Forest Mammals: Identification Quiz and Guide to 10 Forest Animals of the Czech Republic

🦌 Quiz: Can you identify the mammals of the Czech forest?

Try our interactive identification game – three difficulty levels, 10 questions and plenty of fascinating facts. Fun for children and adults alike!

A guide to 10 mammals of Czech forests

Czech forests are home to dozens of mammal species. We have chosen the ten most interesting ones – those you have a chance of meeting on a walk in the Šumava, the Beskydy or the Bohemian Paradise.

Red deer – Cervus elaphus

The red deer is our largest native hoofed animal. An adult male, the stag, weighs 150–250 kg and stands up to 150 cm at the shoulder. The female is called a hind and the young a calf. The strongest populations live in the large forest complexes of the Šumava and the Jeseníky mountains.

Its hallmark is a mighty set of branching antlers, which stags shed every year in late winter and regrow in spring. The growing antlers are covered with soft skin – known as velvet – and grow quickly over the summer. In autumn, during the rut, the forests fill with the deep roars of stags competing for a harem of hinds. This sound is traditionally associated with the autumn forests of the Vysočina highlands and the Ore Mountains. AMADEA uses beech and oak wood – trees whose bark deer like to strip – to make chopping boards and serving boards.

Roe deer – Capreolus capreolus

The roe deer is the most common hoofed animal in the Czech Republic – it lives in practically every corner of the landscape, from lowlands to mountain forests. The male is a buck, the female a doe and the young a kid or fawn. It weighs between 15 and 30 kg.

Compared with the red deer, the roe deer is much smaller and has simple antlers with no more than three points on each side. A characteristic feature is the large white or yellowish rump patch (“mirror”), which fawns instinctively follow when fleeing behind their mother. Roe deer are fairly solitary – unlike red deer, they do not form large herds for most of the year. We most often see them at dawn and dusk at the edges of fields and forest clearings all over the country.

Red fox – Vulpes vulpes

The red fox is our most widespread carnivore and one of the most intelligent animals of Central European forests. It lives in dense forests as well as farmland, and in recent decades increasingly on the edges of towns too – Prague, Brno or Olomouc.

It is an omnivore with an exceptionally varied diet – it hunts mice and voles and eats forest fruit, earthworms, insects and carrion. Its reddish coat, white chin and strikingly large bushy tail with a white tip are unmistakable. The fox is active mainly at night and dusk, but in quiet areas it can be seen during the day as well.

European badger – Meles meles

The European badger is one of the largest members of the mustelid family in Europe. It lives in extensive burrows known as setts, which it digs on forested hillsides throughout the Czech Republic. Setts are passed down from generation to generation, and some complexes are very old.

The badger is an omnivore – it eats earthworms, insects, fruit, fungi, small vertebrates and carrion. Before winter it builds up considerable fat reserves and enters a light winter rest, from which it wakes on mild days. Its characteristic black-and-white striped head is a warning signal – the badger is strong and has powerful scent glands.

Wild boar – Sus scrofa

The wild boar is one of the most successful mammals in the Czech Republic. Numbers have risen sharply in recent decades, and today wild boar live even on the edges of large cities. The male is called a boar, the female a sow and the young piglets (striped “humbugs”).

The wild boar is the perfect omnivore with an exceptionally sensitive sense of smell. By rooting up the soil it creates furrows suitable for seeds to germinate, helping new trees to grow. Foresters have mixed feelings about this – rooting also damages young growth and crops at the edges of forests.

Red squirrel – Sciurus vulgaris

The red squirrel is perhaps the best-loved forest mammal in the Czech Republic – nimble, agile and unmistakable. It lives in deciduous and coniferous forests from the lowlands to the mountains, and we see it daily in the parks of large Czech cities. Its coat colour varies a lot – from bright russet through dark brown to almost black.

The squirrel is mainly vegetarian – it feeds on nuts, acorns, cones, buds and fungi. For winter it builds up stores, which it hides in the ground or in tree hollows. Interestingly, it never finds some of its stores – and thus, paradoxically, helps trees spread. Its life in the treetops reflects the quality of the forest. AMADEA turns oak wood – the tree whose acorns squirrels gather so eagerly – into wooden bowls and serving accessories.

Pine marten – Martes martes

The pine marten is an elegant mustelid with exceptional climbing abilities. Unlike its relative the stone marten, it lives almost exclusively in forests and depends on old trees with hollows or the nests of large birds. It occurs in forests throughout the Czech Republic and is more common in hilly and mountainous areas.

The pine marten is mainly carnivorous – it hunts squirrels, birds, lizards and mice. It moves skilfully through the treetops and can chase a squirrel tens of metres above the ground. Its key identifying feature is a yellowish-orange throat patch – unlike the stone marten, whose patch is white.

Eurasian otter – Lutra lutra

The Eurasian otter is a strictly protected species that has returned in the Czech Republic from the brink of extinction. Today it lives along clean rivers throughout the country – the Otava, the Berounka, the Morava and the streams of the Šumava – and has become a symbol of the recovery of Czech nature. The otter is a mustelid perfectly adapted to life in water.

It eats about 1–1.5 kg of fish a day. Its fur is a marvel – the dense underfur keeps water away from the skin and provides insulation even during long periods in cold water. The otter is solitary with a large territory – males defend stretches of river 20–40 km long. Seeing an otter is one of the greatest wildlife experiences in the Czech Republic, but it takes patience and early-morning walks by the water.

Eurasian lynx – Lynx lynx

The Eurasian lynx is the largest wild cat in Central Europe and one of the rarest mammals in the Czech Republic. It is a strictly protected species whose Czech population is estimated at 70–100 animals, concentrated mainly in the Šumava and the Beskydy. After centuries of persecution, the lynx is slowly recovering in the Czech Republic thanks to protection.

The lynx hunts mainly roe deer and red deer, and occasionally foxes or young wild boar. It is an exceptionally shy animal – despite its large territory (hundreds of km²), people see it only rarely. Its characteristic features are ear tufts, a spotted coat and a short tail. The lynx does not regard humans as prey – meeting one is a great natural rarity, not a danger.

European hedgehog – Erinaceus europaeus

The European hedgehog belongs to one of the oldest mammal lineages – hedgehog ancestors lived on Earth around 15 million years ago, and their body plan has changed little since then. It lives in forests, gardens and parks throughout the Czech Republic, where it is a valuable helper – it eats snails, earthworms, centipedes and even mice.

The hedgehog is nocturnal and enters true hibernation in winter – its body temperature drops to 1–5 °C and its heart beats only about 20 times a minute. To survive hibernation it needs to reach a weight of at least around 500 g. In the garden we can help it with a pile of leaves or a compost heap where it can overwinter. If you enjoy gardening, a hedgehog will gladly make its winter home under a raised bed built from AMADEA wooden crates.

The most common mix-ups – watch out!

Comparison table: 10 forest mammals

Frequently asked questions about the mammals of Czech forests