Food of the red deer in an annual cycle

Abstract

Three methods for studying the food taken by the red deer, Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758, have been used, namely: (1) direct observa-tion of feeding by wild deer, (2) tracking in snow after feeding deer, and (3) observation of feeding by tamed deer. During the period of more than two years there was collected the material of ca 44 thousands of observational units, which provided some characteristics of the food of red deer in annual cycle. The winter food of red deer in studied environments consists of bark and twigs of trees and shrubs (53°/o) and dwarf-shrubs (43%), which comprise in total 96°/o. Red deer food during spring consists of: trees and shrubs (54°/o), herbs (19%), dwarf-shrubs (9%), and grasses, sedges, and rushes (7%). In the summer food of red deer there again prevail twigs of trees and shrubs (38%)|, the proportion of herbs reaches its annual maximum (36%), while that of graminids approaches 19%. In the autumnal food there prevail grasses, sedges and rushes (about 37%), which at this season reach their maximum proportion in deer diet. The next group of food plants present trees and shrubs (almost 22%), followed by herbs and dwarf-shrubs (15% each).