It is known that the average lifespan of a roe deer is about fifteen years. The approximate age of this animal can be determined by some external signs. For example, a young individual has a slender long neck, a vigorous tread and a raised head. The old male has a thicker neck, a heavy body and a slightly lowered head, as well as clumsy and slow movements. In a dead animal, the exact age can be found only by the lower jaw, and the approximate age by the cranial sutures and the thickness of the outgrowths. It is known that the older the animal, the more worn out the molars, etc. There is another way to determine the age of the animal - by the horns.
What kind of horns does a roe deer have and when does it shed them? And how to determine their age? The answers to these questions can be found in this article by reading the information presented in it.
A bit of history
The roots of the genus Capreolus Gray lead to the Miocene muntjacs belonging to the subfamily Cervulinae. During the period of the upperMiocene - Lower Pliocene in Europe and Asia, a group of forms already lived, similar in some respects to modern roe deer (genus Procapreolus Schloss). Closer to them is the genus Pliocervus Hilzh (Middle Pliocene).
The genus Capreolus dates back approximately to the Upper Pliocene or Lower Pleistocene, and the existence of the species Capreolus capreolus (European roe deer) at the end of the Ice Age has been reliably established.
Habitats
In the relatively recent past, the habitat of the roe deer (photo of the animal is presented in the article) in temperate latitudes was continuous. The zone of the greatest abundance of this animal covers areas with a snow depth not exceeding ten to twenty centimeters. In connection with predatory extermination in the years before the revolution, the habitat of these animals fell apart. Only as a result of certain measures, in recent years, roe deer began to repopulate areas where it had been absent for several decades.
Today this animal inhabits the territories of European countries up to Scandinavia and the Gulf of Finland. Roe deer live in the vast expanses of Ukraine, Belarus, and the B altic republics. Crimea, the Urals, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Tien Shan and Altai, Siberia, Korea, northern Mongolia and northeastern China are also the natural habitat of this animal.
Although the habitat of roe deer covers vast territories, their widespread (continuous) settlement in these parts is not observed. Where roe deer live, there are vast forest-steppes and deciduous light forests withlarge clearings overgrown with dense grass. Under the influence of the active human attack on the forest-steppe regions (both in Europe and in most regions of Asia), as well as due to the occupation of vast lands for agricultural land, roe deer began to be pushed further and further into mixed forests (except for taiga zones).
On the territory of the southern borders of the range, roe deer have taken root well in mountain forests, in reeds and shrubs, in lake reeds and forest plantations, in farmland fields, and so on.
Description
The second name of the roe deer is a wild goat. The animal has a relatively short body, with the back part slightly higher and thicker than the front. An adult male reaches 32 kilograms at a height of up to 126 centimeters. The average height at the withers is 66-81 cm. The female roe deer is smaller than the male, and sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed.
The head of a roe deer is short and wedge-shaped, narrowed towards the nose. Oval-shaped long ears have a noticeable point. The large eyes are slightly protruding and have slanted pupils. The legs of the animal are long and thin, with short and narrow hooves.
The color of the roe deer coat (the photo of the animal is presented in the article) is different in summer and winter. In the warm period of the year, its coat in color can be from gray to reddish-brown, and in the cold season - brownish-gray. The lower part of the body is usually lighter than the upper. In addition to the habitually colored roe deer, sometimes there are black, white and motley.
Lifespan
In natural habitatThe life expectancy of roe deer is, as noted above, about fifteen years, but it is unlikely that any of them can reach this age in the wild.
Even the most experienced and careful animals are likely to die for a variety of reasons. To a greater extent, they are shot by hunters and do not even live up to half the age limit.
More about horns
Roe deer horns are divided into two types according to their structure:
- European horns. They are small in size (usually equal to the length of the skull) and their trunks, located vertically, are directed almost parallel to each other. Such horns usually have no more than three processes. One of them (front) is directed forward, the second is backward, and the third, representing the end of the horn, is directed upwards. At the bases there are large rosettes (bone outgrowths) with a complex surface, on which tubercles (pearls or pearls) are developed. The length of the horns is more than thirty centimeters.
- Roe deer horns of the Siberian type. In size, they are much larger (more than 45 centimeters). The horns are set wider and diverge more strongly to the sides. Their apices are often bent inward towards each other, and the posterior processes bifurcate at the ends. The anterior processes are directed inward. In Siberian roe deer, rosettes are less developed, but wider than in European roe deer, and do not touch. Their tubercles are also less dense, but the tubercles are higher and larger (similar to processes). Each horn has three to five branches.
When do roe deer shed their antlers?
Roe deer, like deer, shed their antlers in winter. They develop in the following sequence. In male goats, the first horns appear in the first year of life, in autumn (in October-November). These are low bone processes (“pipes”) covered with skin. By the spring of next year (April-May), they grow just above the ears and are already unbranched thick “pins”, which, after peeling, become smooth and pointed (“rods”). Males wear them until December-January, after which the first horns fall off and only stumps remain on the skull, overgrown with skin.
