The Red Deer Cervus elaphus (Fr. Cerf élaphe) population in the Touraine Loire Valley is thriving. I rarely see the animals themselves though. Just the evidence of their activities.
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| Red deer tracks. |
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| Damage to the bark of these pine trees, indicated by the reddish patches, is caused by the stags rubbing their foreheads and antlers on the trunks, to remove velvet, scent mark and strengthen neck muscles. |
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| Red Deer stag on the Chambord estate, photographed a few years ago. |
2 comments:
I have seen a couple of what I think are these deer during my years here, both times leaping across the road in front of my car. Once in the Herault, near Saint-Chinian, and the other time somewhere in the middle of France, kind of lost on some little track road in the forest. They looked reddish and were big!
bonnie in provence
bonnie: yes I've once had hind cross in front of me, in the middle of the day, in the forest.
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