It is rather difficult to distinguish a one-year-old or one and a half-year-old male roe deer from an adult in the field. How to find out who is in front of you - a young goat with unremarkable first horns, or an adult two or three years old with improperly developed awl horns? Or is it a very old goat whose horns have degraded? Determine the age of a roe deer outward signs every rational hunter should be able to.

While female roe deer are busy caring for their cubs, hunting is already open for goats * . Let us focus our attention on why it is necessary to know the age of the male and how to determine it.

In most male roe deer, the antlers are most developed between the ages of 3 and 7 years. Maintaining the population in this age range is the key to maximum productivity and good trophies. Rational use roe deer as a hunting resource should be based on intensive shooting of young game (both sexes), insignificant removal of middle-aged individuals from the population and shooting of all old individuals. Besides, in without fail males with ugly and degrading horns, as well as males of two or three years of age with unbranched horns - "potential killers" should be shot.

Determination of age by body shape

At the age of a year - one and a half years, young individuals are compared with adults in size, and it is rather difficult to distinguish them. Young roe deer have a lighter body than adults. One-year-olds 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 maximum weight seems squat, legs are short. Such a figure is characteristic all the time while the male is at the highest point of development.

Aged males often regain the body shape of younger individuals. Their neck seems especially strong and short.

Age differences in the physique of roe deer:

A - young; B - middle-aged; B - old individuals (males and females).

Determination of age by color

Determination of age by color is possible only from June to August, at a time when the molt is completely over.

In summer, young roe deer have a very bright “facial mask”: a white spot stands out sharply above the black lips and nose, and a black spot on the forehead. In one-year-old individuals, the muzzle has a single-color dark, almost 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 limited, but increases in size with age, the white color is lost and turns into gray.

muzzle coloration in kosl summer period

Left - young male, right - aging

In aging males, due to gray hair, the forehead brightens, gray hair extends to the eyes and gradually the whole head becomes gray. Light gray rings around the eyes (“glasses”) are a hallmark of older males. In some older males, the hair between the horns begins to curl.

Determination of age by behavior

Young roe deer are always alert and hold their heads high, their movements are quick and graceful.

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. The movements of middle-aged roe deer are somewhat slowed down, they often stop and listen for a long time, maturity is felt in all their appearance and behavior.

Old animals clearly lose their gracefulness of movement, they are slow and the neck is most often kept in a horizontal position. At this age, animals show maximum caution and prefer to hide in thickets, leaving for fattening later than other animals. At the first sign of danger, they are the first to take cover.

In collisions, it is inferior to the younger one, regardless of the development of the horns and physical strength. 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.

Determination of age by horns

The absence of processes in the horns may indicate that the horns are the first, but some one-year-old individuals have processes. In adult males, horns without processes are rare, the bases and shafts of the horns are always thickened.

The second horns are larger than the first, and have two or three processes, and a small bony rosette develops at their base. They differ from the horns of older males in their smaller size, thinner rods and fewer ornaments - longitudinal grooves, as well as bone outgrowths - the so-called pearls, or "pearls".

The third horns, which males wear in the fourth year of life, are not inferior in beauty and power to the horns of older animals. Further, the number of processes on the horns, as a rule, no longer increases.

The horns of eight-year-old and older males often show signs of degradation - their size and weight are reduced, and the number of processes and ornaments is also reduced.

A fairly reliable indicator of age is the height of the bases of the horns, which decreases year by year due to the annual shedding of the horns. Males with bases of horns "planted" directly on the skull and partially covered with hair are old.

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 horn processes directed backward; they are found only in older age classes.

Roe deer is the most common ungulate hunting animal in Ukraine. Estimated public service statistics, in 2015, 149.7 thousand roe deer lived on the territory of our country, 6.7 thousand were harvested. In total, according to independent experts, about 3.5 million roe deer are harvested annually in the world - this figure includes poaching. Given the prevalence of this animal and the approaching opening of the season for the male roe deer, we are starting to publish a series of articles dedicated to this graceful animal.

Features of the biology of roe deer.

Roe deer are a subfamily of the deer family, and it is divided into two species - European and Siberian roe deer. Latin name roe deer Carpeolus is a derivative of the word capra - a goat, often in our area the roe deer is called a wild goat, taking into account some similarities. However, according to some guesses, they began to call this animal roe deer thanks to the obliquely set pupils of the animal.

