Mägra aasta artiklid

European and Siberian roe deer

Sisu
metskits sametsarvedega
The population density of roe deer is highest in Central Europe: Germany, Austria, southern Sweden, reaching to  several hundred individuals per 1000 hectares. By comparison in Estonia the population density of roe deer is around some tens of individuals per  1000 hectares.
Photo: Tarmo Mikussaar
Posted by the Animal of the Year team in Estonian 29.01.2017

All know the roe deer

Sisu
metskits
The ancient Estonians called the roe deer “kaber”, today this name has been forgotten and instead “kits”, goat, has been borrowed from German. But the roe deer, the metskits, "forest goat", is no goat but instead a small deer. The goat belongs to the Bovidae family being a relative of sheep and bovines, the roe deer is a deer like the red deer and the elk.
Photo: Tarmo Mikussaar
Posted by the Animal of the Year team 02.01.2017

How do the boars manage?

Sisu
metssiga
A year ago there were still plenty of boars in Estonia and Latvia. There were enough for photographers too. The photo is made at the feeding ground and participated in the 2015 Estonian-Latvian photo contest “Wild boar – a real pig”.
Photo: Kristers Porietis

Posted by the Animal of the Year team 16.12.2016

The third year in the shadow of the African Swine Fever is ending and we ask Tõnis Korts, the executive director of the Estonian Hunters’ Society if there are boars in the forest and if there is some relief in the  worries of hunters compared to last year.  The main weight of pest control has after all fallen on the hunters.

Bear asleep

Sisu
karu magamisase
Bear den at Kõrvemaa, where a mother bear and two young bears slept.
Photo: Vahur Sepp

Posted by the Animal of the Year team 17.12.2016

The badger is in its winter sleep, but what about the bears?
November started with snowfalls and minus degrees. Nature quickly took on a wintery aspect. At the same time the ground was unfrozen and under the snow there was even water in shallow spots.

Capricious autumn left frogs out late

Sisu
külmumine veekogus
The common or grass or brown frog that is to the menu of the Animal of the Year, the badger, spends the winter buried in mud at the bottom of water bodies. This year’s first snow startled all cold-blooded creatures into using any paths in the snow to reach the waters quickly. But they were not caught in a badger’s jaws because badgers preparing for winter sleep have finished feeding by that time.
Photo: Tarmo Mikussaar

Posted by the Animal of the Year team 07.12.2016

On the threshold of early winter let us glance at the autumn this year. The peculiarity of the 2016 autumn was the early snow. Already on October 25 the first snowmen appeared in Estonia. True, their life was not long..

About bear attacks

Sisu
karu

Posted by the Animal of the Year team, 12.11.2016

As about wolves, we see time and again in the news that a bear has attacked a human. In fact in case of an attack from one of our brown bears  - which happens extremely rarely – it has been a warning attack after which the animal itself quickly has fled.
Photo: Tarmo Mikussaar

About the fear of wolves in autumn

Sisu
hunt mägrakaameras
Trail camera image of a wolf  in front of the badger sett. The clever animal has noticed the apparatus. Wolves are very prudent about unknown sounds and objects.

Posted by the Animal of the Year team, 12.10.2016
 
 

Some time ago n interesting story could be read in the Viljandimaa newspaper „Sakala” about how a hunter who had been luring elks deceived a wolf flock. Such a hunter is worthy of admiration. Most hunters cannot imitate an elk cow so masterfully.
We should also feel proud of the fact that wolf packs can be seen in our forests. How many countries can still boast about that.

Latvian badger castles

 

This year, the Badger Year, Latvian zoologists installed several track cameras in protected Latvian forests. As in Estonia, our southern neighbours until now have no proper overview of their badger population. To complement the knowledge about badgers the Latvian forest agency Silava chose three large badger castles in northwestern Latvia in a nature reserve area, installed the cameras and now have sent us pictures and video cuts. In the video we can see how the badger –   āpsis in Latvian  – scratches itself. The other members of the large castle are not visible at the moment but it is known that a large number of inhabitants live there, more than in the home of our video stars in Saaremaa.

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