Deer, wild or domestic. Reindeer or caribou (rangifer tarandus). Reindeer lifestyle

North American range
Eurasian range

Reindeer(in North America - caribou, Rangifer tarandus) – belongs to the deer family of the ruminant suborder, the only representative of the genus Reindeer ( Rangifer), an artiodactyl mammal of the deer family. Lives in the northern part of Eurasia and North America. It eats not only grass and lichens, but also small mammals and birds. In Eurasia, reindeer are domesticated and are an important source of food and materials for many peoples of the North.

Wild reindeer is commonly called sokjoy. A female domestic deer is called important fawn up to one year old - don't vomit or don't spit newborn fawn - fawn.

Both males and females have horns. Females need antlers in order to drive away competitors from the food they find, and they are shed when the fawns appear.

Photo: http://storage2.peteava.ro/serve/thumbnail/164441/resize

People domesticated reindeer by isolating part of the herd of wild animals. Domestic reindeer live on semi-free grazing, and differ from wild animals in that they are accustomed to people and, in case of danger, do not scatter to the sides, but gather together, hoping for the protection of people. People get milk, meat, wool, antlers, bones from deer, and use them as mounts. From humans, deer only need salt and protection from predators.

There are several subspecies of reindeer:

North American subspecies

• woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) - was originally distributed in the taiga regions of North America from Alaska to Newfoundland and Labrador. Currently, the range has decreased significantly; the subspecies is considered to be in a state close to threatened.
• Grant's caribou (R. tarandus granti) is a North American subspecies, distributed in Alaska, Yukon and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
• Tundra caribou (R. tarandus groenlandicus) - distributed in the Canadian Northwest Territories and Nunavut, as well as in western Greenland.
• Caribou Peary (R. tarandus pearyi) - common in the northern islands of Nunavut and the Northwest Territories of Canada.
• Queen Charlotte Islands caribou, or Dawson's Caribou (R. tarandus dawsoni) is an extinct subspecies that lived on Graham Island, one of the largest in the Queen Charlotte Islands archipelago off the Pacific coast of Canada (British Columbia).

Eurasian subspecies

• Wild reindeer (R. tarandus tarandus) - an inhabitant of the Arctic tundra of Eurasia, including the Scandinavian Peninsula of Northern Europe. In Russia, the population exceeds 1 million individuals (1999).
• Forest reindeer, or Finnish reindeer (R. tarandus fennicus) - found wild only in two regions of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as in Karelia. A small population lives in the center of southern Finland. The Karelian population extends quite far into Russia, and the question remains open about the relationship of the eastern representatives of this population to this subspecies. The subspecies is included in the Red Book of Russia.
• Svalbard reindeer (R. tarandus platyrhynchus) - an inhabitant of the islands of the Spitsbergen archipelago, is currently the smallest subspecies of reindeer.
• Novaya Zemlya reindeer (R. tarandus pearsoni) is an isolated population living on the islands of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. There are about 5-6 thousand individuals on Yuzhny Island. This subspecies is included in the Red Book of Russia.
• Arctic reindeer (R. tarandus eogroenlandicus) is a completely extinct, probably exterminated subspecies that was found in eastern Greenland until the beginning of the 20th century.

As already noted, the most characteristic feature of reindeer is the presence of antlers in both males and females. The female's horns are less developed than those of the male; although they are quite large, they are less branched. A deer's antlers have frontal processes directed forward and separated from the animal's forehead by only a small gap, and the processes are often not equally developed: on one horn they are highly developed and branched, on the other they are simple and less branched. Next come the middle processes, one on each horn, which are divided into several branches; then the horns, without branching, rise in a long arc back and up (concave side forward) and branch again at the end. The horns of males can reach a length of up to 1.5 meters or even more.

A little about the phenotype and physiology of reindeer.

The reindeer is a large animal, approximately as tall as a red deer, but with shorter, thicker legs. The hooves are large, wide and cloven; the deer can spread them far apart when walking in the snow without falling through, and the accessory hooves are very long and almost touch the ground.

Body length up to 200-220 cm, height up to 110-140 cm, weight up to 100-220 kg.

The head is relatively short, with a blunt muzzle. The end of the muzzle is covered with hair, the ears are short, the neck is directed forward and the animal usually holds its head relatively low. The tail is quite short.