The European roe deer is a small representative of deer, but practically not inferior to them in grace. An adult individual reaches a length of 1.3 m, a height of 75 cm, the average weight of a male is 20-30 kg, while that of a female is slightly less. Roe deer are characterized by a relatively short body with a thicker back, a short head, narrowed towards the nose, long neck without a mane, large pointed ears and a short "rudimentary" tail. The eyes of the roe deer deserve special attention - they are large and expressive, the pupils are obliquely set.

Nature rewarded only males with horns - already in the autumn of the first year they appear in the form of small ledges, and by April they reach full development. However, the male sheds these first horns in December, in spring the second horns with 2-3 ends are already formed in their place, and, finally, by the third year they are finally formed - with three processes, spread out in a linear fashion. In May, the horns of an adult male are cleared of skin and ossified. In the field, you can determine the length of the horns by measuring them with the length of the ears, which on average is 13 cm. During the period of shedding the horns, the male can be distinguished by a tuft of hair hanging under the belly around the prepuce, as well as by a more massive and short neck. In females, a tuft of hair closes the urogenital opening and is characterized by its yellow- such a spot contrasts against the background of a white mirror.

The coloration of individuals of both sexes is similar - adult representatives are one-color, reddish-red in summer with a weakly outlined mirror, grayish and gray-brown in winter with a white or light red mirror. Juveniles are spotted on a rufous background. The coat of roe deer consists of a short and stiff net and a long and soft undercoat. Depending on the habitat, molting begins in March-April, which can last until September-October.

On each leg of the roe deer there are two pairs of hooves - the main (larger) and small lateral hooves, located high above the main ones - the animal relies on them only when walking on loose ground. The traces of males are rounded and blunt, those of females are elongated and pointed, in both cases small.

The age limit for roe deer is 11-12 years, there have been cases when males lived up to 16 years. It is quite difficult to determine the age of an individual from a distance, unless we are talking about a male whose age is “imprinted” on the horns. It can be said with certainty that, in addition to body size, underyearlings are distinguished from adults by a darker color of the head and body in winter fur; in one-year-olds, the legs seem long, the croup is slightly raised at the back, the muzzle is dark, the head is narrow, the long and thin neck is set almost vertically. Two-year-old males look stronger than one-year-olds, but they are still slender and have a pronounced light spot on the nose. Middle-aged males are characterized by a squat body with short legs, thick and powerful neck, leaning downward with age. Elderly individuals look skinny and bony, when walking they hold their neck almost parallel to the ground, their color brightens due to gray hair, in males strongly drooping hair stands out around the prepuce.

Gon, mating and pregnancy.

Rutting in European roe deer begins in July in the western regions of Europe, in August-September in other regions. The mass rut ​​lasts about a month, but individual pairs can be found chasing three or more months after the start of the rut. During this period, ferocity is characteristic of males, which they direct not only at rivals, but also at the future mother of offspring. As a rule, the rut takes place on the site of the male's territory - guided by his sense of smell, he quickly determines the female ready for mating (her estrus lasts 4-5 days) and proceeds to a special marriage ceremony called the rut. The female, chased by the male, begins to run in a circle, gradually narrowing its diameter, and the young individuals do not immediately allow the males to approach them and run very quickly, thereby enraging them - there are times when the rutting male inflicts mortal wounds on the female. When the female gets tired, she interrupts her run in a circle, and lies down right on the path, however, the excited male makes her stand up with blows of his horns, and makes a cage.

The behavior of animals during the rut has a number of important biological features: the male stimulates the female with his pursuit, she feigns him with her fast run; despite the apparent aggressiveness of the male, the female is not afraid of him, but on the contrary, the male is in constant anxiety, fearing to lose her. The male can drive 2-3 females, having fertilized one (mating occurs many times), he drives the next one, and if the number of females in a given area predominates significantly, one male can cover 5-6 females. If one adult female lives on the territory of the male, he can stay with her until the end of the rut, remaining devoted to her.

It is worth noting that the first day of “pursuit” is the most active, in the subsequent the male does not keep the female so actively, although he still does not lag behind her, and goes to rest only when the female is resting. At the same time, males are in constant excitement throughout the rut. They spend a lot of time marking their territory, knocking out “patch patches” in the ground with their hooves, peeling and breaking trees with their horns, they feed little, which is why they significantly lose weight.

