What does a male deer look like. European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Roe deer antler coloring

Roe deer, or wild goat (Capreolus), is a genus of wild goats distinguished by horns with three processes. The representative of the genus, the common roe deer (Capreolus sargea), is one of the most famous European deer. Let's take a closer look at the animal roe deer - how it lives, hunts, breeds and much more.

A newborn roe deer calf has a total body length of 45, a head length of 12, an ear of 7, a hind leg of 30, a front leg of 24, and a body height at the scruff of the neck.
11 centimeters and seems at this time rather helpless due to the discrepancy between too long limbs and the overall length of the body.

They are red-brown in color, and the sides of the body are decorated with three longitudinal rows of white spots. After about a year and a half, the roe deer reaches its full height, has a total body length of 1-1.5 meters and a height at the sacrum of 75 centimeters. At this time, the croup of the animal is slightly higher than the scruff.

Its head is short, the neck, like the short body, is slender, in females it is longer and thinner, in males it is shorter and thicker. The legs are thin, the front feet reach 45, the hind feet are 48 centimeters long, equipped with small sharp hooves of a beautiful black color.

These legs make the animal capable of quick and dexterous movements. The head of a roe deer is distinguished by ears covered with hair both from the outside and from inside especially with their large, expressive eyes.

The roe deer does not have an external tail. The weight of a roe deer is very different and depends not only on age, but also on nutritional conditions - it can reach 30 kilograms. The coloration of roe deer in summer is different than in winter. In the warm season, its coat is from gray to reddish-brown in color, while in the cold it is brownish-gray.

The underside of the body is lighter than the top. Chin, lower jaw, a spot on each side of the upper lip, and in winter also the back - white color- the last part of the body is yellowish in summer and was called the "mirror" (Spiegel) by German hunters.

A remarkable feature of the mirror is the mobility of its hair. The animal can, at will, either dissolve or collect them. The mirror of a wary animal becomes wider, and it is possible that by expanding its fellow roe deer, they are also invited to be on their guard. On the other hand, while the animals are grazing, the mirror falls down and seems small.

Thus, the mirror is characterized, as it were, by facial expressions expressing various spiritual moods, and its frequent trembling during grazing contributes, in all likelihood, to the removal of annoying insects.

In addition to the normally colored wild goats, there are occasional color differences: white, black, and mottled.

White roe deer, which in most cases also have white hooves and red eyes and are thus albinos, are born not only from similar albinos, but also from normally colored parents.

The dark coloration is transmitted to offspring much more easily than the albinistic one - where one black roe deer appears, many can already be seen there after a short period of time. The breeding of black roe deer would therefore not present any difficulties.

How long does a roe deer live - determining age by teeth and horns

The roe deer reaches the age of 15-16 years, in some cases it lived up to 20 years or more. Determining the age of an animal, however, is not easy, and is best done by looking at the teeth. The final dentition consists of 32 teeth, which are sometimes joined by a pair of so-called toes, i.e., weak upper canines, which are more common in young roe deer than in adults, and in females more often than in males. However, hooks are not uncommon in these latter.

The lower canines, on the contrary, never exist, just like the upper incisors. IN mandible 8 incisors are always placed, while the number of molars changes with age. The size and shape of the teeth in general in the milk system are also different than in the final system.

Thus, the milk incisors are much smaller than those that the animal subsequently receives, and the third molar of the milk system consists of three folds, while the final one consists of only two. In view of the fact that the change of teeth occurs gradually and individual teeth change in certain, definite months of life, it is possible to determine the age of the animal from the dental system, which plays a certain role in the hunting law.

From what has been said, it is clear that once the head of a killed roe deer is cut off, the determination of its age becomes impossible: the size of the animal and separate parts his body may be entirely dependent on the conditions of his diet.

No more points of support in relation to age are given by horns, which hunters nevertheless often use for this purpose. But, of course, the development of antlers is closely related to the sexual maturity of the roe deer. Experiments have shown that in roe deer castrated in early youth, normal horns do not develop at all, but only completely deformed growths appear, the so-called wigs.

Exactly the same irregular horns appear in an animal if its seminal glands are damaged by a shot. In those cases, if a goat was castrated, having already completely formed horns, he did not shed them at all. No less remarkable is also the fact that the removal or damage of only one seminal gland entails the disfigurement of only one horn, and, moreover, opposite side body.

