Europe’s Last Primeval Forest

Animal Enclosures in Belovezhskaya Pushcha

Tarpan Horses

There is a zoo in the park where animals who represent the forest live. One of the animals living there is the Tarpan horse.

Tarpan means “wild horse” in the Kazakh language. They are extinct. They lived in the wild in central Europe right up until the beginning of the 20th century. This is some testament to their grit and determination to live. Before time ran out they were bred with domesticated horses and now we have the Tarpan hybrid.

Racoon Dogs Revisited

These big, fat Raccoon Dogs look a little too well fed if you ask me. Even though they are canines, they form pairs, not packs. They are from the far east and were brought to Belarus in 1936. Fifty of them settled in the Gomel area. By 1948 there were so many of them that they started to hunt them in the Belovezhskaya Forest.

European Red Deer

What a noble soul he has. In 1864, the Tsar traded bison for Red Deer from Germany. He wanted more diversity in the species he was hunting. In 2022, you can hunt this deer in Belarus and Bavaria.

European Bison

This is a critically endangered species. We got rid of ours too, didn’t we? But we have buffaloes. What is the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

He is the largest land mammal in Europe. They live until 25 years old. That’s a long time for a large animal. They are herd animals. Like elephants, their herd consists of an old slapper (experienced female) in the lead and younger females with calves. The males sometimes form small clans of their own.

The Sika Deer

The poor things were trying to beat the heat the day we were here. These deer are endangered. They were introduced into European Russia in the early 30s from Primorsky Krai. Primorsky means ‘by the sea’. This area is the farthest most southeastern part of Russia. But then, as usual, they were hunted to near extinction. So now they only live in captivity. But, I just read that you can hunt them in the Bavarian forests of Germany. Go figure.

Their coats and antlers are valuable to Russians and Chinese. As you can see the coats are a deep red, golden color. In the summer they wear coats with white spots and in the winter they change into darker colored coats. The antlers are harvested for “Pantocrinum”. They say this is good for nerves and enhances endurance. But, it sounds like snake oil to me. It certainly isn’t worth killing such a gorgeous animal. Just calm down and get some sleep. That’s good for the nerves too.

Wait

Were these two in the animal enclosure section? Oh no, that’s Baba Yaga the witch and some kind of Christmas fairy beside her. They have a strange look in their eyes. I think they were trying to tell me something but I don’t know what it was. Some things are better left unsaid, I’m sure.