carvignone-il-cervo - immaginidambiente

WHO WE ARE

SOCIAL

CONTACT

LOCATION

Deed of incorporation and statute

facebook
instagram

info@immaginidambiente.it

via Boscovich 14, Milan

20145

Italy

The deer - deer

Order: Artiodactyla - Family: Cervidae

Cervus elaphus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Biogeographical distribution: Holarctic.

Distinctive features: head to base of tail length in males 185-210 cm, in females 150-180 cm; shoulder height in males 105-130 cm, in females 90-110 cm; tail 10-17 cm; weight in males 100-180 kg, in females 60-90 kg.
Compact and robust body, head held high on a strong neck, medium-sized and elongated into a square-ended muzzle; large oval eyes, large ears. Males have branched antlers with at least 4-5 tines per beam at maturity. Limbs slender and robust; tail relatively short and covered with hair. Summer coat reddish brown, winter coat grayish brown; "anal patch" yellowish; young up to 3 months have white spots along the sides.

A Front paw print: length ~8-9 cm; width ~6-7 cm
P Hind paw print : length ~6-6.5 cm; width ~4.5-5.5 cm
Habitat: plains, hills, and mountains; in large woods interspersed with meadows and pastures. Also lives in marshy areas.

Lifestyle habits: Most visible around dusk, but active throughout the day, with 3-6 distinct periods of grazing and ruminating. Has extremely fine hearing, sight, and smell; despite its size, it moves with agility and grace. Generally sedentary, but moves if disturbed, to search for food, and for reproduction.

Biology: Gregarious species, forms even large herds, separated by sex for most of the year; related females form rather stable and long-lasting matrilineal groups, joined by young and fawns; adult males form small, fairly unstable bands. The two sexes come together only in autumn for the mating season, sometimes also in winter. During the mating season, dominant males defend their "harem" of females by displaying characteristic behavioral and vocal displays. In spring, they shed their antlers; the new trophies develop fully and are cleaned of "velvet" at the end of summer. More strictly herbivorous than other ungulates, it feeds on grasses, buds, foliage, conifer tips, wild fruit, acorns, and also bark. The female usually gives birth to a single young, in May-June, after 33 weeks of gestation; the fawn, weighing 6-8 kg at birth, is almost immediately able to walk: nevertheless, during the first 7-10 days it remains motionless, crouched and well hidden among the vegetation; it is suckled for at least 6 months. Physiological sexual maturity is reached at 16-28 months. Social maturity is reached in females around 3 years, in males around 5-6. The maximum lifespan is 17-20 years, with evident physical decline starting from 14-16 years. The Wolf is the only predator of the adult Deer; the young, in the absence of the mother, are attacked by foxes, martens, wildcats, and eagles.

General distribution: Europe (including Ireland, Great Britain, southern Scandinavia, and Sardinia); northwestern Africa; Asia Minor and the Caucasus up to the Elburz Mountains, Turkestan; Central Asia from the Tien Shan and Himalayas to the Sayan and Altai, Amur basin, Manchuria, and parts of western China, south to Yunnan. Also North America, from Canada to New Mexico, though very discontinuously. In Italy: fragmented distribution, especially in the eastern Alpine regions and the northern and central Apennines. Absent in Sicily, present in Sardinia. In the Region: except for the group of Deer present in the Gran Bosco di Mesola (about 100 individuals), all other populations derive from recent reintroductions. The Deer disappeared from the Po Valley towards the end of the Middle Ages (except for some nuclei in coastal woods) and from the hilly and Apennine sector by 1700. Around 1840, the first restocking was undertaken by Grand Duke Leopold II (in the Casentino area). The State Forestry Corps carried out, in the 1960s, some reintroduction operations in state forests, especially in the border forests of Tuscany. Today it is present in good numbers in the Casentino Forests and with smaller nuclei in the Bolognese and Parmesan Apennines, in addition to the already mentioned nucleus of the Gran Bosco della Mesola. The Deer of Mesola deserve special mention: these are animals of smaller than average size, with males having rather poor antlers (antlers 50-70 cm long, with 2-3 points per beam).

Existing protection:

the Deer is a huntable species pursuant to art.18 of Law 11/02/1992, n.157. Species protected by the Bern Convention (Law 5/8/1981, n. 503, in force for Italy since 1/6/1982). The most effective protection measures, however, are offered by national and regional parks and nature reserves.

CERVO.pdf