The body is covered with a thick coat of thick, rather coarse hair; in summer it is less frequent and shorter, in winter the hair reaches a length of up to 6 cm, and forms a dense “fleece” up to 4 cm thick.

The coat color of domestic European reindeer at the end of molting (at the end of summer) is usually dark, brownish on most of the head, back, lower back, lower part of the sides of the body, on the limbs and the upper side of the tail; forehead, crown, neck, sides are grayish or grayish-white. Sometimes the dark color covers the entire sides. In general, color is different and is associated both with individual characteristics and with age and gender. There are northern sloths that are dark, almost white, and even spotted. White, snow-white, without a single spot, domesticated reindeer are very highly valued among the reindeer-herding peoples of the North.

Wild reindeer are lighter than domestic reindeer, and the brownish color occupies less space; most of the upper side and sides are dark brownish-gray, and the dark brown stripe along the lower part of the sides of the body is narrow.

A reindeer calf in its first molt has curly fur of a reddish-brown color.

By the way, wild reindeer are larger than domestic ones, the length of a male from the end of the muzzle to the root of the tail is about 190 cm (or even more), the height at the withers is more than a meter. But the female is much smaller. But, for example, on Spitsbergen, reindeer are even smaller than domestic ones and differ in color, it is darker.

Domestic deer are usually much smaller in size than wild ones; in Scandinavia, there are even two “breeds”: forest deer (Skogsrenen), which are bred by Lapps, this breed is larger, and mountain deer (fjellrenen), which Lapps graze in the mountains in spring, summer and autumn, and only in winter in forests. Domestic reindeer of Eastern Siberia are larger and stronger than European ones.

Reindeer is a social animal, often grazing in huge herds of thousands of heads, and during large migrations the herds can reach tens of thousands.

The food of the reindeer consists mainly of lichens, reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina), the so-called “reindeer moss”, in winter they “hoof” it from under the deep snow, often dropping it “on their knees”. In the summer, it feeds on almost everything that grows in the tundra and forest-tundra, shoots of dwarf birch and willow, shrubs and various herbs (Ranunculus glacialis, Dryas octopetala, Rumex, Cerastium, etc.), they readily eat mushrooms, and sometimes I can even eat a gaping lemming or mouse.

Photo: http://www.ilgincbilgiler.com/wp-content/uploads/reindeer.jpg

European wild reindeer migrate relatively close throughout the year, rising higher into the mountains in the summer, where it is cooler to escape midges and midges, and descending towards winter, or moving from one ridge to another.

In Scandinavia, reindeer avoid forests, but in Siberia and North America they migrate widely.

Siberian wild reindeer stay in the forest in winter and by the end of May they move in large herds to the tundra, where at this time they find more abundant food and suffer less from mosquitoes and gadflies, and migrate back in August and September.

In North America, woodland caribou migrate in April and October, in April to the north and closer to the sea, and then back. In Newfoundland, deer move southeast for the winter.

In addition to humans, the enemies of wild reindeer are lynx, wolverine, bear and wolf.

Deer suffer greatly from the botfly (Gastrophilus tarandi), which lays its testicles under the skin, the larvae live in the resulting abscesses, and the nasal botfly (Hypoderma nasalis) lays its testicles in the nostrils and the larvae live in the nasal cavity. Gadflies cause suffering to reindeer and sometimes become severely debilitating.

In Northern Europe and Northern Asia, in Siberia, reindeer were domesticated probably about 2-3 thousand years ago, and in Northern Europe maybe earlier. Until now, he was and is the only (except for the already little used sled dog) pet of the inhabitants of the Far North, with which all their well-being and life were previously connected. Reindeer is food, clothing, material for housing and “drawn transport”, both in winter and summer, for moving (“argish”) in harness, less often (in Eastern Siberia, among the Evenks and Evens), as a riding animal and for transportation cargo

Photo: http://h6.img.mediacache.rugion.ru/_i/forum/files/78/67/30/7867308_0s493_1291361745.jpg

They ride on reindeer, sitting closer to the neck so as not to break their backs, but only in the taiga regions, and in the tundra and forest-tundra - on sledges (there are both winter and summer sledges), in which the reindeer are harnessed in threes and fours, and not in a row , but slightly obliquely, so that the head of the next animal is opposite the middle of the front one, and the belt harness is made free and movable, so that, if necessary, for example in narrow passages, the deer can stand almost one after the other. Less often, one strong reindeer is harnessed, but only for transporting 1 person. Without much fatigue, a deer can walk up to 100 kilometers a day.

