How to distinguish a male roe deer from a female. Determination of the sex and age of roe deer in natural conditions. Determining age by behavior

As a rule, determining gender is not difficult. This can be done by looking at 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 male from female at one year of age, when even in summer there are no horns. Then you can do this by paying attention to the scrotum. And females can be easily identified in winter by the tuft of hair protruding from the vulva. How to determine the age of a roe deer?

How to determine the age of a roe deer?

When it comes to age determination, things are a little worse. Although this is a rather important point in the case when roe deer are used for economic purposes. If the animal has passed one or two years of age, then the exact age cannot be determined from a distance.

• In general terms, we can say that one-year-old and elderly individuals do not have a massive body; their legs seem quite long. But when the male is at the peak of all development, his body looks more squat and his legs are shorter.
• As for females, at a young age they completely lack an 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 appears shorter. The method of determining age by color is only suitable for determining whether an animal is young or old. It is impossible to determine more precisely.
• You can judge by color only after molting has occurred. As for males, yearlings have a dark, almost black muzzle. In males that have already developed, a white spot appears in the area of ​​the nose, and the further they go, the more the spot grows, and by old age it becomes gray in color. Also, the old age of an animal can be determined by its graying appearance.
• 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 becomes smaller every year. If a male has horns “set” on the skull and covered with hair, then this indicates that he is old. Another indicator of the youth of a male is the absence of shoots 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.
• The shedding of horns is also an age indicator. Adult males are the first to shed their antlers. And they grow and shed new skin about 3 weeks earlier than young ones. We can also say that in old roe deer the formation of antlers is fully formed by the end of February, in middle-aged males by mid-March, and in young ones only their development begins in March. But here it should be taken into account that the formation of horns is greatly influenced by the physical condition of the animal. If it is at a 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-old individuals begin to molt first. Males of the middle age category change color only by mid-June. And females molt even later. Molting, which occurs in autumn, occurs 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 your own birth. And naturally they are more playful, curious and less cautious. You can also distinguish older animals by their behavior; they are more distrustful and cautious.
• The age of a roe deer is well determined by the skull and teeth of the animal. Age is determined with less accuracy by the degree to which the teeth have been ground down.
• A more accurate age can be determined by the number of dark stripes on the teeth, which become softer with age from a lack of calcium.
• Changes in the roe deer's body are directly reflected in the teeth. Narrow dark stripes appear on the tooth section in winter, and wider ones in summer. And every year there are more of them.
• As for determining age from the skull, here you need to rely on the frontal suture. In young individuals it is pronounced, in old individuals it is barely noticeable.

The European roe deer (lat. Sarreolus Sarreolus) is an artiodactyl animal belonging to the deer family and the genus Roe deer. This small and very graceful deer is also well known under the names of 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 ranging from 108-126 cm and an average height at the withers of no more than 66-81 cm. The female 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 head narrowed towards the nose, which is relatively high and wide in the eye area. The skull is widened in the eye area, with a wide and shortened facial part. The long and oval ears have a clearly visible point. The eyes are large, protruding, with slanted pupils. The animal's neck is long and relatively thick. The legs are thin and long, with narrow and relatively short hooves. The tail part is rudimentary, completely hidden under the “mirror” hairs. In the spring-summer period, the sweat and sebaceous glands of males greatly increase, and the males mark their territory through secretions. The most developed senses in roe deer are hearing and smell.

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

There is no supraorbital process, and the main horny trunk is characterized by a backward curve. The horns are round in cross-section, have a large number of tubercles - “pearls” and a large rosette. Some individuals have an anomaly in the development of horns. Roe deer develop antlers from the age of four months. The horns reach full development by the age of three, and they are shed in October-December. Female European roe deer are usually hornless, but there are individuals with ugly horns.

The color of adult individuals is 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 disc is characterized by a white or light reddish color. With the onset of summer, the body and neck acquire a uniform red color, and the belly has a whitish-red color. In general, the summer color is more uniform compared to the winter “outfit”. The existing population of melanistic roe deer inhabits low-lying and marshy areas of Germany, and is distinguished by its glossy black summer coat and matte black winter fur with a lead-gray belly.

