Water deer
Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Cervidae
Subfamily : Hydropotinae
Facts about the subfamily Hydropotinae, the water deer
Chinese Water Deer Skull - The Chinese water deer is a small cervid, native to regions of China, Southeast Asia and has been introduced in Europe.
When a Chinese water deer is disturbed, it humps its back and travels by a series of leaps.
Conservation Status The Chinese water deer is a low risk, near threatened species (IUCN, 1996), and is often trapped as a pest in China. (Full text)
The Chinese Water Deer is usually shy and secretive; they usually either live in small groups or alone.
The Chinese water deer is similar to the musk deer in that neither.
The other subspecies of water deer is Hydropotes inermis argyropus which is found in Korea.
STATUS In China, owing to increasing reclamation and cultivation of wetlands, the habitat of the water deer is gradually shrinking.
The Chinese Water deer is an intermediate species between the Muntjac and Roe deer.
The Chinese water deer is classified as Hydropotes inermis, and the caribou, or reindeer, as Rangifer tarandus. (Full text)
Male Chinese Water Deer are roughly the same size as the females.
3 BEHAVIOR Water deer are generally seen alone.
The hind legs of the Chinese Water Deer are longer than the fore legs which causes the rump to be carried higher than the shoulder, without appearing hunched up.
Male Chinese Water deer are known as Bucks.
The tiny Muntjac Deer and Chinese Water Deer are even exempted from much of this very limited 'protection'.
Muntjac and Chinese Water deer are more secretive, and difficult to spot in a park situation, therefore are less popular as park animals.
• NUTRITION AND WATER: Deer are browsers; they nibble on foliage and grasses in the summer and munch on twigs and evergreens in winter. (Full text)