Reindeer live up to 20 years.

Reindeer is often the only source of food and vitamins for the peoples of the North - the Sami, Nenets, Enets, Khanty, Evenks and Evens, Chukchi, Yukagirs.

In addition to meat, bone marrow and fat, they also eat very fatty reindeer milk (from which the Sami even make cheese), and even the contents of the stomach (which is pre-fermented).

It is worth noting that domestic reindeer quickly “run wild” and often male wild reindeer kill off herds of female reindeer.

Fossil remains of reindeer show that at the end of the Ice Age, its distribution area included not only northern but also central Europe. His remains were found in France and Germany, and even, according to some sources, in Palestine.

Reindeer, musk ox, mammoth, woolly rhinoceros once grazed nearby... But Evolution left us only musk oxen, miraculously surviving reindeer...

Photo: http://www.trophyhunt.ru/images/common/Zveri/Olen_sev/~LWF0031_1.jpg

LIST OF REFERENCES USED

http://www.zooclub.ru/wild/parno/12.shtml

http://www.tepid.ru/reindeer.html

http://www.zapoved.ru/species/274

http://old.rgo.ru/animals/severnyj-olen-3/

http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/animal/o/266.html

http://e-lib.gasu.ru/rb/animals/8/d817.html

Red Book. Specially Protected Natural Areas (SPNA)

Flint V.E. and others. Mammals of the USSR. M. Mysl, 1970

DID YOU LIKE THE MATERIAL? SUBSCRIBE TO OUR EMAIL NEWSLETTER:

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we will send you an email digest of the most interesting materials on our site.

Why is deer considered a northern animal? Of all the deer species, the reindeer is the most widespread animal. In the vast expanses of the Russian tundra, taiga and the northern part of America lives this seemingly ordinary, but in fact amazing animal. In North America it is called caribou.

Appearance and description of reindeer

A large, angular animal, with short legs and a massive body, nevertheless, it looks graceful during its rapid run. Large, branched horns give it special beauty and even majesty. They are worn by both males and females - this is the main difference between the species and all others.

Reindeer fur is unusual. Its color is light gray, almost white. The hair is hollow inside. It contains air, which helps deer swim well and keep them warm. By winter, soft, delicate fluff appears in the undercoat, so the animal is not afraid of any frost. The long hair at the bottom of the neck resembles a thick mane. Domestic deer are tied to a fence, only throwing it symbolically over a pole. But the deer stands and doesn’t run away.

Wide, dense hooves prevent the animal from falling through in deep snow. Therefore, a deer can pass anywhere, no matter how much snow there is. He uses his hooves to rake the snow and get food from under it. A deer easily walks through a muddy swamp or rocky area. These are his versatile hooves!

What do reindeer eat?

If you ask any person what reindeer eat, everyone will answer without hesitation: reindeer moss. In fact, it is a lichen called moss.

This perennial plant covers the surface of the earth in the tundra with a continuous carpet, so there is enough food for deer at any time of the year. The deer smells it under the snow even at a depth of 0.5 m. Raking the snow with its hoof, like a shovel, it gets to the food.

Resin moss is very nutritious and contains a natural antibiotic, so animals not only eat it, but also treat it at the same time. But not all people know that in summer deer can eat grass, berries, mushrooms, leaves of bushes and trees. Surprisingly, they can also act as predators, eating small animals such as lemmings. Often people mow the grass in the summer and place small stacks near the edges of the forest. During the period of lack of food, this helps the deer survive.

This is what moss looks like - the main food for reindeer

However, reindeer moss grows so slowly that its height increases only by 5 mm per year. Because of this, deer have to wander from place to place in search of food.

Domestic deer graze on pasture, but they are also fed hay, grain flour, and silage.

Lifestyle of reindeer and other deer

Deer do not live alone. In a herd there can be either one dozen or several tens of thousands of them. The herd lifestyle is due to the fact that during the migration period it is easier for animals to hide from predators. At the end of autumn, herds living in the tundra move south to the taiga, where it is easier to find food in winter. In search of food, deer can travel up to 1000 km. In spring they return back to the tundra. During migrations, deer have to swim across small and large rivers. But thanks to the special structure of the hairs of the fur, this is not difficult for them.

