Nutrition

hallmark reindeer is the ability to digest the carbohydrate part of lichens by 80-90%, while other ungulates absorb no more than 40-50%. Yagels are high-calorie, rich in carbohydrates, but contain little protein, vitamins and minerals, and nutritionally they are at the level of concentrated feed used for livestock. Compensation for the missing substances is carried out by eating other plants and snowy greenery, animal feed, mushrooms, gnawing horns and bones, eating marine waste.

Reindeer diet changes dramatically with the seasons. spring deer eat especially greedily cereals and sedges, later, leaves of various kinds are often used willows and dwarf birches. In summer deer eat about 300 plant species. In the vast majority this green plants: by weight, they occupy 70-80% of all food in the stomach; lichens the same - only 10 - 15%, the rest is lei and other miscellaneous stuff. autumn significantly increased in the diet lichens. In the contents of the stomachs, green plants occupy 30-50% of all food. Among other foods, they willingly eat mushrooms, even dig them out from under the snow. For the sake of mushrooms, mountain deer descend even from the loaches into the forest belt. Lichens in winter in a number of regions they are the main food and in the stomach it takes up to 70% of all food by weight, the rest is occupied by the remains of green plants preserved under the snow, mosses and other impurities. Animals detect reindeer moss under the snow by smell. In the tundra, they dig up snow up to 75-80 cm thick with their front legs and muzzle, and loose snow in the forests - up to 1.5 m.

With such a diet, deer experience protein-mineral starvation in winter, and therefore they greedily eat snow moistened with urine human and dogs, and if possible try to eat and animal feed origin (eg. small rodents) destroy bird nests eggs, drink sea ​​water and eat washed ashore kelp. In summer, deer do not pay attention to urine, by lemmings eat willingly. In the diet of wild deer in Taimyr, lichens are of subordinate importance, and the basis of food resources is made up of wintering higher plants.

The number of reindeer is limited not by summer, but by winter pastures. Without prejudice to the restoration of reindeer moss in winter, it can feed 4-5 times less deer than in the same area in summer. In summer, one deer needs 4-6 hectares, on average 3.2 hectares per head, and in winter 12-18 hectares, 18-24 hectares of pastures per year.

For a day in summer, a deer eats 11-22 kg of green mass (2.8-5 kg ​​of dry matter), in winter - 8-14 kg of raw food. That is, in winter, food and energy consumption is about a third less than in summer, which occurs mainly due to a decrease in activity, a slowdown in metabolic rate, and the use of fat as a reserve energy source.

For deer, the lack of water in food is no less noticeable than the lack of food. If you feed deer with sodium salt in winter, then they quickly lose weight: trying to quench their thirst, they eat in in large numbers snow devoid of salts, as a result, expend a lot of energy to melt it. Need in winter time in lichens, not only their nutritional value, but also with a high water content (up to 70-80%). Deer can do without lichens where there are a lot of wet snow plants: horsetails and winter green grasses containing a lot of water, vitamins, proteins and microelements. In summer, the proportion of lichens is minimal, as they dry up and are almost devoid of moisture.

reproduction

Deer reach puberty in the fall in the second year of life and continue to breed until about 20 years of age, but already from the age of 10-12, many females begin to degrade the ovaries. The total life expectancy is about 25 years.

Herd of reindeer. Photo: Sondrekv

The rut starts from mid-September-early October to late October-mid-November. In the arctic tundra earlier than in the south of Siberia. The most noticeable sign of the approach of the rut is the formation of mixed herds. By this time, the deer are molting. The horns are ossified and cleaned of velvet. The fatness of animals is close to the maximum. In places of concentration of animals, peeled bushes and "points" with urine appear on the ground. Males acquire a strong specific odor secreted by the secretion of the anal gland. The sound signals of animals resemble a series of short snores.

Reindeer are polygamous, i.e. during the breeding season, the male covers several females (3-13), forming "harems". In groups of animals up to 10 individuals there is one bull, in larger ones there are several. Males fight each other in front of the female. In the absence of a female, fights between males do not happen. Skirmishes between bulls are ritual in nature. Males keep females, eat little and lose up to 20% of body weight, by the end of the rut they become weak and are no longer able to resist subdominant males. After the rut, the males are separated from the herd and kept separately. Calves do not leave their mothers during the rut.