Roe deer lifestyle

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

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

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

Lifespan

European roe deer have high vitality until they reach the age of six years, which is confirmed by an analysis of the age composition of the studied population. Most likely, after reaching such a physiological state, the animal becomes weak and absorbs nutritional components from feed worse, and also does not tolerate adverse external factors well. The longest lifespan of the European roe deer in natural conditions was recorded in Austria, where, as a result of the repeated capture of tagged animals, an individual was discovered that was fifteen years old. In captivity, the artiodactyl can live for a quarter of a century.

Subspecies of roe deer

The European roe deer is distinguished by wide geographical variability in size and color, which makes it possible to distinguish within its range a large number of geographical races, as well as different subspecific forms. Today, a pair of subspecies of Sarreolus Sarreolus Sarreolus L. is clearly distinguished:

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

Sometimes large roe deer from the territory of the North Caucasus are also included in the subspecies Capreolus capreolus caucasicus, 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 territories. In purely coniferous forests, artiodactyls are found only in the presence of deciduous undergrowth. In zones of true steppes, as well as deserts and semi-deserts, representatives of the Roe deer genus are absent. For the best feeding areas, 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, in the territory of reed fields and floodplain forests, as well as in overgrown ravines and clearings. The artiodactyl prefers to avoid the continuous forest zone.

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

The average population density of European roe deer in typical biotopes increases from the northern part to the south of the range. Unlike other ungulates in Europe, the roe deer is most adapted to living in a cultivated landscape and close to people. In some places, such an animal lives almost year-round on various agricultural lands, hiding under forest trees only for rest or in unfavorable weather. The choice of habitat is primarily influenced by the availability of food supply 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.

Diet of the European roe deer

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. A small part of the diet consists of mosses and lichens, as well as mosses, mushrooms and ferns. Roe deer are most likely to eat greens and branches:

• aspen;
• poplars;
• rowan;
• linden;
• birch;
• ash;
• oak and beech;
• hornbeam;
• honeysuckle;
• bird cherry;
• buckthorn.

In order to replenish the lack of minerals, artiodactyls visit salt licks and drink water from springs that are rich in mineral salts. Animals obtain water mainly from plant foods and snow, and the average daily need is about one and a half liters. The winter diet is less varied and is most often represented by shoots and buds of trees or shrubs, dry grass and loose leaves. When there is no food, mosses and lichen are dug out from under the snow, and tree needles and bark are also eaten.

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

Due to the small volume of the stomach and the relatively fast digestion process, roe deer need fairly frequent feeding. Pregnant and lactating females, as well as males during the rutting period, require maximum food. According to the type of feeding, the European roe deer belongs to the category of nibbling animals, which never completely eat all available vegetation, but only tear off part of the plant, which makes the damage caused to various agricultural crops insignificant.

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 ranging from 108-126 cm and an average height at the withers of no more than 66-81 cm. The female 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 head, which is relatively tall and wide in the eye area.

Cranial part with widening in the eye area, with a wide and shortened facial part. The long and oval ears have a clearly visible point.

Eyes large in size, convex, with slanted pupils. The animal's neck 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 males greatly increase, and the males mark their territory through secretions. The most developed senses in roe deer are hearing and smell.

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

Supraorbital process no, and the main horny trunk is characterized by a backward curve.

Horns rounded in cross-section, having a large number of tubercles - “pearls” and a large rosette. Some individuals have an anomaly in the development of horns. Roe deer develop antlers from the age of four months. The horns reach full development by the age of three, and they are shed in October-December. Female European roe deer 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 disc is characterized by a white or light reddish color. With the onset of summer, the body and neck acquire a uniform red color, and the belly has a whitish-red color. In general, the summer color is more uniform compared to the winter “outfit”. The existing population of melanistic roe deer inhabits low-lying and marshy areas of Germany, and is distinguished by its glossy black summer coat and matte black winter fur with a lead-gray belly.

History and distribution of roe deer

The genus Capreolus Gray has its roots in 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 characteristics 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 reliably established only at the end of the Ice Age.