The mating season for these animals begins in the fall and is marked by numerous battles of both males with rivals and males with females. Females do not allow them to approach them for a long time.

Males shed their antlers after the rut, in December. And females wear them all winter while pregnancy lasts. The horns help them defend the best feeding places.

In winter, reindeer do not drink water; they only need to eat snow to replenish fluid in their bodies.

How does man use deer?

Not so long ago, the lives of many northern peoples directly depended on these animals. They hunted wild ones, but tried more to breed domestic ones. The family's wealth depended on the number of deer available.

This happened because for northern people, reindeer has long been a universal means of maintaining life. Meat, all entrails and even blood are used for food. Domestic deer produce very nutritious milk.

Reindeer - good traction in the tundra

Reindeer skins are used to cover winter dwellings - tents and yarangas. They are also used to make women's and men's outerwear for winter. The strongest part of the hide is found on the deer's legs. Craftswomen use it to make comfortable and very warm shoes.

The skin of deer calves, called fawn, is used to make hats for adults and overalls for little northerners. Pieces of wool are used to sew handbags, souvenirs and jewelry. Antlers and bones are wonderful materials for making various household items.

In Eastern medicine, antlers have been used to treat people for more than 3,000 years. Modern scientists are interested in the question of why, of all mammals, only deer are able to shed their antlers and grow new ones.

They concluded that they contain a gene that promotes bone tissue regeneration. Therefore, powder or extract from antlers began to be used in the treatment of diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Preparations prepared from deer antlers have a powerful immunostimulating effect on the entire human body. For example, pantohematogen is used during high mental and physical stress.

In the past, reindeer were widely used as horse-drawn vehicles. Harnessed to a sleigh, they could transport the owner to any place, even off-road. With the advent of technology, fewer reindeer were harnessed. But at any time, the owner still has the opportunity to ride a reindeer sled, either for his own needs or, for example, at a holiday. Every year in the northern regions of Russia a public holiday is held - Reindeer Herder's Day, where they even organize reindeer riding competitions.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

The reindeer, which bears the name "caribou" in North America, is an artiodactyl, the only representative of its genus among deer. Having helped humanity in the development of the north, caribou are to this day one of the most important biological resources in more than twenty countries of the Eurasian and North American continents.

Wild reindeer can be hunted for its skin and meat, and in households it plays the role of transport (pack and sled). Habitat: tundra and taiga.

Reindeer and its appearance

Unlike their relatives, at the reindeer the end of the snout (the front part of the upper lip) has hair, and the food priority is lichens. Also noted are behavioral features that are unique to reindeer. For example, a herd lifestyle.

caribou body quite elongated, which gives the animal medium size. Proportional and elongated head. The seemingly massive neck at first glance is actually quite thin and long, simply overgrown with hair. Due to its short legs, the animal looks rather squat and lacks the grace of its relatives. Body length averages 1.8-2.2 meters in males, and 1.6-2 meters in females. Height is up to 1.4 m in males and 1.2 m in females, and weight varies around 70-200/70-120 kilograms. It is worth noting that wild deer are larger than domesticated ones. Naturally, a lot depends on the richness of the feeding grounds where the reindeer live, and, directly, on the habitat itself.

Horns and fur

Another characteristic feature that distinguishes caribou from its fellows is Both males and females have horns- large branched horns, the span of which is up to 1.2 meters. The end of the horn is shaped like vertical blades, and the horn trunk and processes are flatter. Quite large horns are very thin, as evidenced by their weight - approximately 12 kilograms. Females have the same shape, however, their horns are significantly smaller and, accordingly, lighter. They are also asymmetrical and extremely varied in their shape, number of blades, processes, etc. Researchers have noticed that the shape of reindeer antlers also depends on the geography of their habitat.

Caribou also stand out for their powerful vegetation, the most outstanding of the deer family. The fur is quite long - from 5-10 centimeters on the body, up to 30 centimeters on the neck. The least amount of hair is on the legs, however, the hair there is very hard and thick. There is cover around the hooves, and even between the hooves there is an extremely hard and thick brush - thanks to this, the hoof area becomes larger, allowing less to sink into the snow. The hair itself was hollow, and together with the air-saturated vegetation, it created decent protection from the piercing cold northern wind.

