RakovacRoe deer
Capreolus capreolus
Still present in good numbers, says the National Park. Look for it at dawn and dusk at the forest edge and in the meadows above the village.
Atlas · wild animals
Wildlife of Fruška Gora: animals you may meet around Rakovac
About 60 kinds of mammals live on Fruška Gora, from roe deer and wild boar to dormice and 15 species of bats, alongside 13 amphibians and 11 reptiles. Which wild animals you may meet around Rakovac, which were brought back, and which are better left alone.
According to the National Park, roe deer and wild boar are still common, while the wildcat, badger, pine marten and the dormice are rarer or declining. The figures for the whole mountain (about 60 mammal species, 15 bat species, 13 amphibians and 11 reptiles) come from the Wikipedia article on Fruška Gora.
Large mammals
Wild boar
Sus scrofa
caution
Common in the forest; in autumn it turns over the ground in search of acorns. Keep away from a sow with piglets.
Red deer
Cervus elaphus
Bred in the National Park’s hunting reserves; the Vorovo reserve is closed to the public.
Fallow deer
Dama dama
Brought back to the mountain: a deer with white spots on a reddish coat and broad, shovel-shaped antlers.
Mouflon
Ovis gmelini musimon
A wild sheep with curled horns. In 2018 thirty animals were brought from Slovakia, raising the park’s herd to about 70.
European bison
Bison bonasus
caution
Europe’s largest land animal has lived in a fenced part of the National Park since 2022; in 2025 there were six. If you ever meet one outside the fence, keep your distance.
Golden jackal
Canis aureus
A newcomer: the National Park records it as a species new to the area. At night its howling chorus can carry from the fields.
Small mammals and bats
Badger
Meles meles
A night-time digger with a black-and-white striped face. The National Park lists it among species that are rare or declining.
Wildcat
Felis silvestris
rare
Shy and rare; it looks like a large tabby cat with a thick, blunt, ringed tail.
Pine marten
Martes martes
A climber of the treetops with a yellowish throat patch. According to the National Park its numbers have grown recently.
Edible dormouse
Glis glis
A grey, squirrel-like night animal that sleeps through the winter, often in hollow trees.
Hazel dormouse
Muscardinus avellanarius
A tiny golden-brown dormouse of hazel and bramble thickets.
European ground squirrel
Spermophilus citellus
protected
A protected natural rarity of open grassland; it lives in colonies and whistles when alarmed.
Bats
Chiroptera
protected
15 of Serbia’s 30 bat species live on the mountain, and all of them are strictly protected. At dusk you can see them hunting insects.
Amphibians, reptiles and insects
Fire salamander
Salamandra salamandra
caution
Black and yellow, out on forest paths after rain. Its skin releases a toxin: don’t pick it up, and wash your hands if you did.
Adder
Vipera berus
poisonous
A venomous snake with a dark zigzag along its back. Bites are rare and rarely fatal, but if bitten, keep calm and get medical help at once (194).
Stag beetle
Lucanus cervus
protected
Europe’s largest beetle; the males carry antler-like jaws. Protected.
Safety
- Wild boar: if you meet a group with young, back away calmly and give them space.
- Adder: look where you step and sit on warm, stony slopes; wear closed shoes. After a bite, keep the limb still and call 194.
- Fire salamander: harmless if left alone; do not touch your eyes or mouth after handling one.
- Bison and deer: watch them only from outside the fences.
The drawings are decorative, in the style of the Rakovac local identity, and are not meant for identification.
Sources
More in Nature
Old quarry · also called Rakovac Cave
Beli Majdan
A quarried hall in the hillside above the monastery, its roof held up by pillars of stone the quarrymen left standing. Ten minutes on foot from the monastery.
Isposnica · 18th-century rock hermitage
Hermitage of Isaija Parivodski
A tiny monk’s cell cut into a limestone cliff deep in the forest, named after Isaija Parivodić, a hieromonk of Rakovac who carved his name here in 1771. The only rock hermitage in Vojvodina.
Dumbovački vodopad
Dumbovac Waterfall
A five-metre waterfall hidden in dense forest on the Dumbovac stream. About an hour’s walk from the monastery.