TIBETAN RED DEER

Cervus elaphus wallichi

Physical Description

The Tibetan Red Deer, or Shou, is a sub-species of the Red Deer. The Red Deer has a reddish-brown coat for most of the year; in the winter, though, its coat turns brownish-grey. The Deer has a short, beige tail, and a creamy patch on its rump. Calves are born with whitish spots on their coats, but the spots disappear the first time the calves moult, when they are about two months old. Only male Red deer have antlers. The males lose their antlers annually, between February and April, and grow replacements by August. The Red Deer’s antlers become increasingly branched with age.

The Red Deer has acute eyesight and hearing and a keen sense of smell. The Deer’s several external scent glands serve a variety of functions, including scent-marking territory and indicating sexual fertility in the hinds, or mature females. The Red Deer’s scent glands may also enable individual deer to identify each other. The Deer’s sensitive muzzle serves as the Deer’s primary tactile organ. The Red Deer weighs up to 225 kilograms (500 pounds) and has a shoulder height of 110 to 120 centimetres (3.6 to 3.9 feet).

 

Habitat

The Red Deer lives in deciduous woodlands and mountains, as well as on moors and plains. The Tibetan Red Deer inhabits the alpine plateau, at elevations between 3,500 to 5,000 metres (11,500 to 16,400 feet). The Tibetan Red Deer occurs in Tibet and possibly in Bhutan. The altitude at which the Red Deer forages depends on the time of year. In the summer, to avoid midges (Culicoides impunctatus) and other biting flies, the Deer ascends to higher ground. In the winter, the Red Deer frequents lower lying areas, where more food is available and the Deer can take shelter from the cold.

Eating Habits

The Red Deer is a browser. The Deer feeds on dwarf shrubs, grasses, herbs, leaves, buds, shoots, and bark. The Red Deer also browses on trees, especially young ones. The Deer’s preferred native tree species are willows (Salix spp.), aspen (Populus tremula), and rowan (Sorbus aucuparia).

Feeding grounds vary between the sexes. Females tend to concentrate on the better, relatively grass-rich habitats, while males usually graze on the poorer, heather-dominated areas.

Behaviour and Reproduction

The Red Deer is active during the day and at night, but its activity peaks at dawn and dusk. The Deer lives in herds. The female Red deer tends to stay in the locality where she was born, her range overlapping that of her mother. This is known as being “hefted” to an area. The male Red deer, on the other hand, leaves his mother’s herd when he is three to four years old and typically moves to a completely new range. Males are thus dispersed more widely across the Red Deer’s habitat than are females.

From late August to early September, the stag, or the mature male deer, experiences hormonal changes. These hormonal changes bring about the maturation of the stag’s gonads, the development of the stag’s larynx, and the thickening of the stag’s neck and hair, resulting in the growth of a shaggy mane. Stags with fully developed, hardened antlers may participate in the rut. During the rut, stags that are comparable in antler and body size compete for hinds.

At the beginning of a fight, the stags emit an audible roar. Each stag then uses his antlers to attempt to push and shove his rival backwards, into submission. Fights may go on for more than five minutes. Serious or even fatal injuries can result from these battles, and broken antlers are common. The strongest and most powerful male usually wins, securing himself a harem of females with which to mate. It is rare for stags to hold harems until they are six or seven years old. Stags leave harems after mating and regroup with other, unrelated stags over the winter.

Female Red deer that inhabit wooded areas reach sexual maturity at 15 to 16 months of age, but those that dwell in open areas do not reach sexual maturity until their third or fourth autumn. The Red Deer’s gestation period is 33 to 34 weeks. Red Deer mothers give birth between late May and late July, with most births taking place in the first half of June. Mothers typically give birth in the standing position.

Each mother gives birth to a single calf, weighing an average of 6.5 kilograms (14 pounds). Calves begin to suckle within 40 minutes after birth. Calves suckle every two to three hours for the first few days of their lives, but feed less and less frequently in the days that follow. Calves grow quickly, gaining as much as 30 kilograms (66 pounds) before November. Mothers usually begin to wean their calves in December and January, in which case the calves are weaned by an age of about eight months. However, mothers that have not conceived again in the fall rut may continue to feed their calves until the calves are 18 months old.

Under optimum environmental conditions, the Red Deer may live for longer than 20 years. However, in its natural habitat, the Deer’s life span rarely extends beyond 15 years. Stags typically live for nine to twelve years, whereas hinds may live for a year or two longer. Natural deaths of the Red Deer usually occur between late winter and early spring, when the least food is available and temperatures are at their lowest. During this time of year, the Deer is particularly susceptible to malnutrition and cold exposure. The Red Deer’s mortality rate is heightened in years of cold, wet weather.

 

Present Status

The Tibetan Red Deer has been on the verge of extinction since the 1940s, so it is only very rarely spotted anymore. The Tibetan Red Deer is classified as Data Deficient in the 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, but it is under second class protection in China. The Tibetan Forestry Department has plans to establish a 500 square-kilometer (193 square-mile) nature reserve in Shannan (Lhokha) Prefecture to protect the Tibetan Red Deer and its habitat.

 

Threats to Survival

The Red Deer is hunted as a game species and is also threatened by habitat loss.

 

References

BBC, Science & Nature – Wildfacts – Red deer, wapiti, elk, http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/199.shtml, Aug 2004.

Deer Specialist Group, 1996: Cervus elaphus ssp. wallichi. In: IUCN, 2003: 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, http://

www.redlist.org, Sept 2004.

WWF China, http://www.wwfchina.org/english, Sept 2004.

By: Environment and Development Desk, DIIR, CTA.