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Crested deer has not only an interesting name, but also a no less interesting appearance. He got his name for a reason - rarely any animal boasts a thick tuft of hair on his forehead. However, hairstyle is not the only distinguishing feature of this animal. A detailed description of the appearance and way of life of the crested deer is given in this article.
What does a crested deer look like?
This animal has more modest size compared to other species of deer and ungulates. The length of their body, as a rule, is slightly longer than a meter, and the height at the withers ranges from 40 to 50 cm. With such parameters, the weight of the crested deer rarely exceeds 40 kg. However, there were cases when larger individuals were found, whose weight was more than 50 kg, and the height at the withers reached 70 cm. This indicates the relationship between the size of the animal’s body and its habitat.
The coat color of crested deer has a variety of shades. The lower part of the body is lighter than the back and legs, it is colored gray or reddish. The body coat is brown or dark gray. The tips of the ears of the deer, as well as the lips and the inner side of the tail, are white. There are cases when the eyes of an animal are circled in white lines. Among their species, crested deer are divided into 3 subspecies based on the color of wool and habitat.
There is a difference between young and mature individuals - white spots located along the spine - are characteristic only of young animals. Adult individuals cannot boast of such a decoration.
The eyes of the deer are large and very dark, with a poorly discernible pupil. They are bordered by a series of long eyelashes, giving the animal a touching look. The nose of a crested deer is black and always moist. Along the edges of it are hard sensitive vibrissa hairs.
Such a famous tuft begins its growth from the line of the eyes and ends near the ears at a height of 17 cm, having a dark color. There are small horns behind the shock of wool, which are difficult to see from the first time. Therefore, male crested deer are not satisfied with the horns, as other types of deer do.
Habitats
The habitat of the crested deer is limited to southern and central China, as well as Burma and Laos. Outside these areas this animal is not found. There the deer lives in forests at an altitude of up to 4500 above sea level. They also like overgrown shrubs, giving food and shelter from predators. Sometimes animals can leave their refuge and go to the settlements. At the same time, a crested deer is not afraid of people. According to various estimates, the population of these animals has half a million individuals. It is not known whether there is a tendency to reduce their numbers.
Nutrition
Despite their awesome fangs,crested deer prefer exclusively herbaceous plants and grasses. In winter, they use fallen leaves of trees and young bark of shrubs as food. In the spring, deer are looking for legumes, as they need to make up for the lack of protein after the cold season.
According to some unconfirmed data, deer of this species can use carrion if they have not eaten anything for a long time. However, their fangs are not suitable for tearing off and chewing the muscle fibers, which makes one doubt the veracity of this information.
Life among relatives and reproduction
During the day, crested deer rarely show activity, trying to use this time to rest and digest food. They go in search of food at dusk, and by the morning they prefer to arrange a rest for themselves. These animals have their own communication system. For communication deer use barking sounds. Also during mating games, they are able to whistle and flick using the nasopharynx and molars.
Despite their calm attitude to the presence of humans, in the wild, crested deer are very shy and do not enter into open confrontation, preferring to escape.When it encounters a predator, the animal flees, lifting up a small light tail - this is a sign to the rest that danger is coming.
There is no information on who exactly is the natural enemy of crested deer. Because of the secretive behavior of an animal, it is difficult to obtain information about it, therefore the species has been little studied by zoologists.
View protection
Despite the fact that the crested deer is quite densely settled and has a relatively good number of individuals, this species is listed in the Red Book and is protected. Scientists have found that species that live in one particular area have a greater risk of extinction than those who live in different parts of the world.
Currently, crested deer are successfully kept in European zoos. They have the ability to breed in captivity.
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