The Altai wapiti, sometimes called the Altai
elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
, is a
subspecies
In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...
of ''Cervus canadensis'' found in the forest hills of southern
Siberia, northwestern
Mongolia, and northern
Xinjiang province of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. It is different from the
Tian Shan wapiti in being smaller and paler in color.
It has also been classified as ''
C. elaphus sibirica'',
[M. V. Kuznetsova, A. A. Danilkin, M. V. Kholodova: "Phylogeography of red deer (Cervus elaphus): Analysis of MtDNA cytochrome b polymorphism" ''Biology Bulletin'' Vol. 39, No. 4 (July 2012), pp 323-330 ] and is also known as the Altai maral, central maral deer, Siberian red deer,
[ and maral.][Halik Mahmut, Ryuichi Masuda, Manabu Onuma, Manami Takahashi, Junko Nagata, Masatsugu Suzuki, Noriyuki Ohtaishi "Molecular Phylogeography of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) Populations in Xinjiang of China: Comparison with other Asian, European, and North American Populations" ''Zoological Science'' Vol. 19, No. 4 (2002), pp. 485-495 ]
References
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Elk and red deer