An interesting fact in the pregnancy of a roe deer, which lasts 9 months, is the latent period - for almost half the period (4-4.5 months), the fertilized egg practically does not change, but, as it were, is frozen in development, and only in December begins to actively develop. It happens that females that are not fertilized in the summer are fertilized at this time, bypassing the latent period, and bringing offspring at the same time as the roe deer chasing in the summer. In young females, 1 cub is born, in adults, most often two, less often three. They give birth in thickets and thickets, often close to water. The weight of roe deer is not more than 1-1.3 kg.

Roe deer cubs.

Roe deer cubs are born helpless, and can rise to their feet only 4-5 hours after birth. The female takes them away from their birthplace, usually in different directions, and comes to feed and lick them several times a day for the next two weeks, by the end of this period they already double their weight. It is worth noting that from the 5th day of life, roe deer make attempts to eat plant foods. At three months, the cubs constantly stay near the female, thereby creating a family group - this continues until spring. In general, they develop very quickly, and already on the 70th day their weight is a little more than 10 kg.

Fight for territory.

In spring, roe deer males defend the right to own their land, the best of which are most often distributed among old males, equal in strength. During this period, the "owners" of a certain area spend most of their time marking their possessions, repeatedly win their right in collisions with competitors. The territory of a male, on average, occupies an area of ​​7 hectares, divided into a central zone and a peripheral one. The central zone is usually located on the slopes of hills, where there is a dense grass cover - here the male rests and hides from enemies. You can define this zone by a large number of spoons, main paths and visual marks, for example, stripped trees. The peripheral zone is 5-6 times larger than the central one, there are numerous paths along which the male goes from the resting place to the watering place and places of fattening.

The areas occupied by females are weakly isolated and often completely overlap with the area of ​​the male. In summer, the size of the area occupied by females depends on the mobility and age of roe deer, and can reach up to 15 hectares, when the calves begin to follow their mother; and up to 35 hectares when they follow them everywhere.

Roe deer communication.

Intraspecific communication of roe deer occurs in several ways. Firstly, these are signals with the help of smell. On the head in the forehead and on the neck of males, there are sebaceous and sweat glands, significantly enlarged in size - they secrete a resinous odorous substance. When the male rubs against trees and bushes, he leaves this substance on them, which carries important information both for his rivals (this site is occupied) and for females (a sexually mature male lives here). In both males and females, the metatarsal glands (located on the outside of the hind legs) and interdigital glands (located between a pair of main hooves) function, which secrete the secret left by animals on their trail - he gives his relatives full information about the individual, including its sex, age.

Secondly, roe deer communicate using sounds, the most famous of which is barking. Roe deer bark in the event that they feel anxiety, their barking is single, sometimes the animal barks several times in a row. Roe deer females also emit a whistle when a male approaches them during the rutting season. However, if a person can hear the barking of a roe deer at a distance of 3 km, then only some researchers managed to hear the whistle. Males are characterized by a sound similar to puffing or hissing, he makes it when he pursues a female during the rut and when he detects an opponent. Sometimes females also hiss if they are worried and aggressive.

Thirdly, the sounds of non-vocal origin, made during certain body movements, are of particular importance in the communication of roe deer. For example, hitting the ground with the front feet indicates anxiety; deliberately high and noisy jumps are a warning signal of danger.

Roe deer, whose name according to legend comes from brown slanting eyes, are one of the oldest representatives of the deer family. Examination of the remains found during archaeological sites, confirmed the existence of related animals more than 40 million years ago.

Description and features

Roe deer - animal small in size, sensitive and graceful with a long beautifully curved neck, short legs ending in sharp hooves. The average height at the withers is 80 cm, body length is 1–1.4 m. The muzzle is blunt with large bulging eyes. The ears, pointed upwards, are slightly more than half the length of the skull. The second name of the animal is a wild goat.

The hind legs of the animal are longer than the front ones, which causes movement mainly in jumps, allows you to make jumps more than two meters high and up to six meters long, fascinating with their beauty.

The short body is crowned by a small tail, invisible due to thick fur. When the animal is alert, the tail rises and a white spot is visible under it, which is called a mirror by hunters.