Roe deer horns

The shape of the new horns is determined already four weeks after the fall of the old ones, precisely in the last half of January. Normally, each of the horns of an adult goat has no more than three, and both together, therefore, no more than six processes. The roe deer acquires these so-called six-pointed horns very quickly and its further age becomes indeterminate by the horns. Until that time, however, four stages can be established in the development of the horns.

Already at the age of four months, approximately in September, the frontal bone of the animal becomes convex, and in October or early November, weak, palpable elevations appear on the outside of the head in two places of the head, indicated by sharp tufts of hair.

In mid-December, the scalp in these places rises and “pipes”, or coronal tubercles, are already formed under it, which are located obliquely inward and directed to each other. When measured from the frontal bone, they are up to 15 mm long and about 7 mm thick.

By February or March of the next year, rods are formed on them, having a length of 1-2, in exceptional cases up to 54 centimeters - normally these rods do not yet have a corolla - a horny fold located directly under the coronary tubercle. The skin is shed from these first horns in February or March, and the horns themselves usually fall off in December of the same year.

As an exception, however, they remain and lead to the formation of double horns. This stage is followed by the second, which differs in that the horn does not yet have a sharp end and a real rim, which is represented on them by a ring of horny tubercles. These horns are shed in December of the following year, that is, when the animal has reached the age of 2.5 years.

Only in the next stage, the forked one, do the horns for the first time acquire real sharp ends and become an instrument of struggle, and the animal becomes sexually mature. The name "forked" stage was due to the fact that the horns had split at this time at the end and, thus, made up a fork. The development of antlers in roe deer ends with the next, six-pointed stage.

On properly formed horns, a sharp, backward-directed process forms, with the anterior and superior process, usually an oblique cross, which is why in some localities, namely in Bavaria, such horns are called cruciform, while in other localities only those are called cruciform, the anterior and posterior processes of which are located as times against each other.

With the correct course of horn development, the goat receives the first true six-pointed horns at the age of four years. Both the total length of the horns of an adult goat and the distance between their peaks are subject to various fluctuations. The first is on average 20 centimeters, but there are goats in which it reaches 30 centimeters.

Too long horns, however, reach, however, much less often the degree of tuberosity that is characteristic of shorter horns.

The distance between the tops of the horns can reach up to 21 centimeters, but it can also be zero, since there are goats in which the tops of the horns touch. On average, this distance is 10-12 centimeters. It was not possible to prove any regularity between the total length of the horns and the distance of their peaks, and the latter is less for the longest than for the middle ones. It sometimes happens that the tops of the horns are bent inward and such horns to a certain extent resemble horns.

Roe deer antler coloring

The light or dark color of the horns depends on the food and health of the animal, as well as on the tree species, on the trunks of which the roe deer erases the skin from the horns. So, the tannin contained in the bark of the oak stains them dark brown: in general, dark horns come across in deciduous plantations more often than in coniferous forests, already in the power of animal nutrition; the horns of roe deer, found in pine forests growing on sandy soil.

Horns originating from the same locality are usually very similar to each other. So, in all Central European wild goats, the horns of old males have very close corollas, often touching and even often preventing each other from developing. On the other hand, in the east, especially in Siberia, in Altai, in the roe deer, which, however, can be recognized as a special subspecies, we see horns that differ significantly from Central European ones. Their corollas are much smaller, they never touch, but on the contrary, they are distant from each other, often by 5 centimeters, and the horns themselves are weak, have a bend characteristic of deer antlers, reach a very long length and branch in a very peculiar way, although six-pointed horns prevail here too.

Horns of barren roe deer

The horns that accidentally appear in female wild goats have a completely different look. In very old, sterile females, slight elevations on the skull are often noticed in those places where the horns are placed in males - often these are only insignificant, although they sit on the coronal tubercles, the skin of which is not shed, but sometimes they are in the form of horns with completely wiped skin.

Roe deer with similar horns in most cases, however, not true females, but sterile animals are hermaphrodites, sometimes very old individuals with abnormal genitals. However, mechanical damage to the forehead can also give rise to the development of horns in a female - in one, for example, a roe deer, a piece of glass that has penetrated into the place where the horns develop in the male caused the appearance of a weakly branched formation, which had a length of 11.6 centimeters. The antlers that develop in females apparently never shed.

In males, they are shed approximately in the middle of December, and after four months, therefore, in the middle of April, the new horns have already reached their full development and the skin from them is usually already torn off at this time.

Where does a wild goat or roe deer live?

