Would you like to see animals from the Nalibokskaya Pushcha? Rare footage from the Belarusian reserve
We go on a photo hunt in Nalibokskaya Pushcha. Where can you see tarpans - the progenitors of domestic horses? From whom do brown bears steal honey? Why is it better not to pick up hedgehogs and when will deer come to your house? The keepers of the reserve told the correspondents of the newspaper "7 days" about this. Thanks to the Dutch "greens" More than 400 years ago, herds of tarpans grazed on Belarusian lands. This was their home. Some of our ancestors domesticated, and those that lived in the thicket were exterminated. And not so long ago, wild horses returned to their historical homeland. Where can you see tarpans - the progenitors of domestic horses? From whom do brown bears steal honey? Why is it better not to pick up hedgehogs and when will deer come to your house? The keepers of the reserve told the correspondents of the newspaper "7 days" about this. Thanks to the Dutch "greens" More than 400 years ago, herds of tarpans grazed on Belarusian lands. This was their home. Some of our ancestors domesticated, and those that lived in the thicket were exterminated. And not so long ago, wild horses returned to their historical homeland. Where can you see tarpans - the progenitors of domestic horses? From whom do brown bears steal honey? Why is it better not to pick up hedgehogs and when will deer come to your house? The keepers of the reserve told the correspondents of the newspaper "7 days" about this. Thanks to the Dutch "greens" More than 400 years ago, herds of tarpans grazed on Belarusian lands. This was their home. Some of our ancestors domesticated, and those that lived in the thicket were exterminated. And not so long ago, wild horses returned to their historical homeland.
“In 2019, a new countdown began for the tarpans to live in Naliboki,” Alexander Lapitsky, DIRECTOR of the Naliboksky Republican Landscape Reserve, told us the story of their return. – One of the reserves in the Netherlands offered to bring them to Belarus.
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There, the local forests were so overpopulated with tarpans that soil degradation even began. Experts came to the conclusion: some of the horses need to be relocated somewhere or shot. Upon learning of the threat looming over the population, the local "greens" raised the alarm. To save the animals from imminent death, they found sponsors willing to pay for the transportation of tarpans to their new homeland, and began to look for a suitable one.
Belarus was one of the options under consideration. Employees of the reserve from the Netherlands came to us, toured the regions, and they liked it. The Naliboksky reserve agreed to take a whole group of tarpans. We signed an agreement on the reception of 150 wild horses. And when the echelon arrived, there were 151 of them - plus one to the document. How did it happen?
- The fact is that tarpans are harem animals. The herd, as a rule, consists of one male, mares and their offspring. Another horse followed into the transport along with the others. They decided not to separate him from his family. So he arrived in the Nalibokskaya Pushcha, or rather, in the Tyakovo tract.
Two months later, when the quarantine ended, the tarpans were released for free grazing, and they dispersed throughout the forest. Over the past two years, the number of wild horses has grown to 240 individuals - the tarpans liked their new (old) homeland. Novoselov is protected in the Naliboksky reserve. They are healthy and in good spirits. Poachers bypass these places.
One of the herds visits the Kletishchenskoye forestry more often than others, where their photos were taken. Skilful honey miners At the beginning of the 21st century, after almost a century of absence, brown bears also returned to Nalibokskaya Pushcha. Presumably, they came here from the Berezinsky Reserve. We learned about this from the forester of the Kletishchenskoye forestry Evgeny Gerasimchik.
- According to various estimates, there are about seven individuals in our forests. Two of them got into the habit of going to the apiaries of the forestry in the summer and turned out to be skilled experts in extracting honey. Approaching the hive, the bear took off the lid from it and threw it aside, then pulled out frames with honeycombs one by one. As the beekeepers calculated, in one walk the bear ate a bucket of honey!
The foresters had to supply the apiary with an electric shepherd, which is used when grazing cows. Only then did the hives remain intact.
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At the same time, the honey badger proved to be a cautious animal. He preferred not to meet the man. And a photo in memory of the robber of the hives could not be taken. Taking a picture of a wild bear in the forest is a great success. Such chances are only in summer, in winter he sleeps. In 2019, one such daredevil was photographed on an abandoned farm. Defenders from predators Are there any chances for lovers of photography to meet a predator in winter?
“A predator hides from a person,” notes Alexander Lapitsky. – Animals have excellent hearing and sense of smell, so they, as a rule, will notice a person much earlier and prefer to get out of his way. Only a wounded predator and a patient with rabies is dangerous. Never pick up hedgehogs! They catch rabies more often than other carnivores. The fact that hedgehogs carry apples and mushrooms is a fantasy of fairy tale illustrators. After all, these animals do not eat fruits and mushrooms, but eat larvae, snails, mice, which may have rabies.
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As Yevgeny Gerasimchik said, in winter, in the possessions of their forestry, you can meet elk, deer, roe deer, and wild boar more often than others. Wolves, foxes and lynxes have chosen the Nalibokskaya Pushcha with its age-old pines and oaks, impenetrable swamps. In fear of meeting with predators, wild goats and deer in the long winter nights approach under the sheds of the village of Kletishche, where cows once stood. Now there is a cow in only one barn - the villagers buy MILK in the store, and the forest guests who seek protection from predators are treated with understanding.
***
Pushcha is famous for its evergreen forests. Pine forests grow interspersed with spruce, birch and aspen forests. There are whole ash forests. True, there are few oak forests. But there are oaks that only three can grasp. And how good are century-old beauties-pines. The northern boundary of the hornbeam distribution runs along the southwestern part of the forest, but it grows only in the undergrowth. There are many swamps in Pushcha, including impassable ones.