The color of summer fur is quite monochromatic, brown and coffee colors predominate. Winter is quite variegated, there are more light shades. The female reindeer does not stand out much in color. Newborns have solid gray and brown colors in the first months of life. In many ways, color also depends on geography. Caribou molt is quite long, lasting from April to early August.

Fitness

Caribou are adapted to live in the cold arctic climate, because due to the structure of their hair, they tolerate very low temperatures. However, this also plays a negative role - caribou are unable to tolerate heat, and their sweat-secreting glands are also poorly developed. Because of this, they have to control their body temperature by breathing frequently and sticking their tongue out.

Also, thanks to its fur, caribou are excellent swimmers - The air-filled cavities of the hair provide additional buoyancy. And feeding on lichen and thin grasses made the deer’s teeth weak: the front incisors are quite thin and symmetrical, and the molars are weak and small.

I would also like to make a special mention about the hooves. In reindeer they are quite developed and wide. This is expressed by the fact that all four toes are functional, thus allowing the animal to gain a larger foot area for stronger support. The hooves also become overgrown with impressive fur in winter, which also contributes to support. And the hard and short hair between the fingers, or “brush,” protects against slipping on the ice cover. Like the moose, the caribou moves by raising its limbs high. And thanks to the very high joint angles, the caribou moves easily over hummocks, low bushes, wetlands and snow.

How and what do reindeer eat?

Habitat in Arctic climate forces caribou to dig out food for themselves from under the snow cover. A significant part of the year passes in such conditions. And if loose forest snow, up to one and a half meters high, is not a problem for reindeer, then a thirty-centimeter layer of snow in the tundra can turn out to be very dense and impenetrable. The herd grazes quite interestingly - having pulled out a couple of leaves or shoots, the individual goes to a new place. Thus, provided that a huge herd is grazing, there will be enough food even for the last individuals.

Despite the fact that the main food is lichens, The animal's diet is quite varied. So what do caribou eat?

• Lichen (or reindeer moss) - and yet, don’t let the title of the main food confuse you, because deer can do just fine without it. Lichens have no protein and lack most vitamins. In winter, deer get all this from fat reserves and muscles. As a result, the only thing that lichen gives is energy. Even in summer it is not eaten in dry form - only after rains, fogs, heavy dew, etc.
• Cereals, cotton grass, sedges are the main green diet during the summer.
• Forbs are good fattening food. Sometimes the share of forbs in the caribou diet takes up to 15-20%, however, with wilting, the plants lose their nutritional value.
• Horsetails and legumes are also wonderful representatives of the diet. Legumes are great to eat in summer. Horsetails are more interesting: while some species are included in the diet all year round, others are valuable only in spring and autumn.
• Shrubs and shrubs - mainly leaves, fruits, buds and inflorescences. Willow leaves are especially prominent in this diet due to their low location and nutritional value.
• Mushrooms and mosses - and if moss is important only on pastures poor in greenery, then mushrooms play the role of a delicacy, for which reindeer may even leave the herd for a while.

Briefly about rivals and enemies

Rivals

Enemies

Naturally, these are predators.

• Wolves are the main enemy.
• Bears and wolverines
• Lynx and polar bears, but much less common
• Also dangerous are foxes that can drag away a newborn deer, and feral dogs near populated areas.

Deer is an animal of the chordate type, class mammals, order Artiodactyla, family Deer (deer) ( Cervidae). The article provides a description of the family.

The deer received its modern name thanks to the Old Slavic word “elen”. This is what the ancient Slavs called a slender animal with branched horns.

Deer: description and photo. What does the animal look like?

The sizes of members of the family vary greatly. The height of the reindeer ranges from 0.8 to 1.5 meters, the body length is 2 meters, and the weight of the deer is about 200 kg. The small tufted deer barely reaches 1 meter in length and weighs no more than 50 kg.

The most slender body is distinguished by the red deer, which has a proportional build, an elongated neck and a light, slightly elongated head. The eyes of a deer are yellow-brown in color, with deep tear grooves located nearby. The wide forehead is slightly concave.

Some types of deer have thin, graceful limbs, others have short legs, but all are united by well-developed leg muscles and the presence of toes spaced apart and connected by membranes.

