Muntjacs ( ), also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer, (URL is Google Books) are small

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

of the genus ''Muntiacus'' native to

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, with remains found in

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...

deposits in France, Germany and Poland. Most species are listed as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

or Data Deficient by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

, although others such as the

black muntjac The hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac (''Muntiacus crinifrons'') is a type of deer currently found in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian in southeastern China. It is considered to be endangered, possibly down to as few as 5–10,000 individ ...

Bornean yellow muntjac The Bornean yellow muntjac (''Muntiacus atherodes'') is a muntjac species endemic to the moist forests of Borneo. Taxonomy It lives alongside the common muntjac. It is similar to its much more common cousin and was only recognised as a separate ...

, and

giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in cen ...

are Vulnerable,

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

, and Critically Endangered, respectively.

Name

The present name is a borrowing of the Latinized form of the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

, which was borrowed from the

Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...

''mēncēk''. The

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

form first appeared as in Zimmerman in 1780. An erroneous alternative name of 'Mastreani deer' has its origins in a mischievous Wikipedia entry from 2011 and is incorrect.

Description

The present-day species are native to Asia and can be found in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Indonesian islands, Taiwan and Southern China. Their habitat includes areas of dense vegetation, rainforests, monsoon forests and they like to be close to a water source. They are also found in the lower Himalayas (

Terai The Terai or Tarai is a lowland region in northern India and southern Nepal that lies south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Sivalik Hills, and north of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. This lowland belt is characterised by tall grasslands, scr ...

regions of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

). An invasive population of

Reeves's muntjac Reeves's muntjac (''Muntiacus reevesi''; ), also known as the Chinese muntjac, is a muntjac species found widely in southeastern China (from Gansu to Yunnan) and Taiwan. It has also been introduced in Europe, western United States and Japan. It ...

exists in the United Kingdom and in some areas of Japan. In the United Kingdom, wild deer descended from escapees from the

Woburn Abbey Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, a ...

estate around 1925. Muntjac have expanded rapidly, and are present in most English counties and also in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, although they are less common in the north-west. The British Deer Society in 2007 found that muntjac deer had noticeably expanded their range in the UK since 2000.Deer Distribution Survey 2007
The British Deer Society. Retrieved 6 September 2011. Specimens appeared in Northern Ireland in 2009, and in the Republic of Ireland in 2010. Inhabiting tropical regions, the deer have no seasonal rut, and mating can take place at any time of year; this behaviour is retained by populations introduced to

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

countries.

Tusks

Males have short antlers, which can regrow, but they tend to fight for territory with their "tusks" (downward-pointing canine teeth). The presence of these "tusks" is otherwise unknown in native British wild deer and can be an identifying feature to differentiate a muntjac from an immature native deer.

Water deer The water deer (''Hydropotes inermis'') is a small deer superficially more similar to a musk deer than a true deer. Native to China and Korea, there are two subspecies: the Chinese water deer (''Hydropotes inermis inermis'') and the Korean water ...

also have visible tusks but they are much less widespread. Although these tusks resemble those of both water deer and the

Musk Deer Musk deer can refer to any one, or all seven, of the species that make up ''Moschus'', the only extant genus of the family Moschidae. Despite being commonly called deer, they are not true deer belonging to the family Cervidae, but rather their fa ...

, the muntjac is not related to either of these (and they are not related to each other). The tusks are a quite different shape in each.

Genetics

Metaphase spread of the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis)

Muntjac are of great interest in evolutionary studies because of their dramatic

chromosome A chromosome is a long DNA molecule with part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells the most important of these proteins are ...

variations and the recent discovery of several new species. The

Indian muntjac The Indian muntjac or the common muntjac (''Muntiacus muntjak''), also called the southern red muntjac and barking deer, is a deer species native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. In popular local l ...

(''M. muntjak'') is the mammal with the lowest recorded chromosome number: The male has a

diploid number Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respective ...

of 7, the female only 6 chromosomes.

(''M. reevesi''), in comparison, has a diploid number of 46 chromosomes.

Species

The genus ''Muntiacus'' has 12 recognized species: *

or common muntjac or kakar, ''Muntiacus muntjak'' *

or Chinese muntjac, ''M. reevesi'' *

, ''M. atherodes'' *

Hairy-fronted muntjac The hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac (''Muntiacus crinifrons'') is a type of deer currently found in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian in southeastern China. It is considered to be endangered, possibly down to as few as 5–10,000 individ ...

or black muntjac, ''M. crinifrons'' *

Fea's muntjac The Fea's muntjac or Tenasserim muntjac (''Muntiacus feae'') is a rare species of muntjac native to southern Myanmar and Thailand. It is a similar size to the common muntjac (adult weight is 18 – 21 kg (40 - 46 lb)). It is diurnal and ...

, ''M. feae'' *

Gongshan muntjac The Gongshan muntjac (''Muntiacus gongshanensis'') is a species of muntjac (a type of deer) living in the Gongshan mountains in northwestern Yunnan, southeast Tibet, Northeast India (especially in Arunachal Pradesh) and northern Myanmar. Ongoin ...

, ''M. gongshanensis'' *

Malabar red muntjak Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

, ''M. malabaricus'' * Sumatran muntjac ''M. montanus'' *

Leaf muntjac The leaf muntjac, leaf deer or Putao muntjac (''Muntiacus putaoensis'') is a small species of muntjac. It was documented in 1997 by biologist Alan Rabinowitz during his field study in the isolated Nogmung Township in Myanmar. Rabinowitz discovered ...

''M. putaoensis'' *

Pu Hoat muntjac The Pu Hoat muntjac (''Muntiacus puhoatensis'') is a species of muntjac only known from Pu Hoat region in Vietnam, which is bordering Laos. It is sometimes considered to be conspecific with Roosevelt's muntjac, and its habitat and behavior are li ...

''M. puhoatensis'' *

Roosevelt's muntjac A single specimen of the Roosevelt's muntjac or Roosevelt's barking deer (''Muntiacus rooseveltorum'') was presented to the Field Museum in 1929 following the Kelley-Roosevelts expedition organized by Theodore (Jnr) and Kermit Roosevelt. The ...

, ''M. rooseveltorum'' *

Truong Son muntjac The Truong Son muntjac or Annamite muntjac (''Muntiacus truongsonensis'') is a species of muntjac deer. It is one of the smallest muntjac species, at about , half the size of the Indian muntjac (or common muntjac). It was discovered in the Truon ...

''M. truongsonensis'' *

Giant muntjac The giant muntjac (''Muntiacus vuquangensis''), sometimes referred to as the large-antlered muntjac, is a species of muntjac deer. It is the largest muntjac species and was discovered in 1994 in Vũ Quang, Hà Tĩnh Province of Vietnam and in cen ...

, ''M. vuquangensis'' *

Northern red Muntjac The Northern red muntjac (''Muntiacus vaginalis'') is a species of muntjac. It is found in numerous countries of south-central and southeast Asia. Taxonomy It was recently found distinct from the Indian muntjac, Southern red muntjac (previous ...

, ''M. virginalis''

References

External links

BBC Wales Nature: Muntjac deer article
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q234121 Muntiacini Mammals of Asia Mammals of Southeast Asia Mammals of Bangladesh Mammals of Bhutan Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of China Mammals of India Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Japan Mammals of Malaysia Mammals of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque