forest litter and last year's foliage.

Strong legs allow the roe deer to reach speeds of up to 60 km / h - at such a speed the roe deer will not be able to run for a long time, but even a small jerk is enough to get away from the pursuit of a lynx or wolf.

But the main enemy of roe deer is man: the reduction of habitats leads to the fact that roe deer often become victims of accidents and die under the wheels of cars, and beautiful horns and tasty meat make them a favorite target for hunters.

It is interesting! In winter, when searching for food, roe deer dig up the snow with their front legs to a depth of half a meter, and all the grasses and plants found are eaten whole.

Roe deer communication

In the communication of roe deer, the role of olfactory, as well as acoustic and visual signals is great. The most important of the senses is the sense of smell - it was calculated that out of 42 elements of social behavior, 26 are caused by olfactory perception, 13 - acoustic and only 3 - optical.

The sense of smell plays an important role in marking behavior. From March to September, adult males rub their forehead, cheeks and neck against trees and shrubs, marking them with secretions of skin glands, or dig the ground with their hooves, leaving the smell of the secret of interdigital glands on it. The areas of trunks and branches peeled by horns and "scratches" on the ground also serve as visual marks. Thus, males mark the territory, warning other males that the site is occupied. The intensity of marking depends on the season. In spring, males can apply up to 500-600 odorous marks per day, in summer - 40-150, in early autumn - only 10 marks. Females have no marking behavior.

Sound signals play an important role in the social life of roe deer. There are 5 main types of signals:

• a squeak (or whistle) serves either as an inviting sound or as an expression of anxiety; common in mother-calf contact;
• hissing expresses strong excitement or aggression;
• barking (“byau-byau-byau”) is emitted by disturbed or worried roe deer (usually at dusk or at night, less often during the day; more often in summer than in winter);
• squealing (groaning) - a signal emitted by a wounded or caught animal;
• sounds of non-vocal origin (stomping feet, noisy jumping) are produced by roe deer when they are worried and feel threatened.

Roe deer cubs emit only a squeak. The European roe deer has no analogues of whining, which is emitted by the males of the Siberian roe deer.

An important role in the communication of roe deer, especially in groups, is played by visual signals. So, for example, if one of the roe deer assumes a pose of anxiety, the other roe deer immediately stop grazing, huddle together and also assume a pose of anxiety. An immobile posture may be replaced by walking in a posture of alarm - slow movement with a vertically extended neck and high legs. The immediate signal for the flight of the whole group is usually the flight of one individual with a loose "mirror".

population status

The European roe deer is currently classified as a taxa of minimal risk according to the WCO classification. Thanks to conservation measures in recent decades, the species has become widespread and common in most of its range; its numbers as a whole show an upward trend. The population of Central Europe, the largest, is now estimated at about 15 million heads, although back in the 1980s. the population for the entire range was estimated at 7-7.5 million individuals. However, a rare and small subspecies of Capreolus capreolus italicus Festa has no more than 10,000 heads; the Syrian population also needs special protection.

In general, due to their high fecundity and ecological plasticity, European roe deer easily restore their numbers and, in the presence of habitable biotopes, can withstand a relatively high anthropogenic pressure. The growth of livestock is also facilitated by actions to cultivate landscapes - cutting down continuous forests and increasing the area of ​​agrocenoses. Compared to other wild ungulates, the European roe deer proved to be the most adapted to human-modified landscapes.

Roe deer hunting

The roe deer is classified as a hunting species in the southern regions due to its high reproducibility. Also, roe deer meat considered very useful and nutritious. In many eastern countries roe deer dishes are a common delicacy.

Those who do not hunt can buy roe deer meat. It is for sale and on the Internet. For those who are interested how to cook deer, there are many recipes for cooking roe deer that can be found on the Internet.

There are several types deer hunting:

• with dogs
• surge
• trailing
• roundup.

Often used for hunting roe deer decoy, which is of two types. Some hunters hunt with headlight by installing a special device on the car, called a headlight lamp.

Since roe deer are more active at night, roe deer hunting is carried out at night. A roe deer hunting license is issued for shooting one individual per season and costs about 400 rubles.