In the relatively recent past, the roe deer’s range, at least in temperate latitudes, was continuous. Its northern border is connected with the line of the average maximum depth of snow cover 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 range split into several parts; It is only as a result of measures taken in recent years that roe deer have begun to repopulate areas where they had been absent for a number of decades.

Types of roe deer

A large number of local forms are described, accepted by different authors either as subspecies or as independent species. Currently, the more generally accepted point of view is that all local forms of the genus Capreolus are subspecies of a single species.

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

1. European roe deer— C. capreolus capreolus L. Sizes are relatively small; body length about 125 cm, height at withers about 80 cm; skull length from 190 to 216 mm; live weight up to 41 kg. The general background of the winter color is grayish-brown, darker than that of other races, especially on the back of the back and on the rump. In summer wool, the color of the head is gray or brown, sharply different from the color of the back and sides. The base of the hair up to half the length is gray-brown or dark brown. The auditory bubbles on the skull are small. The horns are thin, usually no longer than 30 cm; are very close together at the bases, so that the rosettes often touch each other. The trunks of the horns from the bases are directed upward almost parallel, sometimes even inclined inward. The 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— S. capreolus pygargus Pallas. The sizes are large; body length about 140 cm, height at withers up to 90 cm or more; skull length 215-250 mm; live weight up to 65 kg. The color in winter is gray, brownish on the back with an admixture of reddish tones. In summer color, the head is monochromatic with the back and sides. The hair on the entire body, except the ridge, has a white base. The auditory vesicles on the skull are large and swollen. Horns are up to 40 cm long or more, often have 4 or more processes, widely spaced at the bases; the distance between the corollas is almost equal to the diameter of the horn, or even more. The trunks of the horns are already directed from the base to the sides and upwards. The pearls on them are highly developed and sometimes take the form of short shoots. 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— S. capreolus bedfordi Thomas. The sizes are large, but somewhat smaller than the previous form; skull length 211-215 mm. Winter color is grayish-red, mirror with a faint reddish tint. The head is more red 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 are the same as those of 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 races, but somewhat smaller; the greatest length of the skull is from 207 to 223 mm. The coloring 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. The auditory bladders are more swollen than even those of the two previous subspecies. Distribution: China - eastern Tibet, provinces of Gansu, Sichuan, Nanshan north to the Gobi, Kam.

Diet of the European roe deer

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. A small part of the diet consists of mosses and lichens, as well as mosses, mushrooms and ferns. Roe deer are most likely to eat greens and branches:

• aspen;
• poplars;
• rowan;
• linden;
• birch;
• ash;
• oak and beech;
• hornbeam;
• honeysuckle;
• bird cherry;
• buckthorn.

In order to replenish the lack of minerals, artiodactyls visit salt licks and drink water from springs that are rich in mineral salts. Animals obtain water mainly from plant foods and snow, and the average daily need is about one and a half liters. The winter diet is less varied and is most often represented by shoots and buds of trees or shrubs, dry grass and loose leaves. When there is no food, mosses and lichen are dug out from under the snow, and tree needles and bark are also eaten.

Reproduction of roe deer

Roe deer, unlike other deer, prefer solitude and form small groups only when necessary.
As a rule, in the summer family groups of a mother and two fawns are formed; males and childless females stay apart. Winter cold forces Roe deer to flock into small herds - this makes it easier to survive frost and hunger.

The mating period occurs in the summer months and early autumn. Males make loud noises that attract females, tear and scatter earth and foliage with their horns, and fight among themselves to see who is stronger. The strongest male will receive the right to become a family man and create his own grief.

The gestation period for Roe deer ranges from 5 to 10 months, it all depends on when mating occurred.
If mating occurred in the fall, then after 5 months, in the spring, a pair of small fawns 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 much as 10 months until 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 will doom them to rapid death.

On average, a Roe deer gives birth to two fawns; 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 life in shelter, drink their mother’s milk, grow and gain strength.
The babies spend the entire summer next to their mother; the babies will become adults the next year, at the age of 14-16 months.
The average lifespan of Roe deer is 10 years, sometimes they live up to 15.

Enemies of roe deer

The roe deer is perfectly adapted for life in the forest-steppe zone - and this is not without reason, because it has many enemies: lynx and wolves capable of catching an adult roe deer, birds of prey, foxes and wild dogs prefer to hunt helpless fawns.

The low 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 fawns blends in with the forest floor and last year's foliage.

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

But the main enemy of the 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 antlers and tasty meat make them a favorite target of hunters.

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

Roe deer communicating

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 smell - it was calculated that out of 42 elements of social behavior, 26 are caused by olfactory perception, 13 by acoustic and only 3 by optical.

The sense of smell plays an important role in marking behavior. From March to September, adult males rub their foreheads, cheeks and necks against trees and bushes, marking them with secretions of the skin glands, or dig the ground with their hooves, leaving on it the smell of the secretions of the interdigital glands. Areas of trunks and branches stripped by antlers and “scratches” on the ground also serve as visual marks. In this way, males mark their territory, warning other males that the area is occupied. The intensity of marking depends on the season. In spring, males can apply up to 500-600 scent marks per day, in summer - 40-150, in early autumn - only 10 marks. In females there is 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 a calling sound or as an expression of concern; common during contact between mother and cubs;
• hissing expresses strong excitement or aggression;
• barking (“byau-byau-byau”) is emitted by roe deer that are disturbed or worried about something (usually at dusk or at night, less often during the day; more often in summer than in winter);
• squealing (moaning) - a signal emitted by a wounded or caught animal;
• sounds of non-vocal origin (foot stamping, noisy jumping) are produced by roe deer when they are worried and feel danger.

Roe deer cubs only make squeaks. The European roe deer has no analogues of the whining produced by male Siberian roe deer.

Visual signals play a major role in roe deer communication, especially in groups. So, for example, if one of the roe deer takes an alarm pose, the other roe deer immediately stop grazing, huddle together and also take an alarm pose. A motionless posture can be replaced by walking in a posture of anxiety - slow movement with a vertically extended neck and legs raised high. The immediate signal for the flight of the entire group is usually the flight of one individual with a loose “mirror”.

Population status

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

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

Roe deer hunting

Roe deer is classified as a hunting species in the southern regions due to its high reproducibility. Also, roe deer meat considered very healthy 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 available for sale and on the Internet. For those who are interested how to cook roe deer, there are many recipes for cooking roe deer that can be found on the Internet.

There are several types roe deer hunting:

• with dogs
• surge
• trailing
• raid.

Often used when hunting roe deer call, which exists in two types. Some hunters hunt with a headlight by installing a special device called a headlight on the car.

Since roe deer are more active at night, roe deer are hunted 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. Flirty eyes have long fluffy upper eyelashes. Disproportionately small tear dimples. They are expressed by shallow 6 mm triangular depressions (without hair).
2. The head of a roe deer is crowned with pointed, medium-sized ears., 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 - habitat of the animal. The population of European roe deer is large, but it is difficult to meet this wary animal due to its secrecy and caution.
4. The skull, depending on the subspecies, has varying degrees 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 animal's diet differs little from what moose eat. The only adjustment is for the tenderness of the feed.
5. The animal is lower at the withers than at the croup. The hind legs of the roe deer are longer than the front ones, which indicates that the animal moves mainly in leaps. In mountainous areas this is also an advantage; animals with such a leg structure find it easier to climb rocky surfaces. The jump of a roe deer is a mesmerizing spectacle; its length is 6 meters.
6. Roe deer always stays near bodies of water. The animal drinks a lot and often, knowing this, predators wait for prey. A lurking alligator does not always manage to catch its prey. Animals that hunt in groups have a better chance. 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, tall leg of the graceful animal, and the second dense growth is located above the lower joint. A sharp hoof makes it possible not only to easily gallop across the desert, swamp hummocks, and rocks, but also to fend off predators.
8. Despite its small size and weight, the roe deer has a denser build than the deer.. You can't call her slim.
9. The tail is less than 2 centimeters, the white fur underneath serves as a danger signal. Having raised it, the roe deer gives a sign that is visible to the animals behind it. Due to the blinding whiteness of the fur, hunters nicknamed this technique of the animal a mirror.
10. By the horns you can determine the age of a male of 1 and 2 years; in older individuals the horns are almost the same. Roe deer horns are distinguished by wide pipes, relatively thick trunks, dotted with quite noticeable spherical tubercles. A one-year-old male has to be content with thin horns without any branches, with a slight thickening at the base. In a 2-year-old, the branching begins in the middle of the horn. The three-year-old has a main branch bent backwards, after branching it bends forward with the tips pointing backwards. Most males will have to wear this type of jewelry for the rest of their lives. There are exceptions with complication of horn branching.
11. Roe deer are not herd animals. They are often divided into small groups of 2–4 individuals. Only in autumn can groups of these animals be found.
12. A male often lives with only one female. Less common are males, under whose care there are 2–3 females with cubs. He cares equally about his own and other people's cubs.
13. The male's temperament changes dramatically in March-April, when the antlers shed in October begin to branch again. Until mid-summer he continues to be a caring father. In the second ten days 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 menacing beeping sound and pursues females. The period of excitement in the male borders on insanity - he can attack an animal of another species and even a person.
14. A roe deer carries a calf for ≈ 40 weeks. The peculiarity of pregnancy is that the embryo remains in one state for a long time. Before giving birth, the female looks for a secluded corner in the forest. Young females give birth to only one calf. Older ones may have 2 and 3.