The male differs from the female not only in larger sizes, but also in horns, which begin to grow in the fourth month of life. Roe deer horns not as branchy as those of deer, but have their own characteristics. Grow vertically towards the head from three years have three processes, which do not increase with age, but become more prominent.

The ends of the horns are bent inwards, as are the anterior processes. Bone outgrowths with developed tubercles (pearls) protrude on the head. Roe deer in winter are gray, in summer the color changes to golden-red or brown.

Kinds

famous zoologist, paleontologist, candidate of biological sciences Konstantin Flerov proposed to classify roe deer into four types:

1. European

Representatives of the species live in Western Europe, including Great Britain, in the Caucasus, in the European part, Iran, Palestine. Animals are also common in Belarus, Moldova, the Baltic states and western Ukraine.

The European roe deer is distinguished by its small size - the body is slightly more than a meter, height at the withers is 80 cm, weight 12–40 kg. The winter coat color is gray-brown, darker than in other species. In summer, the gray head stands out against the background of the brown body.

Rosettes of horns are closely set, the trunks themselves are sheer, slightly spread, up to 30 cm high. Pearls are not sufficiently developed.

1. Siberian

The distribution area of ​​​​this species is the east of the European part of the former Soviet Union, starting beyond the Volga, the north of the Caucasus, Siberia up to Yakutia, the northwestern regions of Mongolia and the west of China.

Siberian roe deer larger than European - body length is 120-140 cm, height at the withers - up to a meter, weight ranges from 30 to 50 kg. Some individuals reach 60 kg. Females are smaller and about 15 cm lower.

In summer, the color of the head and body is the same - yellow-brown. The horns are spread wide, more prominent. They reach a height of 40 cm, have up to 5 processes. Sockets are located wide, do not touch each other. Developed pearls look like shoots. Swollen auditory blisters stand out on the skull.

The spotted color of roes is inherent in all species, but in Siberian, unlike the European, they are located not in three rows, but in four.

1. Far Eastern or Manchu

Animals live in the north of Korea, in the Primorsky and Khabarovsk Territories. In terms of size, Manchurian roe deer are larger than European ones, but smaller than Siberian ones. A distinctive feature - the mirror under the tail is not pure white, but reddish.

In winter, the hair on the head stands out in a richer brown color than the body. In summer, the roe deer becomes bright red with a brown tint on the back.

1. Sichuan

Distribution area - China, Eastern Tibet. A distinctive feature is the largest and swollen auditory bubbles among all species. Sichuan roe deer appearance reminiscent of the Far East, but shorter and smaller in weight.

The coat is gray in winter with a brown tint, the forehead is distinguished by a dark color. In summer, the animal acquires a red coat color.

Lifestyle and habitat

Despite the difference in species, the roe deer's favorite habitats are similar over a wide area of ​​distribution. These include forest-steppes, light deciduous or mixed forests with glades, clearings. Animals consume a lot of water, so they are often found in bushes along the banks of water bodies.

Dark coniferous without undergrowth does not attract wild goats due to lack of food supply, high snow cover in winter. From autumn to spring, animals form small herds of up to 20 heads; in summer, each individual lives independently.

In the heat, roe deer graze in the morning, evening and at night, preferring to wait out the heat in the shade of trees. After the rut, from October to the end of November, migration to the wintering place begins in search of food or due to a sharp change climatic conditions. Movements over long distances occur at night, on the way migrating groups often join other small herds.

Upon arrival at the place, the animals take cover in the forest, brushing off the snow to the bare ground at the place where they lay. At strong wind they are piled up. In sunny calm weather, they prefer to arrange places to rest away from each other.

Arranged so as to control as much space around as possible. At the same time, the wind must blow from the back in order to smell the predator long before it approaches.

Movements over long distances are related to Siberian roe deer. In the distribution zone of the European species, the climate is milder, it is easier to find food, so migrations are limited to minor transitions. Individuals based on mountain slopes descend to the lower belts in winter or migrate to another slope where there is less snow.

wild goats - excellent swimmers able to cross the Amur. But the crust above 30 cm for the European species and 50 cm for the Siberian causes difficulty in movement. Young animals skin their feet on the snow crust and often become the prey of wolves, foxes, lynxes or marmosets. Roe deer in winter tries to follow the beaten paths so as not to get bogged down in the snow.

