Almost 25 years since the Iron Curtain came down, deer roaming the Czech-German border still balk at crossing areas where electric fences one lay. A study of the animals in the Sumava national park, in the Czech Republic, has discovered that red deer are avoiding the once perilous areas where three parallel electrified fences were patrolled by armed guards - despite the creatures having no living memory of it. Nearly 500 people died trying to cross the barrier, which isolated the communist world from the West. These red deer near Harrachov, Czech Republic, still fear crossing the line where the Iron Curtain once stood . A reconstruction of the electrified barbed-wire barrier stands in the nearby Sumava National Park. But the original fence was taken down in 1991 - long before the current population of deer were born . According to a seven-year study, the . invisible border has become instilled in the population, and will be . handed down generations. Pavel . Sustr, a biologist who led the project at Czech Republic's Sumava . National Park, said: 'It was fascinating to realize for the first time . that anything like that is possible.' Czechoslovakia, where the communists took power in 1948, had three parallel electrified fences. Many deer were victims of the barrier, which came down in 1991. 'The border still plays a role for them and separates the two populations.' He said the research showed the animals stick to traditional life patterns, returning every year to the same places. 'Fawns follow mothers for the first year of their life and learn from them where to go.' Biologists who conducted a seven-year study into the behaviour predict it will last for generations . Scientists conducting research on German territory reached similar conclusions. Wildlife . officials recorded the movement of some 300 Czech and German deer with . GPS-equipped collars which sent data to computers. 'I . don't think it's a surprising result,' said professor Ludek Bartos of . the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, who was not involved in . the research. 'These animals are really conservative.'
Seven-year study found red deer on Czech-German border do not cross .
Electrified fence dividing West from communist world taken down in 1991 .
None of current deer population were alive when the barrier was up .
Czech and German biologists predict behaviour will last for generations .
Almost 25 years since the Iron Curtain came down, deer roaming the Czech-German border still balk at crossing areas where electric fences one lay. A study of the animals in the Sumava national park, in the Czech Republic, has discovered that red deer are avoiding the once perilous areas where three parallel electrified fences were patrolled by armed guards - despite the creatures having no living memory of it. Nearly 500 people died trying to cross the barrier, which isolated the communist world from the West. These red deer near Harrachov, Czech Republic, still fear crossing the line where the Iron Curtain once stood . A reconstruction of the electrified barbed-wire barrier stands in the nearby Sumava National Park. But the original fence was taken down in 1991 - long before the current population of deer were born . According to a seven-year study, the . invisible border has become instilled in the population, and will be . handed down generations. Pavel . Sustr, a biologist who led the project at Czech Republic's Sumava . National Park, said: 'It was fascinating to realize for the first time . that anything like that is possible.' Czechoslovakia, where the communists took power in 1948, had three parallel electrified fences. Many deer were victims of the barrier, which came down in 1991. 'The border still plays a role for them and separates the two populations.' He said the research showed the animals stick to traditional life patterns, returning every year to the same places. 'Fawns follow mothers for the first year of their life and learn from them where to go.' Biologists who conducted a seven-year study into the behaviour predict it will last for generations . Scientists conducting research on German territory reached similar conclusions. Wildlife . officials recorded the movement of some 300 Czech and German deer with . GPS-equipped collars which sent data to computers. 'I . don't think it's a surprising result,' said professor Ludek Bartos of . the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, who was not involved in . the research. 'These animals are really conservative.'
deer roaming the Czech-German border still balk died trying to cross the barrier, which isolated the communist world from the West. These red deer National Park. But the original fence was taken down in 1991 - long before the current population predict it will last for generations . Scientists recorded the movement of some 300 Czech and