The roe deer is an extremely flexible animal that can live both in closed forests and open grasslands. It is a solitary species that does not live in groups like most European ungulates, and is highly adaptable thanks to the current lack of natural predators. Thanks to its great acclimatization to different habitats, it can occupy a variety of forest environments: deciduous forests, mixed forests and coniferous forests, but it is also adapted to forests that are in a degraded state and in harsher conditions, such as scrub or grasslands. It likes inlaid woodland and planted landscapes, with layers of trees, shrubs, and grasses, so it is well suited to modern agricultural areas. That is why we can find it in much of Asia and Europe.

Roe deer distribution: Asia and Europe

We find two species of roe deer on the planet, the Asian and the European. Although the Siberian or Asian roe deer has been considered a species since 2007, before it was a subspecies of the European one.

The Asian variety has larger antlers and more branches, its size is also larger (it can reach 60kg). In addition to northeast Asia, it lives in Kazakhstan, eastern Tibet, and the Korean peninsula. In the west it reaches the Ural Mountains and the Caucasus, where it coincides with the European roe deer. This species has been in a progressive decline for decades, due to fires and poaching.

A very curious characteristic of this species is its seasonal movements. It is solitary in summer (females remain with their young), but in winter it forms mixed groups of up to 20-30 individuals. During seasonal movements, the group size increases up to 500 individuals. In the Amur province (Russia), the species migrates every year from winter to summer areas, with migrations of up to 200 km3.

Within the European roe deer there are a great variety of subspecies and breeds depending on its geographical location and the different authors, although officially the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) only recognizes 5 subspecies of European roe deer.

This cervid is present in most of Europe, with the exception of Ireland, Greece and northern Scandinavia. Germany is the country with the highest population density and with the highest catches, also there you can hunt the black roe deer from Lower Saxony (a unique specimen in the world).

Subspecies in Spain

The roe deer has experienced a large increase in its population, as a consequence of the abandonment of the rural environment and more rational and management hunting practices.

In the Peninsula we have three of them Capreolus capreolus canus (Central Spain), Capreolus capreolus decorus (Northern Spain) and Capreolus capreolus throat (Southern Spain or Moorish roe deer).

If you want to know more about the roe deer in northern Spain and join us on our adventure hunting them, we leave you the link to our series on Cazavisión: "El corzo del norte" https://plus.cazavision.com/el-corzo-del -north

the moorish roe deer

Its geographical distribution is the southernmost that exists, since it has adapted to southern Spain, specifically to the mountains of Grazalema, Ronda and Los Alcornocales. The Atlantic climate that forms in these territories has created a very unique habitat, which has made the roe deer that inhabit them develop their own characteristics.

It is a type of roe deer that is slightly less heavy and with a grayer tone of fur throughout the year. The classic lighter bib, which other populations wear, does not appear in the Moorish roe deer. They also have a shorter and wider jaw, this is probably due to the tougher stalk feeding. Due to the latitude of its distribution range, it can be said that its life cycle is one month earlier.

Author: María Balletbó