At cold winter with a long-lasting crust, in addition to the attack of herd predators, another danger awaits. going on mass death populations due to the inability to obtain food.

In the spring, the groups return to summer pastures, disintegrate, and each individual occupies its own plot of 2-3 square meters. km. In a calm state, animals move at a step or trot, in case of danger they jump, spreading themselves above the ground. Their eyesight is not well developed, but their hearing and sense of smell work well.

Food

The diet of roe deer includes grasses, shoots, buds, young leaves and fruits of shrubs and trees. In winter, wild goats eat:

• hay;
• branches of aspen, willow, bird cherry, honeysuckle, linden, mountain ash;
• moss and lichens extracted from under the snow.

Wild goats in exceptional cases are ready to eat needles, but unlike other deer goats, they do not eat bark. Roe deer are especially preferred for easily digestible, juicy food. In summer, they feast on berries of lingonberries, blueberries, strawberries.

Mushrooms are eaten in small quantities. They like to graze in meadows with forbs or in clover fields. They pick up acorns, chestnuts, fruits of wild fruit trees, beech nuts from the ground.

They like to visit natural and artificial salt licks, which is what hunters use when tracking down prey. Animals during grazing behave restlessly and wary, often look around, sniff and listen to every rustle.

Reproduction and lifespan

Sexual maturity of roe deer occurs by the third year of life. The rut starts at the end of July or August. At this time, an adult bull has time to fertilize up to 6 females. Pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, but has its own characteristics.

The fetus, having passed the first stages of development, freezes up to 4-4.5 months. Its further growth occurs from December to the end of April. If the summer rut is missed and fertilization occurs in December, then the pregnancy lasts only 5 months, bypassing the latent period.

The race itself is also unusual. Bulls do not roar, like other types of deer, calling to themselves an individual of the opposite sex, but find them themselves within their site. Fights between males from adjacent territories still happen when they cannot share the object of attention.

For calving, the goat goes into dense thickets closer to the water. Firstborns bring one roe deer, older individuals - two or three. The first days the newborns are very weak, they lie still, the uterus does not leave them far from them.

After a week, the babies begin to follow her for short distances. By mid-June, roe deer are already feeding on their own, and in August the spotted camouflage color is changed to brown or yellow.

By autumn, young males develop small 5 cm horns, shed in December. From January to spring, new ones grow, as in adults. Average duration the life of wild goats is 12–16 years.

Roe deer hunting

Roe- an object of commercial, sport hunting. Shooting of males is officially allowed with a license from May to mid-October. The hunting season for females opens in October and ends by the end of December.

Roe deer meat considered the most valuable among ungulates. It is low-calorie, has only 6% low-melting fats. Suitable for diet food both healthy and sick people. The most valuable elements are concentrated in liver, and antitumor properties are attributed to the liver. Therefore, wild goats are so attractive as an object of shooting.

Animals are always on guard, whether they are grazing or resting. Goats twist their heads in different directions, move their ears. At the slightest danger, they freeze, at any moment they are ready to flee. Unidentified, suspicious objects bypass from the leeward side.

Roe deer hunting tests fishermen and amateurs for endurance, sports training, quick reaction, shooting accuracy. In winter, a lone hunter gets an animal from an ambush or from an approach.

The second case is more exciting, it requires skill, ingenuity and knowledge of the behavior of goats. First, the area is explored. When finding traces, an experienced hunter determines the nature of the movements.

Small and multiple multidirectional hoof prints inform that a fattening place is located here and the probability of seeing a herd is high. Often places of feeding and rest are located in the neighborhood, so it's worth looking for beds. Their feature is their small size.

This is due to the fact that the animal fits compactly - it picks up its legs under itself, presses its head closer to its chest. If the tracks are rare, deep - the roe deer fled, it is pointless to go further along them.

Rules and conditions for approach hunting:

1. Favorable weather- cloudy, windy. You have to leave at dawn.
2. The gun, the equipment is prepared in advance.
3. They start bypassing the territory along the edges.
4. The movement should be silent, when looking at a certain point, they stop.
5. You can not smoke, use perfumes.
6. Approach animals against the wind.
7. They tread the snow in a zigzag pattern, crossing the tracks perpendicularly.
8. The chances of success are increased by tracking the herd rather than the individual.
9. If you hear the crackling of a branch under your feet or see that the goat has turned its face in your direction, freeze and do not move for at least 5 minutes.
10. Haste and haste when firing is doomed to failure. The gun is put into action when the roe deer stop in order to find out the source of danger after several preliminary jumps out of fright.