A deer's teeth are a good indicator of its age. Based on the degree of grinding of the fangs and incisors, curvature and angle of inclination, a specialist can accurately determine the age of the deer.

All species, except the antlerless water deer, are distinguished by branched antlers (called antlers), and only males are distinguished by such bone formations.

Reindeer is the only deer species in which females have antlers just like males, but are much smaller.

Most species of deer that live in temperate latitudes shed their antlers every year. In their place, new ones immediately begin to grow, first consisting of cartilage, then overgrown with bone tissue. A deer's antlers grow depending on its diet: the denser the diet, the faster the antlers grow. Deer living in the tropics do not shed their antlers for years, and residents of the equatorial belt do not lose them at all.

The main function of a deer’s antlers is protection and attack, and their power determines the chances of a particular male individual to emerge victorious in a duel for a female deer. Reindeer use their antlers as tools, digging out snow with them to get to moss. The span of the horns of a seasoned male deer is 120 cm.

Deer sheds its antlers

And this deer has grown antlers of an atypical shape

The skin of a deer is covered with fur, thin and short in summer, and longer and thicker in winter.

The color of deer fur depends on the species and can be brown, coffee-brown, red-brown, brownish, gray, red, plain, with spots and marks.

Deer is an animal that is among the twenty fastest.

The speed of a deer escaping from a chase can reach 50-55 km/h.

Deer live in European and Asian countries, in Russia, and feel at ease in North and South America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In the wild, the average life expectancy of a deer is 15-20 years. In zoos and reindeer farms, with good care, deer live up to 25-30 years.

Deer are animals that are quite unpretentious to their environment. They feel great on the plains, and in areas with mountainous terrain, and in wetlands, and in the zone of tundra mosses and lichens.

Many species inhabit extremely wet places, choosing to live in areas near water bodies. Preferring a mainly nomadic lifestyle, deer are found in forests with their meadows in the summer; in winter they wander into impenetrable thickets, since there are usually fewer snow drifts and it is easier to find food under a small layer of snow.

Deer is a herbivorous animal, the diet of which depends on its species and habitat. In spring and early summer, deer feed on cereals, umbellifers, and legumes. Deer food in summer includes nuts, chestnuts, mushrooms, berries, and plant seeds.

During the warm season, deer eat buds, leaves and young shoots of trees and shrubs: maple, rowan, viburnum. The deer will not refuse other fruits. In winter, deer are forced to feed on the bark and branches of plants, pine needles, acorns and lichens.

Animals make up for the lack of minerals in the body with salt obtained from salt licks, chew soil rich in mineral salts, and drink water from mineral springs. To compensate for protein deficiency, deer gnaw on their own shed antlers and are forced to consume bird eggs.

Types of deer, names and photographs

The modern classification of the deer family includes 3 subfamilies, 19 genera and 51 species. In addition to deer, representatives of the family include fallow deer, pudú, roe deer, as well as mazamas, muntjacs, axis, sambars and barasinga.

The most interesting varieties of deer are rightfully considered to be the following:

• Noble deer(Cervus elaphus)

It belongs to the genus true deer and includes 15 subspecies. Representatives of the species are united by a characteristic white spot under the tail, which rises above the tailbone. There is no spotting in the color of red deer in summer. Deer antlers are distinguished by a significant number of branches (especially in European deer), forming a characteristic crown at the end of each antler. Depending on the subspecies, the size of a deer can be 2.5 meters in length and 1.3-1.6 meters at the withers, with a weight of over 300 kg (deer and wapiti). A small Bukhara deer weighs just under 100 kg and grows to 170-190 cm.

The animal's diet in the spring and summer consists of various legumes, grass and grains. In winter, deer feed on shoots of bushes and trees, fallen leaves, various mushrooms, chestnuts, and tree bark. If there is a lack of food, deer can eat spruce or pine needles, lichens and acorns. The salt balance that they maintain on natural or artificial salt marshes is of great importance for the normal life of these mammals.

The red deer lives over a fairly wide area, covering Western European, Scandinavian countries, Algeria, the Moroccan Republic and China, as well as both American continents, Australia and New Zealand. The main condition is the presence of a fresh body of water nearby. Red deer live in one specific area in herds of up to 10 individuals, although after the mating season their numbers can increase to 30.