1. There is an assumption that the name of the animal is associated with the structure of the eyes, the color of which is invariably brown, and the pupils are slanted. Flirtatious eyes have long fluffy upper cilia. Disproportionately small tear pits. They are expressed by shallow 6 mm triangular depressions (without wool).
2. The head of a roe deer is crowned with pointed ears of medium size. located at a great distance from each other.
3. There are 5 subspecies of roe deer. Their name consists of two words - 1 roe deer, 2 - the habitat of the animal. The population of European roe deer is large, but it is difficult to meet this cautious animal because of its secrecy and caution.
4. The cranium, depending on the subspecies, has a different degree of elongation. The length of the neck in some individuals reaches 1/3 of the body. It is quite flexible, which allows the animal to dig out moss from under the snow, peel off the bark of trees and feast on fruits. The diet of the animal differs little from what moose eat. Correction only for the tenderness of the feed.
5. At the withers, the animal is lower than on the croup. The hind legs of the roe deer are longer than the front ones, which indicates that the animal moves mainly in jumps. In mountainous areas, this is also an advantage; animals with such a leg structure are easier to climb rocky surfaces. A roe deer jump is a mesmerizing sight, its length is 6 meters.
6. Roe deer always stay close to water. The animal drinks a lot and often, knowing this, predators are waiting for prey. Not always lurking alligator manages to catch prey. Animals hunting in groups are more likely. In the mountains, roe deer settle only in the presence of reservoirs or craters filled with water. As soon as the source of drinking water dries up, the roe deer will leave this place and move to another source. Forest roe deer can be content with drops of dew or rain on the leaves.
7. Roe deer have 2 hooves on each foot. The first black tapering hoof crowns the slender high leg of a graceful animal, and the second dense growth is located above the lower joint. A sharp hoof makes it possible not only to easily gallop through the desert, marsh bumps, rocks, but also to fend off predators.
8. Despite the small size and weight, the roe deer has a more dense physique than the deer.. You can't call it slim.
9. The tail is less than 2 centimeters, white wool under it serves as a danger signal. Raising it, the roe deer gives a sign that is visible to the animals behind it. For the blinding whiteness of the wool, the hunters called this animal's technique a mirror.
10. By the horns, you can determine the age of the male 1 and 2 years old, in older individuals the horns are almost the same. Roe deer horns are distinguished by wide pipes, relatively thick trunks, dotted with rather noticeable spherical tubercles. A one-year-old male has to be content with thin horns without any branching, with a slight thickening at the base. In a 2-year-old, the branching begins in the middle of the horn. A three-year-old has a main branch bent backwards, after branching on it, a forward bend with tips pointing backwards. Most males will have to wear this decoration for the rest of their lives. There are exceptions with the complication of branching horns.
11. Roe deer are not herd animals. They often break into small groups of 2-4 individuals. Only in the autumn period you can meet groups of these animals.
12. The male often lives with only one female. Less common are males, under the care of which there are 2-3 females with cubs. He equally cares about his own and about other people's cubs.
13. The character of the male changes dramatically in March-April, when the horns shed in October begin to branch again. Until mid-summer, he continues to be a caring father. In the second decade of July, succumbing to strong excitement, he begins to look for rivals for a fight, for most of the year the silent animal announces the nearby territory with a formidable backing sound, pursues females. The period of excitation in the male borders on insanity - he can attack an animal of another species and even a person.
14. Roe deer bears a cub ≈ 40 weeks. The peculiarity of pregnancy is that the fetus is in one state for a long time. Before giving birth, the female is looking for a secluded corner in the forest. Young females give birth to only one calf. Seniors can have 2 and 3.

Roe(Latin Capreolus) - an animal of the deer family, a class of mammals, a detachment of artiodactyls. Other names are roe, wild goat. This is a small graceful deer. It has a short body with a thinner and lower front compared to the back.

The average weight of a male is from 22 to 32 kg, body length is from 108 to 125 cm, height at the withers is from 65 to 80 cm. The female is slightly smaller, but basically does not differ much from the male. Appearance typical for deer.

The head is short, tapering from the ears to the nose; ears are oblong and pointed at the end; the eyes are relatively large and protruding; pupils squint a little; long neck; the legs are slender, the hind legs are slightly longer than the front ones; small hooves; tail is tiny. You can see clearly at roe deer photo.

In males roe deer horns grow small branched, which grow almost vertically. Their length is from 15 to 30 cm and the span is from 10 to 15 cm. They have three branches, of which the middle one is tilted forward. In young roe deer, horns begin to grow at the 4th month of life, and fully develop at the 3rd year of life. The females do not grow horns.

All adult individuals have a coat of a uniform color, but it changes depending on the time of the year: in the warm season - dark red, in the cold - grayish-brown. The tail area is adorned with a small spot of white.

Newborn cubs have spotted fur. This helps them to hide among the green forest vegetation. After two or three months, the color gradually becomes the same as in adults and the spots gradually disappear.

There are 5 types of roe deer. The European species has the smallest dimensions (length 1 - 1.35 m, weight 20 - 35 kg, height 0.75 - 0.9 m), Asian - medium in size, Siberian - the largest (length on average 1.5 m, weight over 50 kg).

Roe deer habitat

Basic roe deer habitat located in Europe. The habitat ranges stretch from the middle of Scandinavia to the Gulf of Finland. Also, this animal can be found in the countries of Asia Minor, in Iran, Iraq, in the Caucasus, on the Crimean peninsula. The boundaries of the habitat also pass through Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Korea, Tibet and some other countries.

Most often, forest-steppe is chosen for living, especially places that are located near river valleys. Also, they can live both in coniferous (but in the presence of deciduous undergrowth) and in deciduous forests. Some species feel great in the Central Asian mountains. In those zones where the steppe is located, there are no semi-deserts or deserts.

