Nature » Fauna

Red Deer

Cervus elaphus

Size: length up to 260 cm; height at shoulders 150 cm.

How long it lives: 25-30 years.

Habitat: it lives in open woods, moorlands, and mountain pastures.

What it eats: it has a very varied diet (especially grass, leaves, small plants).

Reproduction: the mating season is in autumn, when the male attracts the female with his characteristic bell.

Babies: in spring a single baby is born.

Curiosities: during the mating season, males splash about in puddles or wallow in mud.

Remarks: the coat is reddish-brown in summer and becomes greyish-brown in winter, with a mane of long hair developing on the neck of males. Antlers change every year and may present anomalies depending on different factors. When it lives in open areas, it forms large herds; on the contrary, when it lives in the woodlands, groups are smaller.

In the Park: Zoldo, Cajada, Monte Serva, Val Imperina, Camporotondo, Piani di Erera, Piani Eterni, Agordino. The species is growing in number.