The female's estrus lasts about 3 days and repeats 2-4 times in 11-22 days. The duration of pregnancy is 219-238 (from 192 to 246) days. Calving occurs in May-June, a frequent period of migration, when snow still lies in many places. One calf is born, twins are rare. The mother intensively licks the cub, which contributes to the drying of the body and reduces the possibility of frostbite or freezing.

For the first few hours after childbirth, the mother, next to whom the deer is located, continuously makes quiet hoarse sounds - “shorts” so that the cub remembers her voice and later finds the mother by it, that is, communication in the family is supported by sound signals.

The fecundity of young females is lower than that of adults. Barrenness is low: under good fodder conditions it does not exceed 2-3%, and only on low-fed pastures it reaches 30-40%. In general, the fertility level of reindeer females is lower than that of elk and roe deer, and is more consistent with that of red and sika deer.

It is characteristic that the pregnant women retain their horns for some time after calving, while the males lose their horns at the beginning of winter. A newborn calf weighs 5-6 kg. He can get up on his feet the same day and mix after his mother. The mother finds the stray calf by its voice and identifies it by smell. In the first week of life, the calf is able to swim across the river. At the age of one month, the molting of the juvenile cover begins and ends after 3-4 weeks. Lactation lasts about 6 months (until winter).

In calves, the horns are in the form of knitting needles, bent forward. Hardening and cleansing of the horns in September-October, shedding in April-May. In the 2nd year of life, the horns have a corolla and anterior process. The formation of the dental system ends by the age of three. By this age males are full growth, and by 5-6 years - full development.



Carrying out the main production campaigns (rutting, calving, raising young animals), preserving livestock, as well as preserving pastures from trampling depends solely on proper organization grazing.

The livestock of reindeer is divided into herds. herd size depends on the territory allotted for grazing, on its fodder capacity. In the tundra regions, herds are created with a larger livestock than in the forest zone. The size of the herd of 1200–1700 heads allows for good supervision, proper veterinary and zootechnical services and makes it possible to save the pasture from premature etching. The composition of the herd is determined by the direction of the economy.

Exists three main areas of reindeer herding:
1. The main production of the economy is meat;
2. Main products - skins
3. Raising reindeer for use as transport.
Depending on the direction of the economy, the number of breeding and bovine livestock is set.

Feed for reindeer.

For reindeer, food is usually divided into the following types:

  1. summer green: herbs and leaves of shrubs (they eat especially well sedge, vaginal cottongrass, actophila, shift, mountaineer, arctic astragalus, dwarf birch and willow);
  2. winter green: winding pike, water sedge, cat's foot, reed horsetail;
  3. moss: deer lichen, forest lichen, soft lichen and mountain lichen;
  4. woody: lichens kosmach and vislyanka.

The most favorite foods for deer are mushrooms, especially white cap mushrooms, aspen mushrooms, birch boletus and others.

Livestock accounting reindeer are carried out 2 times a year: the first - in corrals before the herd moves from autumn to winter pastures; the second - during the transition of the herd from winter pastures to spring. In the first period, the herd is culled, and in the second, the pregnant queens are separated from the rest of the livestock. Calves are branded in the first days after birth with a notch or pluck on the ear.

Hiding among plants, among bushes is the normal behavior of roes and deer. With the onset of the season of wild plants, many reached into the forest for the gifts of nature - wild garlic and ferns. Whole squadrons of pickers plow burnt areas and open glades in search of tasty and healthy vegetation. But it happens that not wild plants become their trophy, ... but newborns found in the same glades.

The fact is that in May - June, young animals appear in ungulates. Usually female roe deer give birth to two cubs, rarely one or three, and for a week the roe deer stay where they were born, hiding in the grass.

Hiding among plants and bushes

Hiding among plants, among bushes is the normal behavior of roes and deer. Mother always walks somewhere nearby, she comes, guards them, feeds them. In the meantime, they are dependent, they hide, so they never need to be picked up, ”this is the unequivocal opinion of all zoologists and conservationists.
We repeat, no, he is not lost or abandoned, you just happened to see a roe deer hiding, and the mother looks at you anxiously from behind a bush. It is impossible to pick up and carry away the young animals from the found place, since the parents will most likely not find their cubs in the future.

You can’t touch and stroke the animal - the returned mother will smell your smell and her behavior in relation to her own child can be arbitrarily unpredictable.

