ACTA THERIOLOGICA Vol. 29, 23: 283—290, 1984 The Physical Condition of Red Deer Falling a Prey to the Wolf and Lynx and Harvested in the Carpathian Mountains 1 Henryk OKARMA Okarma H., 1983: Th° physical condition of red deer falling a prey to the wolf and lynx and harvested in the Carpathian Mountains. Acta theriol., 29, 23: 283—290 [With 2 Tables & 2 Figs.] Examination was made of the condition of red deer killed by wolves and lynxes in the Bieszczady Mountains over a period of two winters (1981/82 and 1982/83) or shot by hunters. The fat content in the bone marrow of the limbs was taken as a criterion of condition. Important differences were found in the age structure of red deer killed by wol ves and lynxes. All the animals killed by the latter were fawns had been bitten to death in February and March, whereas they formed 29% of the wolf’s diet in December and January, and 49% in February and March. The average age of adult animals killed by wolves in those two parts of the winter season was similar and was respectively 4.8 and 4.4 years. Hinds formed 61% of the adults killed, the remainder, 39%, being stags. The studies showed that the condition of animals killed by wolves and lynxes differed greatly. As many as 82% of the fawns killed by lynxes were weak animals with up to 20% of fat in the fe moral bone marrow, whereas they formed only 33% of the wolf’s diet, while physically strong fawns with fat content of 80—100% formed the same percentage. [Department of Animal Ecology, Jagiellonian University, Karasia 6, 30-060 Kraków, Poland]. I. INTRODUCTION The wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758) and lynx (Lynx lynx Linnaeus, 1758) occur in Poland over an area of about 25,000 km*, but settled po pulations of these species live chiefly in the north-eastern and south eastern regions of Poland (Sumiński, 1974). Heated discussions on the subject of the wolf’s role as natural selector recur after each severe winter, when traces of its feeding, particularly among populations of red deer inhabiting the Carpathian area, are both numerous and specta cular. Ungulate mammals accumulate a large amount of reserve fat during the growing season (Harris, 1945; Cheatum, 1949; Riney, 1955). During the first phase of their winter utilization it is the reserves of subcu taneous fat which are first used up, then the fat in the abdominal cavity and bone marrow of the limbs. The fat of bone marrow in the limbs is used in turn from the femur and humerus, then the tibia and radius, then from the metatarsal and metacarpal bones (Brooks et al, 1977; Ratcliffe, 1980; Reich, 1981). 1 Praca wykonana w ramach problemu międzyresortowego MR.II.19 koordyno wanego przez SGGW-AR. [283]