The Mammal Society

For Evidence Based Conservation

Sika Deer – (Cervus nippon)

Habitat: Upland & moorland, coniferous woodland, deciduous woodland, mixed woodland, heathland.
 
Description: A medium-sized deer. Has a similar spotted coat to fallow deer in summer, but usually is rougher, thicker, dark grey-brown in winter. Tail is shorter than fallow deer, but with similar white “target” and black margins. Usually has a distinctive “furrowed brow” look, and if seen well, evident white spots on the limbs, marking the site of pedal glands. Males have rounded, not palmate, antlers, looking like a small version of a red deer antlers.
 
Size: 138-179cm; tail length 14-21cm; shoulder height 50-120 cm.
 
Weight: Males 40-63kg; females 31-44kg.
 
Lifespan: Maximum recorded lifespan in captivity is 26 years; 16 in the wild.
 
Origin & Distribution: Sika are native to SE China, including Taiwan, Korea and Japan. They were introduced to Powerscourt Park, Co Wicklow, Ireland, in 1860, and to London Zoo. Sika then spread to many other parks and escaped or were deliberately released; in some cases they were deliberately released into surrounding woodlands to be hunted on horseback. This resulted in feral populations S England (especially Dorset and the New Forest), in the Forest of Bowland and S Cumbria, and, especially, in Scotland. They are still spreading. Their preference for conifer plantations, especially the thick young stages, has been a big advantage to them. They can reach densities up to 45/km2 in prime habitat.
 

Sika deer distribution (in green), taken from ‘Britain’s Mammals 2018: The Mammal Society’s Guide to their Population and Conservation Status.’

 
Diet: Sika feed on browse, both from coniferous and deciduous species, but especially on grasses and heather in summer. Browse is more important in winter.
 
General Ecology: Sika typically live in small herds of 6-7 animals, at least in more open habitats, but in dense cover may only live in small groups of 1-3 only. Numbers aggregate for the rut in October. Sika bucks produce a peculiar whistling sound, very unlike the deep roar of a red deer stag, or even the grunting of a fallow buck. Sika bucks may be territorial, marking the trunks of prominently positioned trees by scoring them with their antlers and thrashing the ground vegetation. However, in other circumstances they gather a harem of hinds and defend them.
 
Breeding: Calves are born in May-June, after a gestation of 220 days. They are weaned by the time of the next rut, and the does usually first breed as yearlings. In expanding populations, bucks usually disperse well before does, and may move up to 50km. In the absence of their own females, sika bucks may mate instead with young hinds of the closely related red deer. The consequence is an increasingly hybrid population, neither red nor sika. Sika bucks are too small to rival red stags, but the hybrids are able to breed in either direction.
 
Conservation Status: Sika can be a serious pest in commercial forestry. The damage they do in scoring tree trunks can let in disease, and browsing young trees can cause serious losses. However, the threat they pose to red deer, by hybridisation, is the major concern to zoologists. It is now illegal to transfer sika or red deer (which might in fact be hybrids) to Hebridean islands that retain good populations of pure red deer. Populations in forestry can be culled by stalkers, in the conventional manner, and the venison sold. This is effective in southern Britain where it has limited the spread and increase of this deer.
 

Identification

Medium-sized deer. Usually has distinctive ‘furrowed brow’ look. Nearly always seen moving together in herds. Similar spotted coat to fallow deer in summer, usually thicker dark grey-brown in winter. Short tail with black stripe down it and prominent white rump with black margins. Males have rounded antlers.

Field Signs
Download a printable field sign guide here!

Footprints: Sika footprints are very similar to those of other deer species, particularly fallow deer. Width 5cm, length 8cm. Be very careful not confuse these with sheep or goat footprints.

Droppings: Deer droppings do not have obvious coloration or smell. The droppings tend to be of a similar shape across all species. Sika droppings tend to be very similar to fallow droppings. They can also easily be confused with sheep droppings.

Tail: The best way to determine which deer species you have seen is by looking at the rump and tail. Sika deer have heart shaped white markings with black upper border on the rump with a white tail.

Confusion species

Fallow deer (Dama dama)
Both fallow and sika have a white heart-shaped rump; fallow then has a black horseshoe-shaped border, whilst sika has a black border on the top only. Comparatively longer tail than sika. Upper part of mature male antlers are palmate (broad and flattened) in fallow, which is not the case in sika. Coat colour of fallow can vary greatly but typically brown with white spots in summer and lighter brown with white spots in winter. Sika only has spots in summer.

Red deer (Cervus elaphus)
Buff coloured rump with no border, whereas sika has a black border on the top of its white heart-shaped rump. Red deer has a ginger buff tail, sika has a white tail with a thin vertical black streak. Red deer has a grey/brown coat in winter, red/brown in summer, no spots. Sika has spots in summer. Red deer is larger than sika and has larger antlers.

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)
Cream/white rump (oval shaped in males and upside down heart shape in females) can be flared when alarmed. No visible tail. Sika has a heart-shaped white rump with black upper border, with a white tail that has a thin black vertical streak. Red/brown colour in summer, grey/brown in winter and no spots. Sika has spots in summer and is larger than roe. Roe has distinctive black nose and white chin. Small antlers in mature roe males, typically with no more than 3 points, unlike the larger antlers of sika, with usually more than 4 points.

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