Deer species

[Guest HAWKEYE]

Please settle a friendly work debate....Wild deer only , not parks or zoos lol

My mate says there are 6

Red

Sika

Fallow

Roe

Muntjac

and Chinese water deer

 

I say there are 7...Im sure that there are two vartions of either the Muntjac or CWD

And are Pierre David deer a seperate species as well?

No jokes about reindeer either lol

[Guest trev]

Pieree David a diferent speices, seen one taken once, possibly the biggest deer ive ever seen taken by a dog, not a million miles from were i live either.

There was a deer farm not to far from us a few years ago and on its closure somebody released all the deer, some were pierre david, not to sure if they ever took off breeding wise as ive never seen one since.

[mick 7]

ANYBODY GOT A PICTURE OF A

PIEREE DAVID.

[runsatnite 7]

6 wild in this country apart from some escapes like the one trev was on about

[Guest mush]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Pere+Davi...r=&start=0&sa=N

[mick 7]

CHEERS FOR THE LINK MUSH

BIG OLD THINGES AINT THEY

[J Darcy 5,871]

There are only 6 species "wild " in the uk. the larger species of muntjac is no longer at large. reindeer roan "feral" up in the cairgorms, but they are very tame so they cannot count. there are, however, three sub-species of sika...japanese, formosion and manchurian....

[Guest HAWKEYE]

WELL THE c**t IS THICK SO IM GONNA LIE AND GET £20 OUTTA HIM ANYWAY LOL THANKS FOR THE INFO GUYS

[shaun v 3]

isnt there a hybrid red deers ?, i'm sure ive seen a program were they have x with a sika or fallow

[Simoman 110]

Think you are right Shaun, I'm sure i've read that Red and Sika and produce young

[Guest trev]

Reds and sika are the only two deer that can hybridise, there are only a very small few pure herds of red deer left in ireland because of this.

 

Heres a peice taken from Irish Deer society ireland:

 

Introduction to Ireland

Lord Powerscourt introduced sika deer to Ireland in 1860, when he imported four sika deer (one stag and three hinds) to his estate in the Wicklow Hills. The geographical origin of these sika deer has in the past been uncertain. However, recent genetic evidence has concluded that these animals originated from the Japanese island of Kyushu and most likely from the region around Nagasaki. Nagasaki was the only shipping port open to Western ships during the 1800s and it is likely that the deer for export would be captured locally.

Lord Powerscourt maintained a reasonably large herd during the late 1800s, this being the first successful introduction of this deer species to an area outside of Asia. By 1930 their number had increased to between 500-600 head. This herd acted as source stock of sika deer for a variety of further introduced populations both within Ireland and in Britain (Argyll, Scotland and Dorset, England). In 1865, Lord Kenmare obtained one stag and two hinds from the Powerscourt herd and released them on his estate near to the Muckross peninsula, Killarney area, County Kerry. The current herd populating Killarney National Park are descendants of these three animals.

The sika deer herd on Lord Powerscourt’s estate hybridised with the red deer (non-native) already present on the grounds. The hybrid offspring were fertile and capable of further breeding and crossing. The offspring of the first cross between the species has the appearance of both parents, but subsequent crosses result in the hybrid having the dominant parental appearance.

 

Examples of sika X red hybrid deer Subsequently, these hybrids escaped and flourished in the Wicklow hills and woodlands, where presently there are sika-like and red-like hybrid deer. With the demise of Lord Powerscourt’s estate, whereby the deer were released, coupled with the expansion of wide scale afforestation from the 1940s onwards have facilitated their widespread range within the Wicklow region and beyond. Thereby posing a threat to the genetic integrity of the native red deer and the pure Japanese sika deer in County Kerry

 

http://www.theirishdeersociety.com/deer2.htm

[shaun v 3]

if i'm not mistaken its happening over here aswell, not sure to what extent

[J Darcy 5,871]

yes hybridisation is quite common...BUT they cannot be classed as a "species"...

[kiwi 4]

red-sika-pere david and wapiti or elk can all interbreed as they are all subspecies of each other, we have both sika/red and red/elk hybrids in new zealand. the sika stag has a proved to be more aggressive and able to cover new territory to increase his range in new zealand and hybrids have become more common. deer farmers have used pere davids and even sambur deer over reds to increase size, the sambur were by ai and infertile calfs resulted.

[Stabs 3]

Didn't realise you guys had Sambar over there Kiwi. They are one big b*****d of a deer! My oppo from Qld gave me a book on hunting them by Lu Cervi. Top read!