Where to see sparring deer in a zoo?

J

Jurek7

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
Which places keep large herds of large deer and during the rutting season one can watch bulls fighting? Deer are very common in European zoos, and autumn rut of wild red deer is a known nature sight. However, zoos usually keep only one male with a harem of females. Bulls roar but cannot fight.

So far, I found that Wildpark Aurach in Austria and Wildpark Silz and Naturwildpark Granat in Germany seem to do it. Any experiences and new ideas are welcome!
 
If in the London area the Royal Parks (Bushy Park and Richmond Park) have impressive herds of Red Deer
 
Jurek7 said:
Which places keep large herds of large deer and during the rutting season one can watch bulls fighting? Deer are very common in European zoos, and autumn rut of wild red deer is a known nature sight. However, zoos usually keep only one male with a harem of females. Bulls roar but cannot fight.

So far, I found that Wildpark Aurach in Austria and Wildpark Silz and Naturwildpark Granat in Germany seem to do it. Any experiences and new ideas are welcome!
Click to expand...

Can't really recommend a trip there, but Zoo Tábor (CZE) kept a large herd of Fallow deer with at least 3-4 males...also that is few years old info, don't know if it is still true.
 
The Domain of the Caves of Han Wildlife Park in Belgium has a large herd of red deer with several males.
 
Sainte Croix in France is great for observerving deer. Many males.
 
Bronx Zoo is good for Pére David’s Deer and Indian Sambar (although the latter you have to luck out on Wild Asia Monorail).
 
Natuurpark Lelystad in the Netherlands has both a herd of around 40 red deer and a herd of around 20 Père David's deer. Both herds have several males and live in large walk-through enclosures.

The sparring of two Père David's deer there was filmed last summer, see here.
 
Pere David's deer can sometimes be seen sparring at Whipsnade in the rut

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the youngsters also play spar throughout the year and the Sika there can also be seen sparring, (real or testing strength) on a regular basis. The herds vary from 30 to more than 70 individuals per the different species in the A Passage through Asia area.

Aside from that most large deer parks in the UK (captive deer but in large herds and much larger areas) will see a lot of clashes (particularly Red and Fallow); Bradgate, Richmond and Bushy as mentioned above, Burghley, Houghton, Knepp etc.
 
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