During the spring, De Hoge Veluwe National Parc is home to around 200 roe deer. A female is called a doe, a male is a buck. Roe are smaller than red deer – not much bigger than a large dog. Only the bucks grow antlers. Those antlers do not have more than six ends, and, as with red deer, are re-grown every year.
During early spring, a roebuck marks a territory by secreting an aromatic substance from a special gland underneath the eyes. The bucks have territorial fights. Roe often live alone, but at the end of the winter they gather in a herd. The herd consists of does, calves and one or several bucks. The calves stay with the does for about a year.
Roes are true browsers and they mainly live on young shoots and buds from plants and bushes.
Deer on De Hoge Veluwe