For persuasiveness, we cite an excerpt from the story as an example. famous researcher of the Far Eastern taiga by Viktor Korkishko, about the “rescue” of roe deer and deer.

“.. A newborn baby almost immediately gets on his feet and is soon able to walk. But it is very risky to accompany the mother everywhere - there are too many who want to eat roe meat, starting with poachers, ending with predators and even stray dogs. Therefore, the roe deer spends the first days of life alone. Mom feeds him at night, and for the day she goes to feed herself and, in case of danger, takes the enemy away from her child. This continues for several weeks, until the roe deer becomes as frisky as the mother, and can not keep up with her if danger threatens. And until that time, he lies in the grass, hiding, not moving.

In Primorye, during this period, there are usually endless drizzling rains with cold fogs.

Therefore, roe deer are very cold alone and some of them die in cold years. It is good if the mother gave birth to twins and the company is a brother or sister. But even in this case, they lie "below the grass, quieter than the water." Only when they are very hungry, in the late afternoon, the roe deer begin to squeak plaintively. By screaming, their mother finds them.

Danger threatens the roe deer from the most unexpected side. Often he becomes a victim of unnecessarily compassionate people, not knowledgeable features deer life. Having found a lonely roe deer, people think that the mother has abandoned him, and out of compassion they take the baby away, not knowing what pain they inflict on the mother, who watches from the bushes how her child is carried away. And having taken the cub, people most often do not know what to do with it - feeding a roe deer is a big problem. So they are trying to place the orphans in the reliable hands of the employees.”

The story of the red deer rescue

Similar “rescue” stories are repeated year after year. For example, during the past year, employees of the Udege Legenda park took three roe deer and one red deer from the residents for keeping in a recreational enclosure. Two roe deer were already adults, the other two cubs were fed almost from birth. Their lives were saved, but the main law of nature was violated - they did not become wild animals. They have grown too trusting of humans, they do not know what a predator is, what food is better and where to look for them in different time of the year.

Therefore, remember: no matter how you want to stroke, help, save, or save a small Living being, the best thing you can do is to leave, leaving the cub in place. And only if you are absolutely sure that the mother is dead, you can take it. Going out newborn wild beast- a whole science that the park staff did not comprehend of their own free will, but managed. But for those who are already faced with the need to put a weakened deer / roe deer on their feet, we wrote quick guide on nursing a wapiti cub in captivity.

Managing red deer in artificial conditions

Managing red deer (red deer) in artificial conditions (personal experience park employee) I must say right away that my personal experience in this area is not very great - we (so far) have raised only one. But at the very beginning we faced a huge problem - we could not find information anywhere that would help us out. Actually, that's why I came up with the idea to write a short guide for those who still have to enter in the search engines "how to feed a red deer cub."

First you need to determine the age of the animal

Our Yashik came to us through second hands, so only a veterinarian could reliably determine his age - 6-7 days. So, what does a wapiti cub look like at a week of age:
Height at withers: 64 cm
He is still not very good on his feet, they are slightly curved with the letter X. He often “cries”.
Teeth: back (if I may say so) not yet, front 8 (now Yasha is already 2 months old, but the front is gone), they are all below. 2 in the center are very large and funny: o) the rest are quite small.
Weight: 10-12 kg (but this is taking into account that he was fed incorrectly for his entire first week)

Understand who is in front of you

By the way, it would be useful to understand who is in front of you - a red deer or a spotted deer. They are often confused. The red deer is larger (against our 65 at the withers - 45-50 in the sika deer, weight approx. 4-6 kg). The head is large, the ears are elongated. I would compare them with the length of the nose from the tip to the eyes. The deer has a neat muzzle with VERY large round ears. Now as for the coloring. It should be noted that everyone has spots. In deer, they are located along the ridge and will come off after the first molt in October, while in spotted deer they are all over the body and will remain for life.

In red deer, the spot under the tail is yellow and small, dimly outlined. In a deer, on the contrary, it is white, wider and strikingly different in color from the general background.
And now the most important thing - about feeding. Or, more accurately, breastfeeding.
Golden rule: don't overfeed.