• or caribou(Rangifer tarandus)

It stands out among its relatives by its upper lip, completely covered with hair, and the presence of horns in individuals of both sexes. The body size of an adult male is 1.9-2.1 meters with a weight of 190 kg, a female reindeer (which is also called a female reindeer) grows to 1.6-1.9 m and weighs up to 123 kg. The reindeer is a stocky animal, lacking the gracefulness inherent in deer and having a slightly elongated skull shape.

Reindeer food: grass that grows in abundance in the tundra, leaves of bushes, mushrooms, various berries. With a lack of protein nutrition, deer find bird nests and eat bird eggs and even young chicks laid in them. Reindeer also feed on small rodents - lemmings. The main food for deer in the tundra in winter is reindeer moss. Reindeer compensate for the lack of minerals in their meager food by eating their own antlers, drinking sea water or visiting salt marshes.

Reindeer live in the tundra and taiga in Eurasia, North America and the islands of the Arctic Ocean. Numerous herds of reindeer live in lowland and mountain taiga regions, grazing in endless tundra and swampy expanses, making spring and winter migrations in search of food.

• Water deer(Hydropotes inermis)

The only antlerless deer in the family. The dimensions of the species are 75-100 cm in length, the height of the deer is 45-55 cm, and the body weight is 9-15 kg. An adult male deer is distinguished by saber-shaped curved fangs (teeth) that prominently protrude from under the upper lip. The skin is colored brownish-brown.

The main food of deer is leaves of bushes, young green grass, and succulent river sedge. The animals cause significant damage to agriculture, making devastating raids on cultivated rice fields and destroying not only weeds, but also crop shoots.

Under natural conditions, water deer live in the floodplains of rivers in the eastern and central parts of China and the Korean Peninsula. Antlerless deer were brought to England and France, where they successfully adapted to the local climate. These animals lead a solitary lifestyle, finding a mate only during the rutting period. In search of food, they swim several kilometers, migrating between numerous islands in river deltas.

• or milu(Elaphurus davidianus)

A rare species of deer that completely died out in the wild at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays, they are trying to restore the population in Chinese reserves, where the species originally existed. Representatives of the species acquired their name thanks to Armand David, a French priest and naturalist.

The body length of an adult deer is 150-215 cm, height at the withers can reach 140 cm, and the weight of the deer reaches 150-200 kg. An exceptional feature of this species is that David's deer change their antlers twice a year. These animals have an elongated narrow head, atypical for deer, as well as long curly hair on the body.

The food of David's deer consists of grass, young branches and leaves of bushes, sugar cane and a variety of algae.

Unfortunately, this species is no longer observed in natural conditions. All known individuals live in nature reserves and zoos. David's deer are animals that lead a herd lifestyle. Even before and after the mating season, they prefer to stay in small groups of up to 10 individuals. During the rut for the right to possess a harem of females, males stage real massacres, using not only horns, but also teeth and forelimbs in the battle.

• White-faced deer(Przewalskium albirostris)

The animal has a large body up to 230 cm long and an impressive weight of up to 200 kg. The height of the deer at the withers is 1.3 m. This species received its name due to the white coloration of the neck and front of the head. A distinctive feature of the species is the high, wide hooves and large white deer antlers.

White-faced deer feed on various grasses growing in spacious alpine meadows. As food, animals happily eat numerous types of clover, meadowsweet, grandiflora beech, angelica and variegated fescue. In addition, they often eat foliage from low-growing bushes.

The white-faced deer lives mainly in the coniferous forests of eastern Tibet and some Chinese provinces. The animals are found in the mountainous regions of the Alps, located at an altitude of more than 3,500 meters above sea level. They form communities, the number of which does not exceed 20 individuals. In search of food, deer often migrate to altitudes of up to 5000 m.

• Tufted deer(Elaphodus cephalophus)

The animal has a black-brown crest on its head, up to 17 cm long. Adult deer grow to a size of 110-160 cm with a body weight of 17-50 kg. The color of a deer can be dark brown or dark gray. The horns are short and unbranched, barely visible from under the crest.

In addition to the typical plant food, consisting of leaves of trees and shrubs, grass and various berries, tufted deer often eat small carrion, which is the protein component of the diet.