The wild goat is distributed between 30° and 60° N. lat. and between 6° west. and 140° east. longitude. With the exception of the Far North, it is found, therefore, throughout almost all of Europe and in most of Asia. At present, it is still common in Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Holland, England, Scotland, Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania and Russia.

In Switzerland, the wild goat is almost completely exterminated, while in Turkey and Greece it is rare. IN Northern Europe and in Central Russia she doesn't exist at all, but she reappears in Ukraine.

In Asia, it is found in the Caucasus, in Armenia, Palestine and in the wooded parts of Central and Southern Siberia, spreading in the east to the mouth of the Amur, and in the south to the Himalayas.

On the high uplands Central Asia roe deer are, however, rare. Its favorite habitat is not vast continuous forests, but islands of forest scattered across open areas. The wild goat prefers uncovered clean coniferous forest areas, and those where deciduous plantations border on meadows, abundantly overgrown flowering plants and grass. She loves a forest consisting of plantations of various ages, and not one in which the closed tops of the trees formed an impenetrable sun rays canopy and drowned out the growth of shrubs, grasses and other plants.

Roe deer food

The wild goat prefers plantations in which oaks, beeches, bird cherry, mountain ash, buckthorn and so on come across, does not disdain the artificial admixture of wild chestnut and pear - in a word, she loves tree species with falling fruits.

The bushes, with their branches, foliage, and buds, must provide her with abundant, varied food, and consist of all the species that can grow in the area, not excluding our conifers. Raspberries, blackberries, heather, blueberries and other berry bushes, together with grass and shamrocks of small forest clearings, further diversify the food of roe deer, give it a safe haven and a cool lair.

How a roe deer screams

Spring has arrived in the region. In, silent in winter, the voice of a roe deer is constantly heard. The sounds it makes do not always mean that the animal has discovered something suspicious and, carefully circling around it, tries to warn other roe deer.

Far often with the same sounds, a local male calls another goat that has appeared on his site to fight. But in the first case, these sounds are drawn out, in the second, the sound is short, sharp and abrupt.

Having heard a drawn-out warning, wild goats immediately raise their heads and become alert - on the other hand, they do not pay absolutely no attention to the call to battle and leave the wrestlers to themselves. A screaming goat cannot be distinguished from a female by the pitch of its sound, but easily by the way the male produces it.

Roe deer estrus and breeding

Estrus begins already in June and apparently even occurs in some one-year-old roe deer - at least sometimes it happens that a goat is chasing such a roe deer, and it quickly utters a cry of fear several times in a row. A week later, strong goats become much hotter and females can hardly defend themselves against them, especially since the male puts into action, if necessary, force: females often die from the blows of his horns.

The female does not always immediately give in to the caresses of the male and usually circles around him for a long time. In flat areas, estrus is in full swing at the end of July, and in mountainous countries medium height - a week later. However, it is delayed until mid-August.

The goat chasing the female makes a hoarse sound, more and more insistently he approaches his girlfriend, not missing his goal for a minute and immediately covers the female as soon as she stops. Then he collapses in exhaustion and immediately lies down, while the female usually urinates. For the most part, with one male there are two or three females, but where there are few of them, he is content with one.

During the flow and for the most part immediately after mating, the egg leaves the ovary and enters the oviduct, where it meets the seed and is fertilized. IN a short time, at most a few days, it manages to pass the oviduct and enters the uterus, maintaining its former size.

It remains here for four and a half months, hence until the second half of December, also hardly developing. As a result, it is very easy to view it here, especially since the uterus does not undergo any changes at this time. Even a specialist only with difficulty manages to find it.

But from mid-December, the egg suddenly begins to develop and, moreover, so quickly that all parts of it and all the organs of the embryo are so formed within 21-25 days that then it remains only for them to increase in growth. Pregnancy lasts forty weeks - in May, the female calves in some secluded place in the forest with one or two cubs, which can follow the mother in a few hours.

Sometimes there are three calves, but four are very rare. At the time of estrus, the calves lag behind their mother, but at the end they reconnect with her.

Little by little, one-year-old goats join them, so that by September the whole family is assembled. At the end of this month, several families merge into one herd, in which, however, there are only rarely more than 8-10 heads. Now the molt begins again, which moves forward, depending on the weather, either faster or quieter - in mid-October it is already difficult to meet a roe deer in a red outfit.

Around this time, some strong males begin to shed their horns, while most lose them only in November. In some areas and famous years old goats with horns tightly set on their heads can be found as early as December, even in January.