A wounded animal can run a long distance. To avoid a long pursuit of a wounded animal, you need to shoot for sure. The best place for a shot - the front half of the body, namely the head, neck, chest, under the shoulder blade.

In summer, in addition to hunting from the approach, they hunt bulls with the help of decoy during the rut. The sound should be similar to the voice of the female. They start quietly, using a decoy every 10 minutes, gradually increasing the volume.

Young animals come running faster. Sometimes the female is shown first, followed by the bull. Hunting is practiced from a tower, where the hunter sets up an ambush on a tree, having previously organized a salt lick, or paddock.

In the second case, the group of hunters is divided into beaters and shooters on the numbers. The former organize a raid on roe deer with dogs, having previously hung the territory with flags, except for the places where the arrows are located.

Roe deer in autumn does not have time to use up the nutrients received in the summer, so its meat is considered the most useful at this time of the year, especially in September. Wild goat meat worthy reward hunter, since tracking down and killing a fast, cautious animal is not an easy task.

Roe deer: determination of sex and age

DETERMINATION OF SEX AND AGE IN NATURAL CONDITIONS

With the rational management of the hunting economy, it does not matter what age the animals are shot. When hunting for commercial purposes, it is advisable to get more young and males, and leave old females for the reproduction of offspring. In a sporting area, when it is necessary to grow large males with valuable trophies, it is advisable to conduct selective shooting so that a sufficient number of young, but also with good inclinations, males remain in the grounds.

Juveniles of the current year of birth are relatively easy to distinguish from older animals by their smaller size. overall size. It is much more difficult to identify 1.5-year-old individuals. Can help in determining the following signs: 1.5-year-old males usually have styloid horns or two ends on each horn. There are no calves near females at this age; they either graze two or three individuals separately from others, or join family groups. The main difference between 1.5-year-olds and older individuals is a slightly shortened neck and head. Their fur cover is the most beautiful, without bald spots and shreds of old wool.

The age of a shot roe deer is most easily determined by the teeth, although it can be preliminarily estimated by the overall body size and weight, and in males by the horns. Large thick horns, as a rule, are possessed by animals older than 4 years of age.

Roe deer, like all ruminants, do not have front teeth (incisors and canines) in the upper jaw. The food is captured by pressing it with the teeth on the lower jaw to the hard, keratinized anterior margin of the palate. There are two ways to determine the age of a roe deer by teeth: less accurately, by the wear of the chewing surface of the molars or by the height of the tooth crown; more precisely, by the number of dark bands on sections or microscopic sections of softened (decalcified) teeth, incisors or molars.

Microsections of incisors are best done on a freezing microtome stained with hematoxylin. In this case, the axis of the cut should run along the tooth. Sawing a molar for grinding is most advisable to do in the area between the roots.

Roe deer, like other animals temperate zone, are characteristic seasonal changes all physiological functions of the body (nutrition, reproduction, molting, etc.). All these changes are reflected in the thickness, density of dentin and cement in the root of the teeth. On a thin section or on a thin, specially colored, colored section, dark narrow stripes of the winter period and wide stripes of the summer period are visible. According to them, as on a tree stump, the number of years of a given animal is calculated.

When comparing the age of roe deer, estimated by the wear of molars and microsections, it was revealed that in some cases there is a noticeable discrepancy in these indicators. So, in one female roe deer, obtained in the foothills of the Sayan Mountains, the crowns of the molars were erased almost to the gums. According to the thin section, it was established that her age was only 5.5 years. In this case, the roe deer either spent a lot of time on salt licks and chewed on salted earth, or lived in an area where the plants were large quantity silicon.

The age limit for roe deer in captivity reaches 15 years, and among the shot Siberian roe deer, the oldest was a male at the age of 11 years 6 months.

M. A. Lavov. ROE. HUNTING FOR UNGATES.-Publishing house "Forest industry", 1976

The European roe deer (lat. Sarreolus sarreolus) is an artiodactyl animal belonging to the deer family and the genus Roe deer. This medium-sized and very elegant deer is also well known by the names - wild goat, roe deer or simply roe deer.

