The rut in the Monfragüe National Park

Have you heard about rutting? That majestic sound that deer make.

We are going to tell you a little more in case you dare to come and listen to it here near the Plaza Mayor Trujillo Apartments.

The rut is the rutting period when males join their group of females.

During the mating season, young deer without a herd of females try to win over new females to mate with. As for the dominant male, he watches over his already acquired herd and, as far as possible, tries to enlarge it by attracting females from the neighboring herd.

It is a very intense period for the males because they must monitor their females, mate with them (does have a very short fertility period, about one day a year) and discourage young males from getting too close to their herd. During this period, the deer stop eating and resting. They can lose up to 30 kg!

To mark their presence and highlight their excitement, the deer urinates in mud puddles to wallow and release as much scent as possible.

The deer emits a hoarse and impressive cry to warn females of its presence (the rut), but also to intimidate other males who may be tempted to approach its territory.

Once the mating period is over, the males spend their time eating and sleeping to recover before winter…

If you want to live the experience in the nearby Monfragüe National Park, we leave you these websites:

Adalberti https://www.adalbertiextremadura.com
Ecoturismo Monfragüe https://www.ecoturismomonfrague.com/

You already know our page in case you want to reserve one of our apartments ;-)