• Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Patreon
  • Premium Membership
  • Services

Natural History

by Scottie Westfall

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« My first photos of a black vulture
Ivy in the chilly December mists »

Hunting Reeves’s Muntjac in England

December 14, 2017 by SWestfall3

Reeves’s muntjac is native to China and Taiwan. It is not native any place in Europe, but one of the places where it has been introduced is England. The epicenter of their population in that country is Bedfordshire, where this hunt takes place.  The Dukes of Bedford were into promoting deer on their estate, Woburn Abbey, and they were instrumental in saving the Pere David’s deer from extinction. One suggestion is that the muntjac in England derived from Reeves’s muntjac that escaped Woburn Abbey, but they also could have derived from escapees from the Whipsnade Zoo.

Whatever their origin, Reeves’s muntjac have established themselves a long way from their native territory, and they do quite a bit of damage to trees.

And what usually happens is that people are encouraged to hunt the invasives, but as you can see from the selective shooting that goes on this video, the species is now being managed as a sort of game species on many estates. This development should be of no surprise, and it should be noted that island of Great Britain has only two native deer species, the red and the roe. The very common fallow deer was introduced by the Romans and then again the Normans from the European continent.

But the fallow deer is essentially managed as a native game species. The exact same thing is done with Sika deer that have been introduced to Maryland. White-tailed deer are treated the same way in the Czech Republic, as are all the deer that have been introduced to New Zealand.

Whatever their treatment as a game or invasive species, this video does provide a nice closeup of the male Reeves’s muntjac as a specimen. Of particular note are the tusks, which they use for fighting and display.  It is mentioned in this clip that they are “musk deer, ” but this is in error.

This error comes from the tusks that both muntjac and musk deer possess, but musk deer are placed in their own family (Moschidae).  True deer are Cervidae, and all the muntjac species are true deer that fall into the Cervinae subfamily (which includes red deer, fallow deer, and North American elk).  However, they are primitive Cervinae.

Musk deer differ in some morphological characters from true deer in that they don’t have facial glands, possess only a single pair of teats, and have a gallbladder.  They also never have antlers, and all species possess a scent gland on their tail.

The common ancestor of musk and true deer, though, had prominent tusks. The modern muntjac species is unique in that it still has those fangs of the earliest Cervinae.

The other true deer that is known for its tusks is the Asian water deer, which was definitely introduced to Britain thanks to escapees from Woburn Abbey. But it is not closely related to the muntjac at all.

It is also not a musk deer, even though it has much more prominent tusks than the muntjac and never has antlers. Instead, it fits within Capreolinae, the subfamily of deer that includes roe deer, moose, reindeer/caribou, and all the New World deer but the wapiti. Its prominent tusks and lack of antlers are a also primitive trait in this lineage of deer.

That muntjac and water deer are both fanged shows that more primitive animals will resemble each other more the derived forms of their respective lineages.

These cnine teeth are celebrated in North America elk lore. Their “ivory” is taken as almost as much a trophy as the antlers, and indigenous people in Canada and the US used them as jewelry. They aren’t sharp daggers like those found on muntjac and water deer, though. They are just vestigial teeth that show that the ancestor of the great bugling bull were once little fanged creatures.

These upper canines also appear in white-tailed deer on occasion as an atavism.

Beyond these little fangs, North American deer lack these primitive traits, so I find fangs on these Asian species totally fascinating.

They are windows into the past, when deer were just little beasts of the undergrowth.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Reddit
  • Print
  • Tumblr
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Posted in evolution, wildlife | Tagged deer tusks, muntjac, muntjac hunting, Reeves's muntjac, water deer | 4 Comments

4 Responses

  1. on December 14, 2017 at 7:01 pm nebbie916

    Just like people in Europe manage fallow deer as game species, people in the US manage feral hogs as a game species. Why don’t people manage mongooses, Asian carp, and Burmese pythons as game species when that would be more ecologically sustainable than eradicating them from the introduced area? Eradicating introduced species often involves using toxins, pesticides, and herbicides, which have long term negative effects on the environment.

    I bet that house mice and brown rats could be treated as game species very sustainably. That, along with eating grass fed cattle and goats, pastured chickens, pigs, and turkeys, and eating edible insects and arachnids, would be much more sustainable for the environment than eating factory farmed cattle, pigs, chickens, and turkeys.

