Almost 25 years after the iron curtain came down, central European deer still balk at crossing areas where there used to be electrified fences, scientists have found.

A seven-year study in Sumava national park, in the Czech Republic, discovered that red deer were still wary of spots where the then Czechoslovakia had three parallel electrified fences patrolled by heavily armed guards.

Nearly 500 people were killed when they tried to escape the country across the frontier with Germany, and deer were killed too.

"It was fascinating to realise for the first time that anything like that is possible," said Pavel Sustr, a biologist who led the project. Scientists conducting research on German territory reached similar conclusions.

The average life expectancy for deer is 15 years and none living now would have encountered the barrier. "But the border still plays a role for them and separates the two populations," Sustr said.

He said the research showed the animals stuck 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."

Wildlife officials recorded the movement of 300 Czech and German deer with GPS-equipped collars.

Professor Ludek Bartos, of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, who was not involved in the research, said: "I don't think it's a surprising result. These animals are really conservative."