Marselisborg Deer Park ( da, Marselisborg Dyrehave) is a enclosed woodland area in the northern parts of the

Marselisborg Forests Marselisborg Forests ( da, Marselisborgskovene), or simply Marselisborg Forest, is a forest to the south of Aarhus City in the Kingdom of Denmark. Many present day sources now includes the forest of Fløjstrup, as part of the Marselisborg Fores ...

. The trees are somewhat sparse here and the terrain especially hilly, compared to the surrounding forest. Marselisborg Deer Park is not a deer park in the original sense, as it is not meant for hunting

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

. The idea is more like a small

safari park A safari park, sometimes known as a wildlife park, is a zoo-like commercial drive-in tourist attraction where visitors can drive their own vehicles or ride in vehicles provided by the facility to observe freely roaming animals. A safari park ...

, but just presenting a few common species, without exotic animals. Initially,

sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...

were introduced to graze the curvy open woodland hills, but later

roe deer The roe deer (''Capreolus capreolus''), also known as the roe, western roe deer, or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapt ...

and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is ...

s has been added. The park was established in 1932 and have since been enlarged several times. It is owned and administered by the

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

Safety and concerns

The deer park is open and free for public access year round in the day-light hours, although the following visits are discouraged: * June-July. Here the female does are nursing their young calves. The does show protective behaviour and might attack humans that come too close. In addition the important nursing might be disturbed too much, giving the calves a lower chance of survival. * September-November. Here the deer are mating and the bucks will be in a rut and showing aggressive behaviour. Especially the sika bucks with their antlers poses a threat to visitors. In addition, disturbances might postpone the mating, giving the outcome calves a lower chance of survival, if the animals are stressed too much. * Stormy weather. Many of the old trees poses a danger, with heavy falling branches. These are explicit dangers, but there are a lot of general concerns too to take into account, when visiting the area. Many of them are obvious to most people, but here is a few important ones, that might not be:The concerns listed, holds true for any safari park or animal reservation eventually and because they are only to be found explicitly in Danish languaged sources, they have been described here in this article. * Feeding. Deer and many mammals cannot digest bread, pasta or similar food items and they will fall ill if they eat it. Instead the animals can be fed with carrots and apples, which are normally considered safe. The wild boars must never be fed anything. * Chasing. Chasing smaller animals will stress them unnecessary and can make them sick or even kill them. Chasing larger animals, might make them aggressive and attack you. You can choose to interact with animals, if they choose to approach you in a friendly or neutral manner. * Flocks. Many animals have a natural flock behaviour and it can be dangerous for humans to be caught inside a flock, even if the individual animals does not pose a threat when encountered by themselves. Stay in the outskirts of flocks. * Collecting food. Animals in the wild live from what the surrounding nature offers them, so do not collect larger quantities of food items, as the animals might need them for their survival. Do not collect the chestnuts or mast in the Marselisborg Deer Park. * Litter and garbage. Animals might try to eat wasted litter and it can harm them, in some cases kill them in a most agonising way. Do not leave litter or garbage in nature. The wild boars are permanently fenced in their own enclosure, as they are a dangerous animal.

Gallery

File:Udsigten (juni) 02.jpg, The vista known as ''Udsigten'' (The View) File:Marselisborg Dyrehave (efterår).jpg, Autumn scene File:Marselisborg Dyrehave 08.jpg, The landscape File:3 con hoẵng châu Âu.jpg, Roe deer File:Hươu tại Aarhus.jpg, Roe deer stag File:Huơu sao.jpg, Sika deer

Sources

Information on the Deer Park
Aarhus Municipality

Notes and references

External links

A map of the enclosure
Aarhus Municipality {{coord, 56, 7, 15, N, 10, 13, 10, E, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Parks in Aarhus