Description of the roe deer

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 the 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 head narrowed towards the nose, which is relatively high and wide in the eye area. The skull part is widened in the area of ​​the eyes, with a wide and shortened front part. Long and oval ears have a well-marked point. Eyes large sizes, convex, having oblique pupils. The neck of the animal is long and relatively thick. The legs are thin and long, with narrow and relatively short hooves. The tail is 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.

There is no supraorbital process, and the main horn trunk is characterized by a backward curvature. Horns of 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.

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

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 its black, shiny summer coat and dull black winter fur with a lead-gray belly coloration.

Roe deer lifestyle

Roe deer are characterized by a daily periodicity of behavior, in which periods of movement and grazing alternate with chewing food and rest. The longest are the periods of morning and evening activity, but the daily rhythm is determined by several of the most basic factors, including the season of the year, time of day, natural habitat, and the degree of disturbance.

It is interesting! average speed running speed of an adult animal is 60 km/h, and in the process of feeding, roe deer move in small steps, stopping and often listening.

In the spring-summer period, animals show increased activity with the sunset, which is due to a large number of blood-sucking insects. In winter, feeding becomes longer, which allows you to compensate for energy costs. Grazing takes about 12-16 hours, and about ten hours are allotted for chewing food and rest. Calm is the movement of the roe deer at a trot or step, and in case of danger, the animal moves in jumps with periodic bouncing. Males run around their entire territory every day.

Lifespan

European roe deer have high viability until they reach the age of six years, which is confirmed by the analysis of the age composition of the studied population. Most likely, after reaching such a physiological state, the animal becomes weak and absorbs nutrients from feed worse, and also does not tolerate adverse conditions. external factors. The longest lifespan of the European roe deer under natural conditions was recorded in Austria, where, as a result of repeated capture of tagged animals, a fifteen-year-old specimen was found. In captivity, artiodactyls can live a quarter of a century.

Roe deer subspecies

The European roe deer is distinguished by a wide geographical variability in size and color, which makes it possible to distinguish a large number of geographical races, as well as various subspecies forms. To date, a couple of subspecies of Capreolus capreolus capreolus L. are clearly distinguished:

• Sarreolus capreolus italicus Festa is a subspecies that lives in southern and central Italy. Guarded rare view inhabits areas between southern part Tuscany, Puglia and Lazio, up to the lands of Calabria.
• Sarreolus sarreolus garganta Meunier is a subspecies characterized by a characteristic gray color fur in the summer. It lives in southern Spain, including Andalusia or the Sierra de Cadiz.

Sometimes large roe deer from the territory North Caucasus, and the population of the Middle East is symbolically assigned to Capreolus capreolus coxi.

Range, habitats

European roe deer inhabit mixed and deciduous forest zones of various types, as well as forest-steppe areas. In pure coniferous forests artiodactyl occurs only in the presence of deciduous undergrowth. In the zones of real steppes, as well as deserts and semi-deserts, representatives of the genus Roe deer are absent. As the most feeding places, the animal prefers areas of sparse light forest, rich in shrubs and surrounded by fields or meadows. In summer, the animal is found in tall grass meadows overgrown with shrubby undergrowth, on the territory of reed beds and floodplain forests, as well as on overgrown ravines and clearings. The artiodactyl prefers to avoid a continuous forest zone.

It is interesting! In general, European roe deer belong to the category of animals of the forest-steppe type, more adapted to living in high grass and shrub biotope than in conditions of dense forest stand or open steppe zone.

The average population density of the European roe deer in typical biotopes increases in the direction from the northern part to the south of the range. Unlike other European ungulates, the roe deer is the most adapted to living in a cultivated landscape and close to people. In some places, such an animal lives almost all year round on various agricultural lands, hiding under forest trees only for rest or in adverse weather. The choice of habitat is primarily influenced by the availability of forage and the availability of shelter, especially in open landscapes. Also of no small importance is the height of the snow cover and the presence of predatory animals in the selected area.

European roe deer diet

The usual diet of the 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 sources 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.

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

Due to the small volume of the stomach and the relatively fast process of digestion, roe deer need to be fed quite often. Maximum food is required for pregnant and lactating females, as well as males during the rut. By type of food European roe deer belongs to the category of biting animals, never completely eating all available vegetation, but only tearing off part of the plant, which makes the harm caused to various agricultural crops insignificant.