And the Naliboki population of bison lives here - a total of 117 individuals. As Alexander Lapitsky emphasized, there are few of these animals in comparison with other locations of their habitat in the country. For example, the lake population has more than 600 heads, the Osipovichi population has more than 500.
“At the same time, in Nalibokskaya Pushcha there are all kinds of animals represented in the Republic of Belarus,” the director of the reserve noted. - But there are no such herds of wild horses as we have anywhere else.
| Tamara MARKINA,. | Photo by Oksana MANCHUK, Andrey POKUMEYKO and Sergey PROKHOROV.
READ ALSO
“In 2019, a new countdown began for the tarpans to live in Naliboki,” Alexander Lapitsky, DIRECTOR of the Naliboksky Republican Landscape Reserve, told us the story of their return. – One of the reserves in the Netherlands offered to bring them to Belarus.
READ ALSO
There, the local forests were so overpopulated with tarpans that soil degradation even began. Experts came to the conclusion: some of the horses need to be relocated somewhere or shot. Upon learning of the threat looming over the population, the local "greens" raised the alarm. To save the animals from imminent death, they found sponsors willing to pay for the transportation of tarpans to their new homeland, and began to look for a suitable one.
Belarus was one of the options under consideration. Employees of the reserve from the Netherlands came to us, toured the regions, and they liked it. The Naliboksky reserve agreed to take a whole group of tarpans. We signed an agreement on the reception of 150 wild horses. And when the echelon arrived, there were 151 of them - plus one to the document. How did it happen?
- The fact is that tarpans are harem animals. The herd, as a rule, consists of one male, mares and their offspring. Another horse followed into the transport along with the others. They decided not to separate him from his family. So he arrived in the Nalibokskaya Pushcha, or rather, in the Tyakovo tract.
Two months later, when the quarantine ended, the tarpans were released for free grazing, and they dispersed throughout the forest. Over the past two years, the number of wild horses has grown to 240 individuals - the tarpans liked their new (old) homeland. Novoselov is protected in the Naliboksky reserve. They are healthy and in good spirits. Poachers bypass these places.
One of the herds visits the Kletishchenskoye forestry more often than others, where their photos were taken. Skilful honey miners At the beginning of the 21st century, after almost a century of absence, brown bears also returned to Nalibokskaya Pushcha. Presumably, they came here from the Berezinsky Reserve. We learned about this from the forester of the Kletishchenskoye forestry Evgeny Gerasimchik.
- According to various estimates, there are about seven individuals in our forests. Two of them got into the habit of going to the apiaries of the forestry in the summer and turned out to be skilled experts in extracting honey. Approaching the hive, the bear took off the lid from it and threw it aside, then pulled out frames with honeycombs one by one. As the beekeepers calculated, in one walk the bear ate a bucket of honey!
The foresters had to supply the apiary with an electric shepherd, which is used when grazing cows. Only then did the hives remain intact.
READ ALSO
At the same time, the honey badger proved to be a cautious animal. He preferred not to meet the man. And a photo in memory of the robber of the hives could not be taken. Taking a picture of a wild bear in the forest is a great success. Such chances are only in summer, in winter he sleeps. In 2019, one such daredevil was photographed on an abandoned farm. Defenders from predators Are there any chances for lovers of photography to meet a predator in winter?
“A predator hides from a person,” notes Alexander Lapitsky. – Animals have excellent hearing and sense of smell, so they, as a rule, will notice a person much earlier and prefer to get out of his way. Only a wounded predator and a patient with rabies is dangerous. Never pick up hedgehogs! They catch rabies more often than other carnivores. The fact that hedgehogs carry apples and mushrooms is a fantasy of fairy tale illustrators. After all, these animals do not eat fruits and mushrooms, but eat larvae, snails, mice, which may have rabies.
READ ALSO
As Yevgeny Gerasimchik said, in winter, in the possessions of their forestry, you can meet elk, deer, roe deer, and wild boar more often than others. Wolves, foxes and lynxes have chosen the Nalibokskaya Pushcha with its age-old pines and oaks, impenetrable swamps. In fear of meeting with predators, wild goats and deer in the long winter nights approach under the sheds of the village of Kletishche, where cows once stood. Now there is a cow in only one barn - the villagers buy MILK in the store, and the forest guests who seek protection from predators are treated with understanding.
***
Pushcha is famous for its evergreen forests. Pine forests grow interspersed with spruce, birch and aspen forests. There are whole ash forests. True, there are few oak forests. But there are oaks that only three can grasp. And how good are century-old beauties-pines. The northern boundary of the hornbeam distribution runs along the southwestern part of the forest, but it grows only in the undergrowth. There are many swamps in Pushcha, including impassable ones.
And the Naliboki population of bison lives here - a total of 117 individuals. As Alexander Lapitsky emphasized, there are few of these animals in comparison with other locations of their habitat in the country. For example, the lake population has more than 600 heads, the Osipovichi population has more than 500.
“At the same time, in Nalibokskaya Pushcha there are all kinds of animals represented in the Republic of Belarus,” the director of the reserve noted. - But there are no such herds of wild horses as we have anywhere else.
| Tamara MARKINA,. | Photo by Oksana MANCHUK, Andrey POKUMEYKO and Sergey PROKHOROV.
READ ALSO