We gave cow's milk(necessarily boiled!) with the addition of water and baby formula "Baby 1" (one - i.e. from birth).
Proportions: 1 liter of milk, 8 measuring spoons of the mixture, 0.5 liters of water. For the first 2 weeks, you need to feed 8-10 times a day, 100 g of the resulting mixture. It is better to use a bottle with a simple (not the most expensive) elongated nipple. By the way, because of the structure of the jaws, the deer did not recognize the Aventa’s nipple so respected by mothers. Of course, it is better to warm up to 36-38 degrees. You can check the temperature in the same way as for children - a drop on the bend of the elbow.

After the second week, you need to give about 150 ml of water during the day, between feedings. Once a day we gave lightly salted (1 teaspoon without top per liter boiled water). Now we feed 8 times a day, 250 ml each.


At the age of three weeks, the red deer was drunk with a five-day course of the Vetom-2 probiotic (why I won’t tell you exactly “2”, but that’s how we were determined in the veterinary clinic). Dilute one sachet in 200 ml of water, divide in half and give twice a day one hour after feeding (so you will need 5 sachets)
Month.

At this age, you can transfer from a baby bottle to a cow bottle (for feeding calves - sold in veterinary stores). No, of course, you can continue to drink from a small one, but it will be tiring - you need to fill it several times for one meal or have 4 at once. At the same time, we began to feed Yashechka with a whole milk substitute Kormilak.

Its cost in Primorsky Krai ranges from 1900 to 2400 for a 25-kilogram bag. This amount is enough for about 2 months. The first days we add kormilak to cow's milk, but we cancel the infant formula (i.e. we get 1 liter of milk + 0.75 ml of water + 100 g of kormilak), then (well, say, on the fifth day) we give pure kormilak, i.e. . at the rate of 1:9, as written on the package. I weighed a plastic container on a culinary scale, it turned out to be 200 gr, i.e. almost 2 liters of water. At the age of one to two months, his daily intake increased from 2.5 to 4 liters of formula per day, and the frequency of feeding decreased from 6 to 4 times.

  • Grass. I wondered for a long time when to start feeding with grass. But everything turned out to be easier - Yashichek himself reached for the raspberries. And off we go. Most of all he liked dandelions, grapes, raspberries. Then come beets, ash leaves, currants. He also loves berries terribly: o) Honeysuckle, strawberries, currants, raspberries, irga - everything goes with a bang. At the same time, the apples directly spits out. You can give pureed vegetables as a substitute for grass.
  • Feces. Normally, he is like a goat - balls. Our pet had diarrhea at first. Wrong food - diarrhea, did not boil the bottle - diarrhea, overfed - diarrhea again. What to do. Give less food and carefully monitor the sterility of dishes.
  • Dehydration on the second day of life at my home was determined by a veterinarian - Yashka refused to eat, could hardly stand on his feet. He was given a dropper in the neck (do not do it without a specialist!) with saline through a butterfly 4-ku, 200 ml + half a bottle of glucose. He almost immediately got to his feet, but it was impossible to feed, it was possible to give saline in the evening and replace one meal with it the next day. In general, having a doctor in the family, on the second day we were ready to repeat the drip on our own, but, fortunately, it was not necessary. In order to prevent, see above, drink salted water daily.
  • Arrangement of the place. Here, of course, the more the better. Yasha had to live in an open chicken pen, 3x8. The size, frankly, is not great. Net height 3.5 meters. It is necessary to make a small canopy, 1.1-1.2 m high, with a roof and without one wall - so that it can enter freely, cover the floor with hay, which needs to be changed regularly (because they defecate, most often, under themselves).
  • General recommendations. The life of these small, defenseless creatures is in your hands. Therefore, it is important to decide what will happen to them when they are ready to exist on their own: do you intend to give it to the zoo / zoo / safari park or plan to release it in wildlife. The permissible frequency of contact with the animal depends on this. If he is destined for the fate of a wild beast, then do not allow strangers to approach him, i.e. he should know only those 1-2 people who care about him. But you need to remember that even with this option, it is vital for him, no matter how pathetic it may sound, closeness and warmth, a sense of security - when you feed him, do not be lazy to stroke and talk - he will soon begin to recognize your voice. If in wildlife If you are not going to let him go, then you need to hug him as often as possible for the first 3-4 weeks - you yourself will see how it calms him down.

IN northern mountains Ural, on Far East and in Siberian taiga real beauties live - reindeer. One of the largest animals, they constantly migrate in search of scarce food supplies, in summer - closer to the north, in winter - to the south. Deer are very strong animals, and easily overcome rivers, mountains, and other obstacles that they encounter on their way.

  • Deer are very large animals, the body length of an adult male reaches two meters.
  • Venison is the main food of the peoples of the North.
  • Reindeer milk is considered the most nutritious and valuable, in addition, it is very tasty.
  • Chum - a traditional dwelling - is covered with reindeer skins.

Despite the fact that there is not much food in the high northern latitudes, the food of reindeer is quite diverse. In summer, deer eat grass, berries and plant leaves. It is plants that make up the main part of the reindeer's pasture food and provide it with everything necessary for life.

Willow and dwarf birch leaves are very valuable and nutritious. It is interesting that deer are quite picky in the choice of food: they do not eat damaged branches and rumpled plants, and while eating they like to bite off individual, younger and fresher leaves.

A real deer delicacy is mushrooms. Deer are very fond of hat mushrooms growing in the tundra: russula, boletus and aspen mushrooms, as well as mossiness mushrooms, which ripen in late summer and autumn, and can remain under snow until early winter.

In winter (and winter is more than half of the year), the diet of the reindeer is more monotonous and consists almost entirely of reindeer moss, which he eats up to ten kilograms per day. Yagel, although called northern moss, is actually a lichen that grows under the snow. Deer get their food by tearing the snow with their hooves.

In addition to reindeer moss, deer also eat other types of lichens that grow on tree trunks and branches. Such poor food leads to the fact that deer lack mineral salts, so reindeer herders must give them table salt, as well as bone meal and other types of feed. Wild reindeer do their best to make up for the lack of useful microelements in their own way: they gnaw their horns, salt licks even drink sea water. Yagel grows very slowly (only a few millimeters per year), so the deer have to constantly move in search of food.

Yagel - the main food for reindeer - contains a lot of starch. But there is practically no salt and protein in the moss, so the herbivorous deer, on occasion, regales itself with small animals, bird eggs, and even chicks, mushrooms (which it especially loves).

Reindeer eat a rather monotonous diet, a meager set of lichens, plants and fungi, moving along the same routes from year to year, but it is this kind of food that has allowed them to become the animals that we admire: graceful, graceful and unique.

Deer. Deer do not leave their offspring. Often they hide the young, so if you happen to meet a deer in the field, do not try to help him until you are sure that his mother is dead. If you still had to take care of a deer for the first time, then it will be useful to learn the following initial recommendations. If your yard is not fenced, put up a fence with a perimeter of about 15 m. This area will be enough for the baby. It is better to use metal poles, which are easy to mount and dismantle, and use a metal mesh for fencing.

It is desirable that there are trees and shrubs inside the fenced area. As the fawn grows up, it will gradually be able to reach the lower branches and soon begin to feast on green leaves.

A dwelling can be built from plywood, enclosing three sides with it. Another sheet of plywood should be put on the roof, and covered with roofing paper on top so that water does not penetrate. The case remains for a small front door- and here's the finished corral for the deer. There should always be fresh water and a small piece of lick salt in the paddock.

Feeding a deer is not difficult. Basically, this is any kind of milk with the addition of its substitutes and various nutritional mixtures. It is best to feed with a half-liter bottle. Pre-prepared formula is stored in the refrigerator and must be refrigerated before use. hot water for heating. At first, the five daily feedings must be strictly adhered to, then gradually reduced as the fawn begins to nibble grass and leaves, and also shows interest in the offered grain food. By this time, the nutrient mixture can be given in the feeder, pouring it on top of the chunk. wheat bread. The fawn will start by sucking the milk mixture out of the bread and then get used to taking any food in this way.

From a flock of flies the best protection are bamboo curtains that darken certain place where deer hide from annoying insects. You can lubricate the animal with a special protective solution, but you must first consult a specialist. Deer are unusually attached to people and will follow you around like dogs. They love treats - carrots, apples, peanuts, marshmallow root. Further fate the animal will do well if it is brought up in the area where it was picked up and where its relatives are found. Then, by the time of release, the deer will be sufficiently acclimatized. If there are other deer in the area, he will definitely find them. Sometimes young deer have diarrhea - a consequence of a violation of the diet. "¦ Do not try to treat animals on your own with home-grown remedies, do not give drugs at random. It is better to contact a veterinarian, he will prescribe the right remedy.

Hickman M., Guy M. Care for wild birds and furs.- M .: Lesn. prom-st. - 87 p.