PERE DAVID'S DEER
Pere David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) are also known as milu or milu deer. Native to northeast and central China, they are large brown 220-kilogram (500-pound) deer named after the French missionary who first described them — as well as giant pandas — to Europeans in 1865. These deer have made a dramatic comeback despite having their population reduced to near zero by habitat loss and hunting.
Pere David's deer’s name in Chinese was "sze pu shiang", meaning “none of the four”, which in turn meant that the deer had a neck like a camel, a tail like a donkey, antlers of a deer, and hooves similar to a cow but didn’t resemble any of them more than the other [Source: Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]
According to Chinese folklore, Pere David's deer were harnessed to heavenly chariots of some Chinese gods and the appearance of a pure white Pére David's deer foretold great events. It is said that pregnant women who looked at the deer risk giving birth to four-eyed children. Among Chinese nobility the deer was considered second only to the bear as the animal of choice among of hunters, which explains they they hung on in deer parks long after they ceased to exist in the wild. [Source: Nigel Sitwell, Smithsonian, June 1986]
Pere David’s deer are critically endangered. On the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List they are listed as Extinct in the Wild. In CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild) they have no special status. Their maximum lifespan in captivity has been 23 years and three months. Their average life span is about 18 years . [Source: Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]
History of Pere David's Deer
In 1865, the French missionary Père Armand David discovered the deer that bear his name in the Imperial Hunting Park (Nan Hai-tsu Park) near Peking (Beijing). This was last native herd of Pere David's deer. The Imperial Hunting Park was a walled-in 144-square-mile royal preserve located a few miles outside of central Beijing. The deer were dealt a severe blow in 1894 when the walls of the Imperial Hunting Park were breached by a severe flood and many deer were killed. Those that escaped into the surrounding countryside were killed by starving peasants. Six years later, foreign troops shot the remainder during the bloody Boxer Rebellion in 1900.
Fortunately about a dozen of the deer were sold to European zoos before they were wiped out in China, and the zoos in turn sold 18 of them to Herbrand Russell,the 11th Duke of Bedford, who raised the animals within a 13 mile wall on his 3,000-acre estate in southern England. During WWII the herd was moved out of fear they might become extinct because of a bombing raid or an invasion.
By the late 1980s the duke' herd had grown large enough so that the deer could be reintroduced into China. In 1985 a herd was reintroduced to the 250-acre Nan Haizu Milu Park on the southwestern part of the Imperial Hunting Park by he duke's great-grandson Robin Russell, 14th Duke of Bedford. This hered grew from 20 to 55 animals in ten years. A second group was released in 1986 in a site north of Shanghi called the Dafeng Milu Natural Reserve. This herd expanded from 39 to 50 animals in ten years. [National Geographic Geographica, March 1989].
In the late 1980s, there were more than 1,500 Pére David deer worldwide, and about 600 of them lived on the Duke of Bedford's estate. In 1997 an estimated 671 deer lived in in China. As of 2020, the wild population in China was an estimated 10,000 with a about 7,380 of these in various nature reserves in China. All Père David's deer alive today descend from the original herd of the 11th Duke of Bedford.
Pere David's Deer Habitat and Where They Are Found
Pere David’s deer live in temperate areas, where the climate is similar to that of the U.S. and Europe. They can also be found in forests, wetlands such as marshes and swamps and parks. Some of them live in parks in China were their descendants grew up; others are in reserves where they of their descendants were relocated. These deer are kind of semi-wild and lack the anti-predator traits that fully wild deer would have. Some have escaped from their [Source: Wikipedia, Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]
Historically, Pere David’s deer were probably found in the lowlands of China, swampy areas and reed-covered marshlands. Today they survive in the wild in two national parks: Beijing Milu Park and the Dafeng Milu Natural Reserve. This species can also be found in captivity in many zoos around the world. The historic range of Pere David’s deer was northeastern and east-central China. Truly wild specimens disappeared from the area sometime around A.D. 200 but the species survived as a result of the captive herd being maintaind in the Imperial Hunting Park,
Based on genetic comparisons, Père David's deer is closely related to Eld's deer. According to fossil records, the species first appeared during the Pleistocene period, when it could be found across Manchuria. This demography changed during the Holocene period; during this time, the species could only be found in the swamp lands and wetlands of southern China.