Essay based on the encyclopedia "European Animals".

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.

Average weight male - from 22 to 32 kg, body length - from 108 to 125 cm, height at the withers 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; eyes are different large sizes and bulge; 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 warm weather it is dark red, in cold weather it is 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. Smallest sizes has a European look (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 more 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.

Prefer to lead sedentary life 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 does it end mating season- 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 heads.

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, at European look the beginning of the rut falls on June, while 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 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 - large quantity. 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, lingonberries 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. IN given time they eat the grass that is visible on top snow cover, can tear 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 southern regions due to 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 on the car special device called headlamp.

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.

As a rule, it is not difficult to determine the gender. This can be done by the horns in the summer, males have them. And in winter, the sex of the male can be determined by the tuft of hair on the penis, which is very clearly visible. It is not much more difficult to determine the male from the female at the age of one, when even in summer there are no horns. Then you can do this by paying attention to the scrotum. And females in winter are easy to identify by the tuft of hair sticking out of the vulva. How to determine the age of a roe deer?

How to determine the age of a roe deer?

With the definition of age, things are a little worse. Although it's enough important point in the case when roe deer are used in economic purposes. If the animal has stepped over one or two years of age, then the exact age cannot be determined from a distance.

• IN in general terms it can be said that one-year-old and aged individuals do not have a massive body, their legs seem rather long. But when the male is at the peak of all development, his body looks more squat, and his legs are shorter.
• As for the females, at a young age they have absolutely no udder. And old females have a skinny, bony and angular body.
• Also indicators of age are the shape of the head and its color. In relatively young individuals, the head is narrow, but then in males it becomes wide and seems shorter. The method of determining age by color is only suitable for determining a young or old animal. It is impossible to determine more precisely.
• Coloring can only be judged after the molt has occurred. As for males, one-year-olds have a dark, almost black muzzle. In males that have already developed, appears White spot in the nose area, and the farther, the more the spot grows, and by old age it becomes gray color. Also, the old age of the animal can be determined by the graying sign.
• One of the most reliable indicators is the horns. More precisely, the height of their bases. Due to the fact that the horns are shed annually, their height is getting smaller every year. If the male has horns "planted" on the skull and covered with hair, then this indicates that he is old. Another indicator of the youth of the male is the absence of processes on the horns. If they are not there, this is a sign that the horns are the first. Adults always have processes and the shafts of their horns at the base are quite thick.
• Shedding horns is also an age indicator. Adult males shed their horns first. And they have about 3 weeks earlier than the young ones grow and clear the skin of new ones. It can also be said that in old roe deer, the formation of horns is fully formed by the end of February, in middle-aged males by mid-March, and in young roe deer, only their development begins in March. But here it should be borne in mind that the formation of horns is strongly influenced by physical state animal. If it's on high level, then the horns will develop early and this will create the appearance that the animal is old.
• Another age can be determined by molting. It occurs in the spring, young one-year-olds are the first to molt. Males of the middle age category in color change only by mid-June. And females molt even later. Moulting, which occurs in autumn, takes place in the same sequence.
• The age of roe deer can also be determined by their behavior. Young individuals stay close to their mother for quite a long time. Sometimes even before their own birth. And naturally they are more playful, curious and less cautious. Also, older animals can be distinguished by their behavior, they are more distrustful and cautious.
• The age of the roe deer is well determined by the skull and teeth of the animal. Age is less accurately determined by the extent to which the teeth have been worn down.
• A more accurate age can be determined by the number of dark stripes on the teeth, which become softer with age due to a lack of calcium in them.
• Changes in the body of a roe deer are directly reflected in the teeth. Narrow dark stripes appear on the tooth section in winter, wider in summer. And every year there are more of them.
• As for determining the age by the skull, here you need to rely on the frontal suture. In young individuals, it is pronounced, in old ones it is barely noticeable.

At the sight of these animals, there is no doubt - in front of you is a deer ... but why so small? Its weight does not exceed 60 kg, and the height at the withers barely reaches 70-80 cm!

Everything is simple, because this is not a simple deer - it is Roe- a small and graceful representative of the deer family.

What does a deer look like

The small body of the Roe deer is dressed in a brown-orange skin and rests on short slender legs with sharp small hooves.

The Roe deer has a tail, but it is so small that no one has ever seen it - it is completely hidden under thick fur, but under the tail there is a large bright white spot, which is necessary for the Roe deer to divert the attention of predators.