Deer live in the territory of South and East Asia in forests located at an altitude of more than 4500 m. Very cautious animals lead a solitary and isolated way of life. They meet with representatives of the opposite sex only during the rutting season. They are most active at dawn or dusk.

• White-tailed deer (Virginian deer) (Odocoileus virginianus)

The most common member of the family, lives in North America.

It got its name from the interesting color of its tail, the top of which is brown and the bottom is white. The northern part of the population has a height at the withers of up to 1 m, and a body weight of about 150 kg. Representatives of the population living on the Florida Keys grow up to 60 cm at the withers and weigh only 35 kg.

In spring and summer, deer eat green growth of bushes or trees, lush grass, and flowering plants. In addition, they raid agricultural fields where they destroy cereal crops. In autumn, deer eat fruits, berries and nuts. In winter, these animals have to make do with fallen leaves and branches.

White-tailed deer live on mountain slopes and in vast forests, as well as in the vast expanses of prairies and savannas in South and North America. Most of the time, Virginia deer lead a solitary lifestyle, gathering in small herds only during the mating season.

• pig deer(Axis porcinus)

It got its name for its original manner of movement, reminiscent of a move. The height of the deer at the withers is 70 cm, the length of the body is 110 cm, the weight of the deer is about 50 kg. The animal has a fluffy tail, males are darker in color than females.

Deer live in the lowland landscapes of Pakistan, India, Thailand and other countries of South Asia. The species was also introduced to Australia and the USA. These animals lead a solitary lifestyle, rarely gathering in small herds.

Deer graze mainly at night, preferring to rest during the daytime, hiding in densely overgrown bushes. The deer's diet does not depend on the seasons and consists of a variety of grasses, as well as branches and leaves of low bushes.

• South Andean deer(Hippocamelus bisulcus)

The animal has a stocky build and short legs, adapted to move across mountainous landscapes. The deer measures 1.4-1.6 m in length and weighs 70-80 kg. Height at the withers is 80-90 cm. The deer's fur is brownish or gray-brown with white spots on the throat.

Deer live in the mountains of Chile and Argentina, where they live alone, gathering in small groups during the rut. Due to a sharp decline in the population, this species of deer is listed in the International Red Book.

The spring and summer diet of deer consists of a variety of grassy meadow vegetation. In winter and during snowfalls, they find food in wooded valleys. Here, deer food consists of leaves and young branches of bushes and trees.

• Dappled deer(Cervus nippon)

It grows in length up to 1.6-1.8 m with a weight of 75-130 kg. The size at the withers is 95-112 cm. The summer color of the deer is distinguished by a bright red-red color with white spotting; in winter the color fades.

Sika deer eat not only mushrooms, nuts, leaves and oak or alder shoots, but also a variety of herbs and berries. In winter, they find fallen leaves, last year's grass and acorns under the snow. In hungry years, sika deer feed on the bark of deciduous trees. Individuals living near the sea coast happily eat algae washed ashore and restore the mineral balance of the body with the help of sea salt.

Sika deer lead a herd lifestyle, gathering in small groups of 10–20 individuals. The distribution area of ​​this species covers the plains, mountains and foothills of the northern hemisphere. The sika deer lives in the Far East, central Russia and the Caucasus.

Reindeer, or Caribou(Rangifer tarandus) is a species of ungulate mammal from the Deer family, genus Reindeer. Indians and trappers hunt caribou not only for their meat, but also for their skins.

The length of the reindeer is 1.2-1.8 m, the tail is 10-20 cm. The caribou deer has brown matted hair, lighter on the neck, belly and rump. Both males and females have horns, although the females have shorter ones than the males. The wide hooves of a deer prevent it from falling through in deep snow. Caribou tracks are shaped like cloven, rounded hooves.

Caribou live in the Far North from Alaska to Newfoundland and a little further south in the Rocky Mountains. In Russia, reindeer live in the tundra and taiga of the Far North, in the mountains of Southern Siberia. Material from the site

Caribou gather in herds of up to one hundred thousand individuals and constantly move. During the mating season, males collect ha-remes from twenty to fifty females. There are 1 or 2 cubs in a litter. Calves appear between May and July; when they are not yet one day old, they are already able to follow the herd. Caribou feed on lichens, bushes and mushrooms.

Pictures (photos, drawings)

On this page there is material on the following topics: