Roe Deer

In a mountain-forest district of Austria, a study was undertaken to assess the attractiveness to roe-deer (Capreolus capreolus) of various types of stand edges under summer and winter conditions. Within forest edge-zones were studied, i.e. not outer forest boundaries towards arable or grass land. Track distribution, pellet groups, resting places and game paths were counted and tracks mapped. Browsing impact was quantified. The results provide information on habitat preferences of roe-deer and the resulting browsing damage. The attractiveness of an edge zone at a stand interface was found to depend little on food supply, but rather on the optical distinctiveness of the boundary. Thus, areas with many optically striking interfaces (e.g. at clear cuts) were seen to provide a marked settling stimulus, even if feeding there was poor. Furthermore, it was recognised that roe-deer prefer a mosaic of interconnected but different small areas with distinct stand edges to provide for their diff...

Four ♀ Roe deer Capreolus capreolus were hand-reared and released into a 10 ha enclosed natural habitat. This paper describes the hand-rearing procedure, nutrition and development, which we compare with other documented cases. We illustrate the handling techniques that enabled us to maintain a close relationship with the hand-reared Roe deer in their adulthood and study them under semi-free-ranging conditions. The benefits of conducting research with hand-reared Roe deer are described, together with possible biases that must be taken into consideration when planning a research programme. The Roe deer were hand-reared in order to conduct a detailed feasibility study for the Roe deer reintroduction programme in Israel, where they have been locally extinct for 100 years.

This study investigated the anti-predator strategies adopted by 19 radio-collared female roe deer during the fawning season by monitoring their spatial behaviour and habitat selection by means of radio-tracking. The study was carried out in a forest area of the Apennine Mountains (central Italy), where wolves are natural predators of roe deer and in summer fawns are more frequently predated than adult roe deer. The presence of fawns was monitored by means of direct observations. Roe deer fawns are known to adopt the hiding strategy during the lactation period, when they lie concealed for long periods waiting for their mothers' milk. As a consequence of this, the home-range sizes of mothers were significantly smaller than those of non-mothers during the summer lactation only. In contrast, no significant difference was found in spring, when fawns were absent, or autumn, when they were already weaned. In order to increase the success of the hiding strategy adopted by their fawns ag...

Britain's wild deer have increased dramatically in distribution and abundance over the previous century. The historical distribution of deer in Britain is reviewed and the current status of the six British species' is made using data from the National Biodiversity Network. Despite being attractive and charismatic mammals, deer pose a number of management challenges.

The  aim  of  this  study  was  to  use  for  the  first  time  molecular  techniques  (microsatellite
genotyping and paternity analyses), in combination with field ecology studies, to provide data
on  male  breeding  success  and  identify  the  main  determinants  of  variation  in  male  breeding
success  in  two  long-term  monitored  populations  of  European  roe  deer  Capreolus  capreolus
(Bogesund in Sweden and Trois Fontaines in France). The results show that males can sire up
to 6 fawns per year and 14 fawns during their entire lifetime. As expected from the low level
of  sexual  size  dimorphism  and  the  territorial  mating  system  of  roe  deer,  variance  in  male
lifetime  breeding  success,  and  so  opportunity  for  sexual  selection,  are  lower  than  in  highly
dimorphic species such as red deer Cervus elaphus, suggesting a low polygyny level in roe
deer. Males can successfully breed as young as 2 years of age, but breeding success of sub-
adults  is  lower  than  that  of  older  males.  Successful  breeding  among  sub-adults  may  be
restricted to those high quality males that are able to defend a territory. Breeding success also
tends  to  decline  after  8  years  of  age  (senescence),  probably  in  relation  to  the  loss  of
dominance.  Male  body  mass  and  antler  size  positively  affect  male  breeding  success.  It  is
known  that  antlers  are  used  by  males  as  a  weapon  in  combats  to  defend  their  territory.
However, my results also show that antler size is a honest signal of male phenotypic quality
and may be used as a cue for rival males and females to assess male fighting ability, sexual
vigor  and/or  phenotypic  quality.  In  addition,  male  access  to  females  and  male  breeding
success  are  positively  related  to  territory  size,  but  not  to  habitat  quality  within  a  male’s
territory.  Hence,  the  territorial  mating  system  of  roe  deer  differs  from  the  conventional
resource  defense  polygyny  system  and  seems  rather  to  conform  to  a  “low  risk  –  low  gain”
strategy. Finally, using paternity analyses, I also provide evidence that multiple paternity is
likely, but infrequent, in roe deer, suggesting that multiple mating among females may have
evolved as a means to enhance fertilisation success. This study provides new insights into the
evolution of mating systems and sexual selection in ungulates.