They prefer to lead a sedentary lifestyle all year round. Individuals stray into small groups and are located in a certain territory. Even in especially cold periods, the herd does not develop an area of ​​​​more than 2 hectares. In autumn and spring, they migrate at a distance of up to 20 km.

In autumn, they prefer to go to those areas where there is less snow and there is more food. With spring warming, they move to summer pastures. In the hot summer season, they go to graze in the cool time of the day, and when the heat is in full swing, they lie in the grass or bushes.

In summer, each individual keeps a little apart from the others, protecting its own territory. When the mating season ends, they rally into heterogeneous herds, the number of which can vary from 30 to 100 individuals. Such a group lives on an area of ​​about 1000 hectares.

On average, the number of individuals for a certain area increases in the direction from north to south: in the taiga zone, 1 individual per 1000 ha falls, in mixed and deciduous forests from 30 to 60, in the forest-steppe - from 50 to 120 individuals.

Reproduction and life expectancy of roe deer

The roe deer rut period is in the summer, the total duration is about three months (from June to August, and sometimes even to September). For example, in a European species, the beginning of the rut occurs in June, while in Siberian roe deer is the middle of August.

The beginning of the rut varies depending on the altitude of the herd. And also, the farther from east to west and from north to south, the earlier everything starts according to the date. For example, consider the rutting time of the Austrian species: in the lowlands - 20.07 - 07.08, in the hills - 25.06 - 15.08, in the mountains - 03.08 - 20.08. In a very small number of females, estrus begins in late autumn (September–December).

During this period, the animals are less cautious, and the males almost stop feeding and intensively chase the females. Their attitude towards females is quite aggressive - they can hit with horns. At first, the run takes place in a circle of large diameter, the longer - the smaller the diameter of the circle.

And in the end, the pursuit takes place near a tree, a bush or a pit, and the trajectory of movement is more like a figure eight or a circle from 1.5 to 6 meters in diameter. Then the female stops running, the male makes a certain number of cages. Then the animals rest.

In nature, in the wild, more often one male chases one female, less often - more. And vice versa - one male drives one female, less often - more. Although in one rutting period, he can fertilize up to six females. Roe deer do not create long-term pairs.

These animals are the only ungulates that have a latent (hidden) period of pregnancy - a temporary delay in the development of a fertilized egg. Those roe deer that become pregnant in late autumn do not have a latent period. During pregnancy, animals behave much more carefully and more carefully.

The gestation period lasts 6 - 10 months, but on average - 40 weeks. In goats in Europe, the Crimea and the Caucasus, cubs will be born in late spring - early summer. One or two kids are born at a time, sometimes three or four.

The period of birth shifts to the latest numbers from south to north and from west to east. Before calving (approximately 1 month), the roe deer takes possession of a certain area, where it plans to give birth, and drives away other individuals.

Most often, the preference is for places on the forest edges, in thickets of bushes or grasses, where you can hide well and have plenty of food. Most often, calving occurs during the daytime and at the same place year after year.

Roe deer, born, are in the grass for about a week. Since they are still helpless, the mother does not go far. After a week, the cubs begin to follow their mother, and after two, they no longer leave her.

They suck milk until the age of three months, although they begin to eat grass from the first month. At the end of the rut (during his time, keep at some distance so that the aggressive male does not injure or kill), they follow their mother until spring.

Roe deer nutrition

In the period of time when there is no snow cover, the main ingredient in the diet of roe deer are herbaceous plants. With the onset of cold weather and snowfall, shoots of bushes are added, less often - shoots of pine or spruce.

They love berries (mountain ash, viburnum, bird cherry, blueberries, blueberries, cranberries and many others), do not neglect mushrooms. They can pick up apples, if any, or eat mountain ash.

In the hot months, they need to enrich the diet with minerals. Therefore, they go to salt licks created both naturally and artificially. Basically, solonetsing is carried out several times a year: April-May, July, before and after the rut, September-October.

The greatest difficulties are experienced roe deer in winter especially in the second half. At this time, they eat the grass that is visible on top of the snow cover, they can tear the snow and eat low-growing grasses.

Or they are looking for places well blown by the wind (near rocks and stones). If the layer of snow is very thick and difficult to rake, they look for branches of shrubs and undergrowth of deciduous trees (for example, aspen, birch).

Roe deer hunting

The roe deer is classified as a hunting species in the southern regions due to its high reproducibility. Also, roe deer meat considered very useful and nutritious. In many eastern countries roe deer dishes are a common delicacy.

Those who do not hunt can buy roe deer meat. It is for sale and on the Internet. For those who are interested how to cook deer, there are many recipes for cooking roe deer that can be found on the Internet.

There are several types deer hunting:

• with dogs
• surge
• trailing
• roundup.

Often used for hunting roe deer decoy, which is of two types. Some hunters hunt with headlight by installing a special device on the car, called a headlight lamp.

Since roe deer are more active at night, roe deer hunting is carried out at night. A roe deer hunting license is issued for shooting one individual per season and costs about 400 rubles.