Home‐range sizes and habitat selection among calving and non‐calving female fallow deer Dama dama were analysed during the last months of pregnancy and following parturition. The study was carried out in central Italy using radio‐tracking techniques. It was based on data collected on 23 adult females (calving n=15, non‐calving n=8) from March 2003 to August 2003. Seasonal and bimonthly home‐range analyses showed marked differential spatial behaviour between calving and non‐calving females only when fawns were present. These were born during June, and the summer and July–August home ranges of calving females were significantly lower than those recorded for non‐calving ones. Although differences between spatial use of calving and non‐calving females became significant only after the birth of fawns, habitat choices were significantly different from late pregnancy, when females had already reached parturition sites. Therefore, whereas during March–April calving and non‐calving females showed similar habitat choices, from May, habitat selection proved to be significantly different between the two classes of females. In particular, major differences were detected in the use of marshes and meadows. That female fallow deer adopt anti‐predator tactics during the calving season was shown by their higher use of marshes, the habitat that offers the greatest cover and provides good concealment for fawns. Calving females avoided meadows, because these are open areas without any concealment for fawns; however they were selected by non‐calving females as a function of their high productivity, as shown by analysis of the grass quality of the study site. The use of sub‐optimal habitats by calving females because of the presence of fawns confirmed the findings of previous studies. These showed that ungulate mothers may move to poorer but safer habitats, compromising their energy intakes, to reduce the predation risk to their neonates.

Wolf–ungulate interactions were studied in a mountainous region of the western Alps (Italy) from December 1999 to November 2002. Analysis of 848 scats of wolves Canis lupus showed that their most important prey was wild ungulates (87.2%). Cervids were the preferred prey (74.2%) and constituted predominant food items both in winter (84.2%) and summer (54.3%). Wolves preyed most intensively upon young ungulates. Presence of domestic ungulates on high-altitude pastures during summer (May–October) influenced wolf diet (summer 19.0%, winter 0.3%), but, despite the major density of domestic livestock, wolves still preferred wild ungulates. A strong trophic relationship between wolves and red deer Cervus elaphus emerged from the present study. During three winters, 177 ungulate carcasses were recorded. Excluding hunting, the most important cause of death in red deer was predation by wolves (51.5%), followed by disease and starvation (36.4%) and traffic accidents (12.1%). The majority of red deer killed were hinds (58.8%) and calves (29.4%); stag kills represented only 11.8%. For roe deer Capreolus capreolus, starvation and diseases were the lowest factor (11.5%), slightly higher than wolf predation (10.8%), while traffic accidents were the main cause of mortality (77.7%). Chamois Rupicapra rupicapra seemed to be less important than red deer and roe deer in the diet of wolves. The high susceptibility of red deer to wolf predation could be a result of the strong overlap of habitat and altitude use with the wolf, and to their more conspicuous herding.

Predation by wolves Canis lupus on roe deer Capreolus capreolus was studied by scat analysis in five areas of the Province of Arezzo, north‐eastern Tuscany, Italy. In the intensive study area (ISA) roe deer represented 19.1% of mean per cent volume (MPV) while in the other areas its use ranged between 10.9% and 53.4% of MPV A low degree of variation was found in both annual and seasonal use of roe deer, although seasonal differences were more marked in those areas where roe deer use was lower. In ISA, roe deer was negatively selected among species: the Ivlev's electivity index ranged between – 0.41 and – 0.89. Analysing intra‐specific selection, in ISA < 1‐year‐old individuals were preferred by wolves, mainly during the fawns’ first months of life. This trend was confirmed in the other areas, where fawns represented more than 50% of the relative number of roe deer prey. In ISA, the use of roe deer (as MPV) was not correlated with its density or with that of the main prey, wild boar, and in almost all the other areas no relation between use and density of roe deer was founded. However, in the one area where both roe deer density and use were the highest, these two variables seemed to exhibit a comparable trend. The use of roe deer was negatively correlated with the percentage of forest cover among all the study areas.