The head of males is decorated with a pair of small horns with several branches and tubercles, females are polled, that is, they do not have horns. In autumn, males shed their horns and it becomes more difficult to distinguish them from females.

Where does the deer live

Roe deer widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, they can be found in North America, Europe, Asia Minor, Russia.

Roe deer are inhabitants of the forest-steppe zone: they feel great in meadows among tall grass with sparse bushes to hide behind. They can also be found in forest clearings, and in light forests.

Daytime roe deer spend in shelter, and at dusk they come out to nibble grass and stretch their legs. They prefer succulent herbs, berries and young shoots of trees, although they can also eat less tasty food, especially in the cold season, when food shortages make them not disdain tree bark and pine needles.

What do deer eat

Roe deer eat various herbs, as well as acorns, which are found on the edges. From mushrooms, milk mushrooms and honey mushrooms are more loved, and from berries - lingonberries, blueberries and strawberries. Also, they will not give up mosses and tree growth.

Leaves, twigs and buds of trees and shrubs are eaten, but extremely rarely, and only willow, birch, oak, maple, hazel and raspberry. When winter comes, deer are forced to eat pine needles pines and they can even dig snow with their hooves, finding dry leaves, ivy, horsetail and acorns under it.

Roe deer nocturnal animals - feed at night and at dawn.

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 stray into small herds - it is easier to survive frost and hunger.

The mating period is 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 becomes 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.
Average term Roe deer life is 10 years, sometimes live 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 an adult roe deer, predator birds, 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 accident victims and die under the wheels of cars, and beautiful horns and tasty meat make them a favorite target for hunters.

The horns of young Roe deer look like pipes.

Roe deer they simply swim wonderfully and swim the Yenisei and Amur rivers without much difficulty during emigration.

Seeing the danger, the animal begins to stomp loudly, thereby warning its relatives about the danger.

Fleeing from predators, Roe deer can accelerate up to 60 km/h- more than the speed of a lynx or a wolf, but she will not be able to run for long.

Roe deer female easily possible tame- she is calm, not obstinate and not at all aggressive, but with a male everything is much harder - it is almost impossible to tame him.

Males can have a harem - they live with two or three females.

Some females do not take part in the summer rut, but breed in December. But what is interesting: they bring babies, like the rest of the Roe deer, since during pregnancy the embryos do not go through a latent period.

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Roe deer, like all deer, shed their antlers in the winter. Their development takes place in next sequence. In the autumn of the first year (October-November), male roe deer have horns - low bone processes covered with skin - "pipes". By April-May of the next year, these processes grow above the ears and are thick unbranched "pins". "Goats" clean them from the leathery "velvet shirt", and the horns become smooth "rods" pointed at the ends. Males wear these "rods" all summer and autumn until December-January. Then the first horns fall off in the same way as in adult "goats": only "stumps" remain on the skull of the animal, which are overgrown with skin. After a couple of months (by March), young males begin to grow second, larger horns - also covered with skin. By summer, they are fully formed and already have two or three processes. By the beginning of the rutting period (approximately by the middle of summer), these horns are cleared of "velvet" and differ from the horns of adults in a thinner rod and processes, a weakly pronounced "rosette" - bone outgrowths at the base. The second horns "goats" are shed at the age of more than two years: in November-December of the third year of life. Also, small “stumps” remain from them, overgrown with skin, and they also form until next year. These horns no longer differ from the horns of older individuals. Further, the cyclic change of horns occurs every year, but the number of processes on them does not increase. The horns only become more prominent due to the deepening of the longitudinal grooves on them and the increase in the number and size of "pearls". In old "goats", degradation of the horns is possible - a change in their shape, a decrease in weight, etc.

The natural lifespan of roe deer is about 15 years, but it is unlikely that any of them in wild nature can reach that age. Most likely, even the most cautious and experienced animals die different reasons, and most often they are shot back by hunters, not having lived up to half of the limiting years.

Although the range of roe deer covers vast territories, their continuous (ubiquitous) habitat cannot be observed in these landscapes. To everything else, roe deer prefer the forest-steppe or light deciduous forests with vast grassy areas. But under the dynamic advance of man on the forest-steppe (in Europe and many regions of Asia), the occupation of land for agricultural land, roe deer were pushed further, into various mixed forests, except for the continuous taiga zone.

At southern borders of their range, these animals live in mountain forests, shrubs and reed beds, lake reeds, forest plantations, extensive fallows with tall weeds, farmland fields, etc.

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