The year-round food habits of lynx were studied using radio-telemetry and snow-tracking in the boreal forest of southeastern Norway. The main objectives of the study were to clarify the importance of domestic sheep and small prey species in the diet of lynx in an area with a very low density of roe deer. During the period 1995–1999, we found 193 scats and 358 kills made by lynx. Our results indicate that roe deer were the most common prey species (contributing to 83 and 34% of the biomass consumed in winter and summer, respectively), although a wide range of other species were also found, including mountain hares, tetranoids, red foxes, domestic sheep, wild reindeer, and even moose. Most of the diet was obtained by predation, although we did document several cases of scavenging. Roe deer were more important in the diet in winter than in summer, perhaps because they were easier to locate in winter as they clustered around feeding sites. In summer, domestic sheep and small prey increased in importance. Despite the very low density of roe deer in this study area, lynx seemed to still specialise on them, although domestic sheep did constitute a significant amount to their diet, especially for males and yearlings. However, the contribution of sheep to summer diet was far from that expected if their relative density was considered.

Zooarchaeologists tend to be reluctant in their interpretation of deer remains from archaeological settlements, as anything more than the occasional consumption of venison or indicating the occurrence of local woodland. Such considerations reflect the continued dominance of economic and environmentally-deterministic perspectives within modern zooarchaeological work. This paper highlights the potential cultural importance of deer to late Iron Age and Romano-British society, and argues that by considering the taphonomic and contextual evidence in more detail, the ways in which people behaved towards and engaged with deer suggests more about social organisation and landscape interactions than we have previously considered.

Capillaria bovis (Nematoda, Capillariinae) parasite of moufflon, fallow deer and roe deer in France. List of hosts in the World.
Abstract. — The morphology of Capillaria bovis Schnyder, 1906 (ransom, 1911) has been recently redescribed from specimens found in the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). The present paper deals with specimens of C. bovis found in France in three other host species: Moufflon (Ovis musimon), Fallow Deer (Cervus dama) and Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus). Some intraspecific morphological variations are described: in the male, anatomy of the genital apparatus; in the female, swellings of the peri-vulvar cuticle, thicknes and surface ornamentations of the egg-shell, number of cells in the mature uterine egg. A bibliographical survey (100 references) shows that C. bovis is parasitic in about 30 species of ruminants worldwide, belonging mainly to the family Bovidae and Cervidae, and also to the Antilocapridae, Giraffidae and Camelidae. According to the host, the species is located at various levels of the small intestine.

Résumé. — La morphologie de Capillaria bovis Schnyder, 1906 (Ransom, 1911) a été redécrite récemment à partir de spécimens trouvés chez le Cerf (Cervus elaphus). Le présent article concerne des spécimens de C. bovis trouvés en France chez trois autres hôtes: le Mouflon, (Ovis musimon), le Daim (Cervus dama) et le Chevreuil (Capreolus capreolus). Quelques variations morphologiques intraspécifiques sont décrites: chez le mâle, l'anatomie de l'appareil génital mâle; chez la femelle, les boursouflures de la cuticule associées à la vulve, l'épaisseur de la coque et les ornementations de surface de l'oeuf, le nombre de cellules dans l'oeuf mûr utérin. Une étude bibliographique (100 références) montre que C. bovis parasite dans le monde entier environ 30 espèces de ruminants, appartenant principalement aux familles des Bovidae et Cervidae, et aussi des Antilocapridae, Giraffidae et Camelidae. Selon les hôtes, l'espèce est localisée à différents niveaux de l'intestin grêle.

Numerous road and railway construction projects include costly mitigation measures to offset the barrier effect produced on local fauna, despite the scarcity of data on the effectiveness of such mitigation measures. In this study, we evaluate the utility of different types of crossing structures. Vertebrate use of 43 transverse crossing structures along the A-52 motorway (north-western Spain) was studied during spring 2001. Research centered on wildlife passages (9), wildlife-adapted box culverts (7), functional passages (6 overpasses, 7 underpasses) and culverts (14), with marble dust being used to record animal tracks. A total of 424 track-days were recorded, with most of the larger vertebrate groups present in the area being detected. All crossing structure types were used by animals, although the intensity of use varied significantly among them (Kruskal–Wallis test, p<0.05); culverts were used less frequently than other structures. Crossing structure type and width were identified as the most important factors in their selection for use. Wildlife passages and adapted culverts allowed crossing by certain species (wild boar, roe deer, Eurasian badger), which do not tend to cross elsewhere. These results highlight the importance of using both mixed-type structures and wildlife passages in reducing the barrier effect of roads.

The relationship between people and deer has been a persistent theme within British Mesolithic Studies since the early twentieth century, and has been approached from a range of economic, ontological, cultural and chronological perspectives. Yet our understanding of the ways in which deer and people interacted has been undermined by a failure to recognise the plasticity of deer behaviour in different environments, and the variability of social contexts in which they might be encountered. This paper will seek to address this by considering the current body of knowledge concerning the ecology and behaviour of Cervus elaphus (Red deer), Capreolus capreolus (Roe deer) and Alces alces (Elk), and model the actions of these species within a range of different British Mesolithic environments. In doing so, it will create a platform for new discussions of the relationship between people and deer, in a way that affords the actions of the animals themselves an unprecedented level of agency.

... layers (herbaceous layers &amp;lt;0.5 m, low shrubs between 0.5 and 2 m, high shrubs between 2 and 8 m and trees &amp;gt;8 m). For each plot and layer, we recorded the abundance-dominance of all vascular plant species with a scale of 7 levels (Braun-Blanquet, 1932): absence, rare and ...