The little dark one is cautious, the brother is a daredevil: Mykolaiv Zoo introduced two youngsters

At the Mykolaiv Zoo two long-awaited fawns of the European fallow deer are growing up — a playful boy and an unusual dark girl. The youngsters are already trying adult food, playing in the enclosure and are under the joint care of two attentive females. The addition was announced on the zoo’s official Facebook page on July 29, 2026.

The boy was born on June 23, 2026, and his sister was born 5 days later — June 28. The young belong to the species European fallow deer, or Dama dama. The girl is especially notable: she has a rare dark coloration — a melanistic morph. In the wild such fallow deer are uncommon, although in captive holdings and parks dark fawns are born somewhat more often.

The father of both youngsters is a fallow deer named Vasylok. He was born at the Kharkiv Zoo on June 15, 2012, and moved to Mykolaiv at the age of 1 year. He is now 14 years old, but staff describe him as peaceful and gentle. After moving he quickly found common ground with the group of females. The boy’s mother is Zosia, who was born on June 15, 2021. The dark girl was born to Zoryana, her birth date is July 5, 2020.

Both females live in the same enclosure and care for the young together. Zoo staff noticed that the mothers do not separate the fawns: when a youngster goes to nurse from a female that is not its own mother, the other female does not drive it away. Thus a large family has formed in the enclosure, in which both fallow does jointly feed and protect the offspring. The youngsters are already gradually switching to adult feed. The boy behaves more boldly, explores the enclosure more often and is the first to dare approach new things. The girl remains more cautious for now and watches the adults’ behavior more carefully.

When the mothers are brought feed, the youngsters instinctively freeze and hide in special hollows. Each fawn has already found its own favorite cozy spot. But the fallow deer cannot sit still for long: soon they run out again and start chasing each other. Zoo staff invite visitors to come to the deer enclosure and observe the newborns. You can see the dark girl, her playful brother and their attentive mothers in the communal enclosure of the European fallow deer.