We received footage from camera traps installed in the reserve last fall. Raccoon dogs were the first, who were captured with a camera trap, placed in the floodplain of the Berezina river in the Molino natural boundary. In the video, one animal “rolled” in the sand to get rid of parasites or neutralize odors. A week later, a second one joined it.
On the video from the same camera trap, we observed the mating behavior of a male red deer. In September, there breeding period of ungulates starts. The handsome deer appeared in front of the camera in all its glory: it roared, marked its territory, and beat the ground with its powerful hooves and luxurious antlers.
Another male and several female deer were also captured by a camera trap installed near the salt lick just a couple of kilometers from Domzheritsy village.
But there are some other animals near the salt lick. So, in mid-December, a white hare was seen there, and at the end of March − a fox.
It’s not the first time that camera traps capture brown bears at the same place. A couple of years ago, an outstanding photo was taken here − an adult male as tall as the famous Pushchik bear in the reserve. In early April this year, the camera captured this bear again. It was rubbing against the salt lick, thus leaving its territorial mark. The "clubfooted" left pieces of its wool on the column of a salt lick, and a range of huge footprints − on the way to it.
And again, footage indicating the appearance of offspring in bears was received. In the middle of November, one bear family appeared on the site in the Molino natural boundary − a bear with almost one-year-old cubs. And again we see three bear cubs at once − now this is not uncommon for us!
We can say with confidence that the population of brown bears in the reserve is constantly replenished with young individuals and is increasing every year. You can learn more about the largest population of brown bears in Belarus by reading the "bear" report, which was made by correspondents of the sputnik.by news agency in the Berezinsky Reserve.
Most likely, the same large lynx regularly appeared in front of the hidden forest camera in the evening, at night and in the morning. From mid-October, it lived in the floodplain of one river, and from late November to early February it constantly entered the road through another river.
The same area is “controlled” by the large wolf flock, which we talked about in the previous report on camera traps. By the way, the video with 12 wolves, published on our Youtube channel 3 months ago, has already collected more than 19 thousand views! A flock of wolves, recorded in Tereshki forestry in early November, moved to Kraitsy forestry a couple of weeks later.
Some of the wolves from this flock still appear on the road near the Domzheritskoye swamp.
This road, leading to the Uvyazok natural boundary, and passing between the floodplain and swampy forest, is a busy "highway" for animals. As well as the wolves and the lynx, a fox was “caught” with a camera trap at the beginning of February. It headed towards the Domzheritskoye swamp.
At the end of March, a mink was captured there, and a few days later − an elk.
Once again, in this place a black stork was seen. The fact that a rare graceful bird has been appearing here for several years in a row indicates the presence of a nest nearby.