In Neolithic times, the milu's range extended across much of China proper. Archaeologists have found milu antlers at settlements from the Liao River in the north to Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province and across the Yellow and Yangtze River Basins in Shaanxi and Hunan Province. Due to hunting and land reclamation, the population of the Père David's deer became even smaller. By 1939, the last of the wild species were shot and killed.
Pere David's Deer Characteristics
Adult Père David's deer weigh between 135 and 200 kilograms (300 and 440 pounds), have a head-and-body length of around 1.9 to 2.2 meters (6.2 to 7.2 feet) and stand about 1.2 meters (3.9 feet) tall at the shoulder. Their tails are relatively long for a deer, measuring 50 to 66 centimeters (20–26 inches). Sexual Dimorphism (differences between males and females) is present: Males are larger than females. Ornamentation is different. Males have antlers and a maned throat[Source: Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW); /=\Wikipedia]
The summer fur of Pere David’s deer is reddish to deep reddish brown in color, with a medial black stripe down the shoulders. Winter fur is grayish brown with darker areas on flanks and throat. Both sexes have a dark tail tassel on their relatively long tail. The skin between the hooves is naked. Young Pere David’s deer are spotted white with an average birth weight of about 11 kilograms (24.2 pounds). /=\
Males have branched antlers that are shed annually in December or January. Females don’t have antlers. The antlers are unique in that the long tines point backward, while the main beam extends almost directly upward. New antlers begin growing immediately after the old ones fall out and reach full size by May. Antlers are around 55 to 80 centimeters (21.6 to 31.5 inches) along the curve and fork close to the skin. The long hind prong is very straight, and the front prong branches off with the prongs facing backwards. There may be two pairs per year. The summer antlers are the larger set, and are dropped in November, after the summer rut. The second set — if they appear — are fully grown by January, and fall off a few weeks later.
Pere David's Deer Behavior and Diet
Pere David's deer are motile (move around as opposed to being stationary), nomadic (move from place to place, generally within a well-defined range), and social (associates with others of its species; forms social groups). When enough of them are around they form herds and sense using touch and chemicals usually detected with smell. Males live with the herds except prior to and following mating when they leave the group. Females remain in social groups throughout the year. [Source: Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]
Unlike many deer species, Pere David's deer are very fond of water. There are considered semiaquatic and are good swimmers. They spend long periods of time standing in water up to their shoulders. Although predominantly a terrestrial grazers, they supplement their diet with aquatic plants in the summer.
Pere David’s deer are herbivores and their diet consists mainly of grasses. During summer they will eat aquatic plants. They are also sometimes classified as folivores (eat leaves) as they also eat leaves. These deer have been relocated to places that generally don’t have any predators.
Pere David's Deer Mating, Reproduction and Offspring
Pere David's deer are polygynous (males have more than one female as a mate at one time). They engage in seasonal breeding, usually in or around June. Females have an approximately 20 day long estrous cycle, and within a breeding season can have multiple cycles. Young are born in April and May., with the average number of offspring being being one. The average gestation period is 9.3 months. On average males and females reach sexual or reproductive maturity at 2.25 years, with males doing so around a month after females. [Source: Erin Jacobson, Animal Diversity Web (ADW) /=]
About two months before breeding season in June, stags (males) leave the herd. When they rejoin the heard they create or attempt to create a harem of females and fast during the rut. A dominant male defends his harem from other males. Males engage in mock combat and real fights during the rut. They fight using their antlers and teeth, and may rise up on hind legs and box with their front legs. Stags quickly lose weight during the breeding season as they don't eat while they defend the harem. They may be succeeded by new stags as the rut wears on.
Parental care is carried out by females. Fawns weigh about 11 kilograms at birth. Young have white spots. The gestation period is unusually long. Perhaps, an embryonic diapause (temporary suspension of development of the embryo) occurs. After the rut, males will leave the herd again for another two months and begin feeding again, and quickly regain their weight. /=\
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Animal Diversity Web animaldiversity.org ; National Geographic, Live Science, Natural History magazine, CNTO (China National Tourism Administration) David Attenborough books, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Discover magazine, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Wikipedia, The Guardian, Top Secret Animal Attack Files website and various books and other publications.
Last updated March 2025