• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Mammal Society

For Evidence Based Conservation

  • Join Us
  • Donate
  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • Latest Appeal
    • Meet The Team
    • Contact
    • FAQs
  • Resources
    • UK Mammal List
    • Ecostat
    • Discover Mammals
    • Books & Equipment
    • Publications
      • Guidance Handbooks
      • Mammal Review
      • Mammal Communications
  • Training & Events
    • Courses
    • Events
  • Get Involved
    • HogWatch2018
    • Mammal Mapper
    • National Mammal Week
    • Surveys and Projects
    • Local Groups
    • The University Mammal Challenge (UMAC)
    • Projects Hub
    • Mammal Photographer of the Year
    • Ways To Support Us
  • Support Us
    • Donations
    • Join Us
    • Leave a Legacy
  • Science & Research
    • Population Review Red List
    • Ecostat
    • Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals
    • Mammal records and submission
    • Surveys and Projects
    • County Mammal Recorders
    • Mammal Communications
    • Mammal Review
    • Research Gaps
    • Position Statements
  • Membership
    • New and Existing Members
    • Mammal News Magazine
  • News
    • Blog
    • Media Information & Press Releases
  • Data Protection
    • Privacy Policy
    • GDPR Information
    • GDPR Opt In

Chinese Water Deer – Hydropotes inermis

Taxon: Artiodactyla

General fact sheet (click to download)

Field sign fact sheet (click to download)

 

Habitat: Urban & gardens, rivers and wetland, coastal & marshland, deciduous woodland, grassland, arable land
 
Description: Small, compact deer, pale fawn with large rounded ears and conspicuous button-black eyes. The males (bucks) have no antlers, but have long tusk-like canines. Slightly taller, and much paler than muntjac and lacks the hump-backed look. Appears more like a diminutive roe deer.
 
Size: 82-106 cm; tail length 2.5-9 cm; shoulder height 42-65 cm.
 
Weight: Males 12-18.5 kg; females 14-17.4 kg.
 
Lifespan: Known to live at least six years.
 
Origin & Distribution: The Chinese water deer is native to E China (Yangtze flood plain) and Korea. They were introduced to Woburn Park, Bedfordshire, in 1896, and Whipsnade Zoo in 1929-30. They were deliberately released into surrounding woodlands from 1901 onwards, but there have been numerous releases, translocations, and escapes. The Chinese water deer was first reported in the wild in Buckinghamshire in 1945. They have a limited range in East Anglia and adjacent counties and are still spreading. However, they have not reached as wide a range or abundance as Reeves’ muntjac. Some colonies seem to have died out, and also seems to have been displaced in some places by muntjac.

Water deer seem to prefer wetlands adjoining woodland and fen, though they often range onto nearby   farmland. They are most evident in the Norfolk Broads and in the coastal wetlands. A feral, uncontained, population in the grounds of Whipsnade inhabits parkland and dry woodland, with no wetland available.

Diet: They feed mostly around dawn and dusk, on weeds, grasses, herbs and some browse. Although they often feed in arable fields, they seem to be eating weeds rather than crops.
 
General Ecology: Bucks and does are territorial, marking twigs with scent from the prominent preorbital gland. Dung piles around the territory boundary also seem to be markers. Water deer do not form herds, but are seen either solitarily or in family groups of a doe with her kids. Loose groups may come together on favoured feeding areas.
 
Breeding: The rut is in December, when males fight viciously with their tusks. The female often has twins, sometimes up to 4 kids, after a gestation of 160- 210 days. Kids are born in May-June, and although they are weaned in about 3 months, remain with their mother into winter. They then disperse, but mortality at this time is high, and although they become sexually mature, young seem to have difficulty maintaining a territory.
 
 
Conservation Status: Chinese water deer have not, so far, posed the problems that are caused by muntjac. Densities are typically much lower (at around 10/km2) and the habitats they occupy are less sensitive to browsing damage. Road mortality seems to be important, and some are shot.

Primary Sidebar

Our New Clothing Range

Support our research and campaigns

Shop Today

Our Latest Appeal

Help our Hedgehogs Appeal

Help Our Appeal

Cairngorms Wildlife Photographer to deliver Cranbrook Lecture

More News

Latest Tweets

Tweets by Mammal_Society

Get Our e-Bulletin

Includes the latest Mammal News

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Sponsors

 Conservation constructions logo  Spikes World sponsor logo  C&W logo centre2 colour  cj-wildlife-logo
Copyright © 2019 The Mammal Society, 18 St John's Church Road, London, E9 6EJ.... Registered Company No. 1455136 Charity No. 278918 ... Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions

Design by Fingerprint Digital Media
  • About Us
    ◿
    • What We Do
    • Latest Appeal
    • Meet The Team
    • Contact
    • FAQs
  • Resources
    ◿
    • UK Mammal List
    • Ecostat
    • Discover Mammals
    • Books & Equipment
    • Publications
      ◿
      • Guidance Handbooks
      • Mammal Review
      • Mammal Communications
  • Training & Events
    ◿
    • Courses
    • Events
  • Get Involved
    ◿
    • HogWatch2018
    • Mammal Mapper
    • National Mammal Week
    • Surveys and Projects
    • Local Groups
    • The University Mammal Challenge (UMAC)
    • Projects Hub
    • Mammal Photographer of the Year
    • Ways To Support Us
  • Support Us
    ◿
    • Donations
    • Join Us
    • Leave a Legacy
  • Science & Research
    ◿
    • Population Review Red List
    • Ecostat
    • Review of the Population and Conservation Status of British Mammals
    • Mammal records and submission
    • Surveys and Projects
    • County Mammal Recorders
    • Mammal Communications
    • Mammal Review
    • Research Gaps
    • Position Statements
  • Membership
    ◿
    • New and Existing Members
    • Mammal News Magazine
  • News
    ◿
    • Blog
    • Media Information & Press Releases
  • Data Protection
    ◿
    • Privacy Policy
    • GDPR Information
    • GDPR Opt In