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| Elaphurus davidianus Milne-Edwards, 1866 |
Père David's Deer, Elaphurus davidianus, known as Milu in Chinese (麋鹿), is a species of deer known only in captivity. It prefers marshland, and is believed to be native to the subtropics. It grazes on a mixture of grass and water plants.
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Characteristics
Adults weigh 150-200 kg (330-440 pounds), and stand about 45 in at the shoulders. They have a nine-month gestation period, and one or two fawns are born at a time. They reach maturity at about 14 months, and have been known to reach the age of 23 years.
Père David's Deer has a long tail, wide hooves, and branched antlers. Adults have summer coats that are bright red with a dark dorsal stripe, and dark gray winter coats. The fawns are spotted.
Unlike most deer, it is very fond of water, and swims well, spending long periods standing in water up to its shoulders. Although a predominant grazing animal, the deer supplements its grass diet with water plants in the summer.
Names
Besides the Chinese official name Milu (麋鹿), a Chinese nickname name (Traditional Chinese:四不像, pinyin: sì bú xiàng), and in Japanese: 四不像 (shifuzou): translates as "four unlikes," because the animal has been described as having "the hoofs of a cow but not a cow, the head of a horse but not a horse, the antlers of a deer but not a deer, the body of a donkey but not a donkey."1 Several other sources claim "sibuxiang" to have different meanings: "the nose of a cow but not a cow, the antlers of a deer but not a deer, the body of a donkey but not a donkey, tail of a horse but not a horse"2 ; "the tail of a donkey, the head of a horse, the hoofs of a cow, the antlers of a deer";3 "the neck of a camel, the hoofs of a cow, the tail of a donkey, the antlers of a deer";4 "the antlers of a deer, the head of a horse and the body of a cow"5. By this name, this undomesticated animal entered Chinese mythology as the mount of Jiang Ziya in the Ming novel Fengshen Yanyi, or "Investiture of the Gods."
Population
This species of deer was first made known to Western science in the 19th century, by Father Armand David, a French missionary working in China. At the time, the only surviving herd was in a preserve belonging to the Chinese emperor. The last herd of Père David's Deer that remained in China were eaten by Western and Japanese troops that were present at the time of the Boxer Rebellioncitation needed.
After Father David publicized their existence, a few animals were illegally transported to European countries for exhibitional purpose, and bred there. After the remaining population in China was extirpated, the remaining deer in Europe were gathered to England and bred for the preservation of the species. The current population stems from this herd. These deer are now found in zoos around the world. Two herds of Père David's Deer were reintroduced to Nan Haizi Milu Park, Beijing, and Dafeng Reserve, Jiangsu Province, China in the late 1980s. In spite of the small population size, the animals do not appear to suffer genetic problems from a genetic bottleneck, suggesting that a previous bottleneck had already removed harmful recessive alleles.
When they were assessed for the IUCN Red List (1996), they are classified as "critically endangered" in the wild, under criteria D: "[wild] population estimated to number less than 50 mature individuals".6 As of the latest assessment in October, 2008, they are now listed as extinct in the wild.
References
- ^ http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp, http://www.wildlife-plant.gov.cn/2-hydt/jiangsu1.htm , http://www.tato.com.cn/park/zoo/yilan1.htm
- ^ Taiwanese gov't on their zoo FAQ page, http://www.zoo.gov.tw/web5d1.htm
- ^ http://www.aoba.sakura.ne.jp/~momoncyo/zoo/animal_P_D_deer.htm
- ^ http://www2.odn.ne.jp/~cbf13020/kumamoto.html page, and also the "sika" page: http://www.ultimateungulate.com/perdavdeer.html
- ^ China To Return More David's Deer To the Wild
- ^ The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Literature
- Deer Specialist Group (19963). Elaphurus davidianus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. Listed as Critically Endangered (CR D v2.3)
- Robert Twigger, The Extinction Club (William Morrow, 2001). ISBN-10: 0688175392 This is an account of the author's research into the Milu.
- The New Funk & Wagnalls Illustrated Wildlife Enyclopedia: Volume 16 (1980). ISBN 0-8343-0035-4.
External links
- ARKive - images and movies of the Pere David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus)
- Père David's Deer at Animal Diversity Web
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 11 November 2008, at 17:33.
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