About two months later (in spring), young male roe deer begin to grow horns again, but larger and also covered with skin. They are fully formed by the summer and already have 2-3 processes. Around the middle of summer (the beginning of the rut period), the horns are again cleared of "velvet". and differ from the horns of adults only in a thinner shaft and processes, as well as a slightly noticeable rosette. At the age of more than 2 years (November-December of the third year), the second horns are also shed. And again they have stumps, overgrown with skin, and again they form until next year. The last horns no longer differ from the horns of older individuals. There is a cyclical shift annually, but the number of processes is no longer added. They only become more prominent. Old goats may experience a change in the shape of the horns and a decrease in their weight.
About the age of the animal
How to determine the age of a roe deer or sex by the horns? Determine the sex of an animaldifficult, especially in summer, since males have them during this period. And how to determine the age?
Things are a little worse with this, although this is a rather important point in the use of roe deer for economic purposes. In an animal over two years old, the exact age is more difficult to determine, especially from a distance. Yet roe deer antlers are one of the most reliable indicators of age. This is especially true for the height of the bases of the horns. Due to the fact that they are reset every year, this figure decreases every year.
In the case when the horns of the male are "planted" on the skull and covered with hair, this indicates that the individual is old. Another indicator of the old age of the male is the presence of processes on the horns. This is a sign that the horns are not the first. Adults always have appendages on their horns, and the shafts of their horns are thick.
The age indicator is also the shedding of the horns. Adult males are the first to drop them. In them, this happens about three weeks before new horns grow and peel off the skin in young individuals. In addition to all this, in old animals, horns are fully formed by the end of February, and in middle-aged males - by about mid-March. In young individuals, their development is just beginning in March.
Trophy antlers of roe deer
In addition to the skin and meat of the hunted animal, its horns are also valuable. Among the numerous trophy collections of hunters, the most valuable are exhibits of ungulates, including roe deer. Horns with skulls, and even minedwith his own hands, is the pride of every hunter. Most often, specialists are engaged in the manufacture of a trophy. However, if desired, everyone can independently make a high-quality trophy skull.
Many people decorate hunting rooms with products from roe deer horns, but there are also people who collect products from antlers and take part in various exhibitions. The hunter, before processing the trophy, must take care of it immediately, at the hunting place.
Most often, people, without the necessary skills, perform actions incorrectly and damage the skull and horns during transportation. There are internationally accepted requirements for trophies.
How are they rated?
Horns are one of the most significant trophies. However, each of the exhibits is unique and different in its qualities and characteristics. In this regard, the question arises: how to evaluate them correctly? To this end, in 1952 in Madrid at the International Congress of Hunters, a methodology for evaluating hunting trophies was adopted. In Copenhagen in 1955, at the International Council of Hunting, some additions and changes were made to the methodology that had been adopted earlier.
When roe deer horns are evaluated by points, weight, thickness, length, number of processes, color and other indicators are taken into account. Linear measurements are made both in centimeters and millimeters, and weight - in grams and kilograms. The collapse and span of the horns are calculated by the ratio of the distance between them to the average value of the size of the right and left horns. Thenthe measurement values are multiplied by the factors set for each part. The maximum coefficient has an indicator of the mass of the horn. Information about the measurements obtained is recorded in a special trophy list, which indicates the data of the person who killed the animal, the date and place of production, the total and net weight of the animal. The signature on the trophy list is put by all representatives of the commission evaluating the trophy, and the document is certified by the seal of the hunting ground where it was obtained.
Some interesting facts
The following is noteworthy:
- As a rule, each horn of an adult wild goat has no more than three processes. An animal acquires such horns in a fairly short period of time, and its further exact age (after the horns are fully formed) is quite difficult to determine by the horns.
- Some individuals have an anomaly in the development of these processes. Roe deer antlers begin to develop at the age of 4 months. European females are generally hornless, but some are found with malformed horns.
- The tone of the color of the horns depends on the he alth of the animal and the food it takes, as well as on the type of woody plant, on the trunk of which the roe deer peels off the skin from its processes. For example, the tannin found in oak bark gives them a dark brown color.
- The horns of the same area, as a rule, are similar to each other. For example, all Central European age males have fairly close corollas, often touching and preventing each other from developing. On the other hand, roe deer in Siberia (Altai) have horns that are very different from Central European ones. Their beatersmuch smaller, do not touch, and are even removed about five centimeters from each other, and the antlers themselves, having a bend characteristic of deer, reach a great length and branch in a peculiar way.
- There is some suggestion that the name of this animal is associated with the structure of its eyes, the pupils of which are slanted, and the color is necessarily brown. The coquettish eyes of the roe deer have long and fluffy upper eyelashes. The small lacrimal fossae are disproportionate and are expressed as shallow six-millimeter hollows without wool in the form of a triangle.
- For unknown reasons, males sometimes grow abnormal horns that do not have processes. It is known that such individuals are very dangerous for their relatives, since during ritual battles their horns can pierce the opponent through and through.
It is also important to note that the roe deer is the oldest representative of deer. Archaeologists have found the remains of animals similar to them, belonging to individuals that lived on Earth about forty million years ago.
In closing
When determining the age of an animal by its horns, the following should be taken into account: their formation is quite strongly influenced by the physical condition of the individual. If it is at a high enough level, then the development of the antlers will occur earlier, and this can give the appearance that the animal is much older than it really is.