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Roe deer, like all deer, shed their antlers during the winter. Their development takes place in the following sequence. In the autumn of the first year (October-November), male roe deer develop horns - low bony processes covered with skin - “pipes”. By April-May of the following year, these processes grow above the ears and look like thick, unbranched “pins.” The “goats” clear them of the leathery “velvet shirt”, and the horns become smooth, with “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 animal’s skull, 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 shoots. By the beginning of the rutting period (approximately mid-summer), these horns are cleared of “velvet” and differ from the horns of adult individuals in a thinner shaft and processes, a weakly defined “rosette” - bone growths at the base. “Goats” shed their second horns at the age of more than two years: in November-December of the third year of life. They also leave small “stumps” that are overgrown with skin, and they also form until next year. These horns are no longer different from the horns of older individuals. Further, the cyclical change of horns occurs every year, but the number of shoots 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”. Old “goats” may experience degradation of their horns - changes in their shape, loss of weight, etc.

The natural lifespan of roe deer is about 15 years, but it is unlikely that any of them in the wild can reach that age. Most likely, even the most careful and experienced animals die for various reasons, and most often they are shot by hunters before reaching half their maximum age.

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

At the southern borders of their range, these animals live in mountain forests, bushes and reed thickets, lake reeds, forest plantations, extensive deposits with tall weeds, farmland fields, etc.

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Roe deer: determination of sex and age

DETERMINATION OF SEX AND AGE IN NATURAL CONDITIONS

With rational hunting management, it does not matter what age the animals are shot. When hunting for commercial purposes, it is advisable to hunt more young males and leave old females for reproduction. In sports farming, when it is necessary to raise large males with valuable trophies, it is advisable to carry out selective shooting so that a sufficient number of young males, but also with good makings, remain on the land.

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

The age of a shot roe deer can most easily be determined by its teeth, although it can be previously estimated by its overall body size and weight, and in males, by its antlers. Animals older than 4 years of age usually have large, thick horns.

The roe deer, like all ruminants, does not have front teeth (incisors and canines) in the upper jaw. It grabs food, pressing it with the teeth on the lower jaw to the hard, keratinized anterior edge of the palate. There are two ways to determine the age of a roe deer by its 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 stripes on thin sections or microscopic sections of softened (decalcified) teeth, incisors or molars.

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

Roe deer, like other animals of the temperate zone, are characterized by seasonal changes in 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 roots of the teeth. On a thin section or on a thin, specially colored section, dark narrow stripes of the winter period and wide stripes of the summer are visible. From them, like on a tree stump, the number of years of a given animal is calculated.

When comparing the age of roe deer, estimated from the wear of molars and from microsections, it was revealed that in some cases there is a noticeable discrepancy in these indicators. Thus, one female roe deer, hunted in the foothills of the Sayan Mountains, had her molar crowns worn down almost to the gums. Based on 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 salted soil, or lived in an area where plants had a lot of silicon.

The age limit for a 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 UNGULATES.-Publishing house "Forest Industry", 1976