MAMMALS

  

 Overview
 Insectivores
 Rodents
 Even-toed
 ungulates
 Carnivores
 Species
 protection
 WNP home

  

Text:
Wojciech
Misiukiewicz

Photos: 
Wojciech
Misiukiewicz
Jan Walencik
Marek
Barszczewski
Lech
Krzysztofiak
Maciej
Romański

Drawings:
Ewa Przytuła

Webdesign: 
KAJA
 
2004

  

  

  

Even-toed ungulates  Artiodactyla

  

The wild boar

  

  

The common feature of even-toed ungulates (Artiodactyla) is that they stand on the two middle toes: third and fourth. Artiodactyla are divided into two suborders: ruminants, with the specific stomach structure and specific method of digesting of vegetable food; and non-ruminants i.e. pigs and hippopotamuses (suborderSuidae) which are usually omnivorous. In ruminants, horns or antlers are usually present. The horns, of epidermal origin, consist of a core of bone surrounded by horn layers, and they arise on the forehead. Ossified antlers develop on permanent bony outgrowths called pedicels. The manner of foraging in the two suborders is reflected in types of teeth and the structure of the joint between the lower jaw and skull. The following ruminants occur in the Wigry National Park: the European elk, red deer and roe deer, whereas the wild boar represents non-ruminants.

  

  

  

  

  

The wild boar is common speciesin Wigry National Park

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) occurs commonly in the Wigry NationalPark. Some 100 individuals live here. ”The black game” – as it is called in the hunters’ language – usually lives in herds (groups) consisting of females (sows) and young (piglets) of various ages, and older offspring (2-3-years old). Mature adult males roam solitarily for the majority of the year, and they join the herd only during rutting. The rutting season occurs between November and early February. The males are able to inflict bodily injuries with their lower canines (tusks): a dangerous, natural weapon. Such fights could end in death, but this is mostly prevented by cartilaginous armour plates on the neck and sides of the chest, protecting vital organs. The males strengthen their armour by taking mud-baths, next they rub against tree trunks to get rid of the mud. Their hair is covered with mud, bark and dried resin forming an additional protection. The strongest boars mate with sows, and the young are born in a simple den made of branches, leaves, grass and moss after 4-5 months. The young piglets are patterned with dark stripes on a light ground colour. The young, as early as one week after birth, follow their mother in the search of food. The sow is ferociously aggressive during this period, defending the offspring against aggressors and trespassers, including man. After 3 months the striped pattern of the young turns rusty brown, and after a year its coat becomes blackish-brown, the colour of theadults.

  

Wild boars inflict damage to cultivated areas, considerably reducing harvests in some years. They can cause the most extensive destruction to potato and corn fields. However, the rooting of wild boars in forests is very beneficial as they open the soil for self-sown trees and they eat insects, their larvae and pupae, which may damage the trees.

  

Specific anatomy of the elk
allows this long-legged animal
to live in swampy, bogged areas.

  

The European elk (Alces alces) is the most powerful of the fauna represented in thePark. Despite its size and weight the elk prefers living in marshes. Its extremely long legs serve well for wading in the swamp, in water and through snow. The split hoofs allow the elk to move easily in soft bogs; it can also swim well for long time. Similarly to all male cervids, the head of the bull (male) displays antlers. Depending on the age and environmental conditions the antlers may take the form of points, branches and palmate antlers in some cases. The female elk does not have antlers.

  

The elk is a species easy to observe as it forages both by day and night. In the Wigry National Park a dozen or so individuals are recorded in a year. Elks can be often observed from the view tower in Krusznik (overlooking bogs and wetlands near the Wigry) or a little bridge over the peat bogs on the Czarna Hańcza River, on the green-marked tourist trail.

  

  

  

  

  

  

In September, with the first occurrence of the ground frost,
rutting (mating period) begins.

  

In contrast to the elk which is specifically associated with wetlands, the red deer (Cervus elaphus) – a smaller deer species relative to the elk – is much more tolerant in habitatterms. The red deer may live in any large forest complex. Each year, more than 100 red deer are recorded in the park. 

  

The red deer differs from the elk not only in its smaller weight and finer body structure, but also the shape and outlook of its antlers. As with all cervids, females (hinds) do not grow antlers and the ”privilege” of carrying beautiful antlers belongs to the stags only. Each year, at the end of winter, the stags shed their antlers and grow new ones, often more elaborate year by year.

  

During the development the antlers are covered with velvet – skin under which numerous blood vessels and nerves run. After antlers are completely formed and ossified by about July or August, the red deer shed the velvet by rubbing against tree trunks and branches. Fullygrown antlers are not merely a decoration, but also the basic weapon for the stag fighting for its position in the herd during the rut in September, when stags ”bell”. The sounds of rutting, when the stags bellow to show the competitors in the strength and readiness for fight for the herds (”harems”) of hinds can be heard in the southern part of the park, in the areas of Krusznik, Lipowe and Wysoki Most. Also, there is an annual rut in the central part of the Park in the Gawariec and Słupie areas.

  

Roe deer

The  roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) is the smallest representative of Poland’s even-toedungulates. In winter the deer form herds which split up by gender: the groups of bucks (males) and does (females) occupying individual territories. In July or early August bucks chasing can be observed even in daytime. The doe delivers fawns after 9-10 months. Such a long gestation is related to the biology of this species. It is connected with a specific physiological process, the so-called ”concealed pregnancy”. Wiesław Krawczyński in 1947 wrote: ”(...) It may seem strange that the hind (female red deer), a larger and bigger animal, carries the foetus for circa 33 weeks, while the doe for as many as 40 weeks. It can be explained that the ova rest in the doe’s uterus until December and there is no reaction: their proper development commences only in December. Due to this, the gestation in does lastslonger”. In the male young at 23 months, pedicels on the frontal bones develop and each year bigger and bigger outgrowths will be formed. The antlers are not so impressive as in the red deer, decorating bucks with maximum three-tined (only exceptionally four-tined) antlers.

  

Young roe deer fawns have a coat
with chartacteristic white patches.

  

  

The roe deer is the most numerous species in the Wigry National Park: there are about 150 individuals in the park. Due to their high population density, roe deer may be found all over the Park. In recent years, due to the low snowfall in winter and protective measures undertaken by the Park, the condition of the roe deer has improved and the chances for further development of this species areenhanced.

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

  

next