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Chinese water deer - HYDROPOTES INERMIS
Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Deer": "Deer" comes from the German word "Tier," which simply means "animal."
Location: Eastern China and Korea.
Habitat: Terrestrial. Swamps, marshlands, and plains near rivers and streams.
Description: The coat is short, thin, and reddish-brown in summer. In winter the coat is dark, dense, and woolly. A special feature of this species is the presence of long upper canine teeth, up to two and a half inches in length, which protrude from the upper jaw like the canines of chevrotains and musk deer. Another unusual feature is the absence of antlers. The front legs are slightly shorter than the hind legs. Length of head and body up to forty inches, with a tail of only a little over three inches. 22 inches at the shoulder, this deer can weigh about 35 pounds.
Behavior: It lives alone or in pairs in dense vegetation. If disturbed, it remains motionless and silent, but if the danger persists it runs away rapidly. In the mating season the stags engage in violent clashes in which the long canine teeth are used as weapons.
Reproduction: Gestation lasts for about six months. The female gives birth to up to six fawns, whose coats are speckled with white. They nurse for a few months, and leave their mother when they are about six months old.
Go to the Artiodactyla Page to learn more about all the even-toed hoofed animals.
Or go to the Deer Index to study other
deer.
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