Colours of Wildlife: Chinese Water Deer

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Chinese Water Deer

Willem is a wildlife artist based in South Africa. He says "My aim is simply to express the beauty and wonder that is in Nature, and to heighten people's appreciation of plants, animals and the wilderness. Not everything I paint is African! Though I've never been there, I'm also fascinated by Asia and I've done paintings of Asian rhinos and birds as well. I may in future do some of European, Australian and American species too. I'm fascinated by wild things from all over the world! I mainly paint in watercolours. . . but actually many media including 'digital' paintings with the computer!"

Chinese Water Deer by Willem


Look at the nice doggy! Who's a good boy then? OK to be serious, this is still a deer! It's a Chinese Water Deer, Hydropotes inermis. Neither male nor female have antlers, or horns, or any kind of outgrowths on their heads. In addition, they have very long and sharp tusks, like in the many sabre-toothed deer and deer ancestors of old, that I've been featuring here. They're sometimes called Vampire Deer. Although harking back to 'primitive' forms, it is actually quite a modern species, having lost its antlers and increased its tusk length from more typical deer-like ancestors. Its closest relative is likely the Roe Deer, and its next-closest relative the Moose, both of which I hope to feature soon! The water deer has some amazing qualities of its own, to boot. I found out a lot about it thanks to doing commissioned illustrations for the Wildlife Online Website. Click that link for a whole slew of info on the species. I'd appreciate it if you support them in fact. As for this article I'll try to be brief � ish!


Outwardly, these deer, as you can see, has rather a dog-like look. In my illustration, it is summer. In winter, this deer develops a long, dense fur coat and then looks quite a bit like a teddy bear! It is a small deer species. On average they stand about 50 cm/20" at the shoulder, with a bodyweight of 11-19 kg/24-42 lbs. Their coat colour varies from pale or grey brown to reddish brown. Its scientific name means 'unarmed water-drinker', referring its lack of antlers and its preferred proximity to water.

The Snake-toothed Mammal

Chinese Water Deer skull by Willem


The most amazing thing about the water deer is its teeth! The tusks, in the male, are long and sharp, protruding from the closed mouth. But it's not their size and sharpness that is the strange thing – it is that they can move! Now, in the animal world, many critters can move their teeth or fangs, most notably some of the snakes. In the adder family especially, the fangs can swivel forward and backward. When not being used to envenom anyone or anything, the fangs fold backward and lie against the roof of the mouth. As soon as the snake strikes, though, the fangs swivel forwards to become effective weapons. But this kind of thing is unknown in mammals. Mammalian teeth are, as a rule, rooted firmly in their sockets. Mammals need their teeth to be strong, solid and rigid because they use them for chewing or biting tough food or prey items. But not the water deer! It actually has canines set loosely in their sockets. A tough ligament can pull each tooth forward or backward. It's not as extreme a movement as in the adders and vipers. The total movement range is about one and a half centimetres/half an inch forward and backward. In addition, the tusks can also move inward and outward, with a rather larger, about 2.5 cm/1 inch. In my illustrations, the extreme forward and outward tusk position is illustrated in yellow; the backward and inward position is lilac. The thick ligament moving the tusks is red.


What is the use of this deer's movable tusks? They are still held in position with the tough ligament, so they retain strength and firmness. When the deer is eating, it keeps the tusks pulled backward so that it can gather food with its lips. When challenging another deer or perhaps a predator, the tusks are pulled forward to give them an advantage in striking. The side-to-side movement seems to happen during feeding; I couldn't really find out any more about that part.

Chinese Water Deer skull by Willem

Deer Days


In general habits, this deer isn't that remarkable. It likes a habitat of dense growth close to rivers, or at the margins of forests, or sometimes agricultural fields, so long as there's enough vegetation for it to hide in. It can swim well. It runs with rabbit-like hops. It is active around dawn and dusk, feeding in short sprees. Bucks maintain territories, marking them with dung and scent gland secretions, including glands in the groin that are unique for the deer family. They bark to warn each other of possible dangers. Rutting season is November to January, which is wintertime. The male deer makes clicking sounds at rival males, and squeaking sounds to the females it pursues! Males will display to rivals by walking side-on to them or with a kind of dance; when things get heated, they will fight by lashing out with their tusks, or sometimes standing up on their hind legs and kicking with the front feet. The loser either flees or lies down and presses its head and neck to the ground in appeasement. Fights often leave males with deep gashes or torn ears.


Males sniff at females to make sure they're in oestrus. A male often mates with several females. After mating, the doe carries the fawns for about 170 to 210 days, giving birth in May or June. It's been said that the water deer is the most prolific deer species, giving birth to up to six to seven fawns at a time, although zoo studies suggest that two or three is the more normal number. That still makes this a prolific species since most deer have only one at a time. The fawn is born open-eyed and can stand on its own legs within an hour. It is dark brown with white spots and lines along its body to camouflage it. It can already eat solid food only a few days old, but its mother suckles it for three months. It remains with its mother until autumn. She communicates with it using soft whistles. It is sexually mature at seven months. Water deer can live to six years in the wild, and in captivity at least to the age of twelve.

A Conservation Conundrum


I've written several times in this column about animals that have been introduced, or escaped, into places where they didn't occur before. In many cases such animals cause disruption of the local ecologies since these ecologies evolved to function with a rather precise mix of species; bringing in a new one, throws them out of whack. The Chinese water deer, as you might suspect if you've been paying attention, comes from China (and also a little outside of China, in the Koreas – possibly a separate sub-species). But quite a few have been brought to Britain, in the days when Britain was trying to colonize or at least establish their interests in China. Some of those deer escaped, and are now living wild in Britain. There may also be some living in France. Being non-native species, they present a possible threat to indigenous European deer and other animals.


So, should they be removed from the wilds of Britain? Here comes the complication. In China, today these deer are endangered due to burgeoning human populations and the consequent destruction of their wild habitat. Once widespread, they're now mostly restricted to the Yangtze Basin. Right now, the British population, alien as it may be, presents a fall-back population for the species, a safeguard so that even if the deer goes extinct in China, it doesn't vanish from the world completely. It might then even be re-introduced to China from the British population, which may number about 10,000 animals right now. They haven't caused really troublesome ecologic problems in Britain yet.


In South Korea, the species is actually regarded as a problem animal, and there are bounties placed on its head! This means that the species is not recognized as being endangered � a dangerous situation, since the transition from being a problem animal to being extinct, can happen rapidly, as has been shown with the eradication of the Thylacine. So again the British population is a good insurance to have. We may hope that these strange doggie-deer with their swivel-vampire-teeth remain with us for a while longer.

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Willem

18.12.23 Front Page

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