Worth thinking about winter furs already
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Grey heads on roe deer – the first sign of winter coat
Roe deer Metskits ehk kaber Capreolus capreolus
Roe deer are rarely seen but some are still around. On clearings, wooded meadows, in the evenings at forest verges on harvested fields or on still unharvested fields in wet areas; they also eat rape. Towards winter the deer begin to gather in flocks, in snow it is easier to manage in company. Does eating with their fawns, with the buck some twenty meters away can already be seen.
The development of a winter coat shows nicely in Arne’s photo from last week: it always starts at the head and neck. The photo shows a group of young animals: the antlers of a one-year-old are only a couple of sticks, on a two-year-old both antlers already have two tines. Four-year-old and older mature animals boast three-pronged antlers. The antlers of old bucks become uneven, they may be tangled and signal to young strong bucks that such a comrade is no longer a serious contender. Quite soon the bucks will shed their horns, they can still be found in the forest in December unless snow covers them.
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