    If there is really is an overpopulation issue with Near Eastern Wildcats (called feral cats), why don’t we make feral cats (not housecats, stray cats, indoor-outdoor cats, and barn cats), as well as feral pigeons (not pet pigeons) and mustangs (feral horses) a regulated game species like feral hogs (not pet pigs)? Hunting them for food would be reducing or preventing overpopulation without the disruption of endocrine systems and causing of surgical complications (surgical suture breakages), long term negative health (obesity, diabetes, increased appetite, slowed metabolism, FLUTD, urinary blockages), and behavioral (depression, lethargy, lessened activity level) effects that spaying and castrating (neutering) causes.


    • on December 14, 2017 at 9:42 pm retrieverman

      There is a fellow named Sam Wood in Wisconsin who suggested that people do that very thing. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/02/23/this-hunter-waged-a-war-on-feral-cats-now-he-says-he-has-become-the-target-of-attacks/?utm_term=.dec4e7e9a256


      • on December 17, 2017 at 11:23 pm nebbie916

        BUT the haunting would be regulated, the hunt would be fair (no canned hunts) the species would not be expirated from the area.

        I love and respect cats. I personally wouldn’t hunt a single cat, be it lion, tiger, cougar, bobcat (the red lynx), serval, caracal, margay, chaus (the jungle cat), jaguar, jaguarundi, manul, leopard, leopard cat, flat headed cat, black footed cat, rusty spotted cat, pampas cat, ocelot, fishing cat, cheetah, or wildcat (of which feral cats, barn cats, and housecats belong to the lybica subspecies and Scottish wildcats belong to the silvestris subspecies).

        I mentioned spaying and neutering as not exactly being fair because some of the effects thereof may make feral, free roaming, and any other cat outside of indoor-only cats easier targets to their predators, coyotes. I personally call this the “Canned Hunting Effect,” because the prey are made easier in some way or another for the predator or hunter to take down, catch, or shoot. Well, the gonadectomy surgeries decrease metabolism, which cause obesity and depression, sometimes severe, incurable forms, and make many cats less active and some even lethargic. The procedures also have complications and the TNR organizations may not give them enough or long enough post operative care or may “return” them too early. The “trap” and “neuter” parts also lower the trust level or destroy what little trust these cats have for humans, so they may end up even less adoptable than before. Not exactly what you want if you are trying to keep EVERY cat in this country indoors, which is an unrealistic goal to be having.

        Reasons Why Keeping Every Cat Permanently Indoors is Unrealistic
        1) Indoor-only cats are deprived of the fresh air the outdoors provides (even outdoors in smoggy cities is better air quality than indoors). You can open windows to allow fresh air in but that is not as much fresh air as actually being outdoors
        2) Cats accustomed to being allowed to be outdoors would have a hard time staying indoors permanently
        3) Being permanently indoors increases the risk of hyperthyroidism and obesity

        Trump banned trophy hunting of elephants. Way to go, Trump! You can’t trophy hunt elephants sustainably, elephants are endangered.


        • on December 18, 2017 at 7:29 am retrieverman

          I personally solve this problem by never owning cats. LOL.



Comments are closed.

  • Like on Facebook

    The Retriever, Dog, and Wildlife Blog

    Promote Your Page Too
  • Blog Stats

    • 9,541,999 hits
  • Retrieverman’s Twitter

    • @Fiorella_im But brunch. We missed it! 23 hours ago
    • 2 people followed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 2 days ago
    • one person followed me // automatically checked by fllwrs.com 5 days ago
    • retrievermanii.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-di… 5 days ago
    • @SergioJStalin That's like saying the Nazis had a headquarter in Moscow in 1931. LOL 1 week ago
  • Google rank

    Check Google Page Rank
  • Archives

    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • October 2012
    • September 2012
    • August 2012
    • July 2012
    • June 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
    • February 2010
    • January 2010
    • December 2009
    • November 2009
    • October 2009
    • September 2009
    • August 2009
    • July 2009
    • June 2009
    • May 2009
    • April 2009
    • March 2009
    • February 2009
    • January 2009
    • December 2008
    • November 2008
    • October 2008
    • September 2008
    • August 2008
    • July 2008
  • Recent Comments

    markgelbart on Retiring this Space
    oneforestfragment on Retiring this Space
    The Evolving Natural… on So does the maned wolf break t…
    SWestfall3 on So does the maned wolf break t…
    Ole Possum on So does the maned wolf break t…
  • Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.com
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,697 other followers

  • Pages

    • About
    • Contact
    • Patreon
    • Premium Membership
    • Services
  • Subscribe to Retrieverman's Weblog by Email
  • Revolver map

    Map

  • Top Posts

    • The Alaskan Noble Companion Dog
  • SiteCounter

    wordpress analytics
    View My Stats
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1,697 other followers

  • Donate to this blog

  • Top 50 Northwest Dog Blogs

    top 50 dog blogs

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: