Residents of East Asia---Sika Deers

 
About Sika Deers

     The Sika Deer, also known as the Spotted Deer or the Japanese Deer (Cervus nippon) is a species of deer that is native to much of East Asia, and also introduced to various parts of the world. They are mainly forest dwellers, but they are able to adapt quite well to various types of habitat. These deer are known to be great swimmers, too, and will readily enter the water to escape predators.
 

Habitats

     Japan has the largest native sika populations in the world. There are over hundreds of thousands sika deers in the wild and the numbers are still increasing. This is mainly due to the recent conservation efforts and the extinction of wolves, its main predator, from the country. Without its main enemy the population of sika deers boomed and is now overpopulated in many areas, posing a threat to both forests and farmlands. Hunting is now encouraged in Japan.

     China used to have the largest population of sika deers, but thousands of years of hunting and forest logging has reduced the population to less than 1,000. Only 2 of the 5 subspecies remain, each existing in single populations of a couple hundred individuals. The other three subspecies still remain in farms and zoos, but the lack of decent habitats in the region have made reintroduction impossible.

A Sika Deer in Taiwan's Kenting National Park

     In Taiwan, the species was previously extinct, but individuals from zoos was introduced in Kenting National Park and the population now numbers 200. Reintroduction programs are also underway in Vietnam, where the species is currently extinct.
 
     Russia has a relatively large and stable population of 9,000, but it is limited to a small area in Primorsky Krai. The species is likely to be extinct in Korea, but unconfirmed sightings are frequent from the northeastern mountains of North Korea, possibly having migrated from Russia.


Sika Deers are Extinct

     The species as a whole is not in danger of extinction, but five Asian subspecies are listed as endangered and four are said to be critically endangered.
     Five sika deer subspecies are listed as endangered: The Shansi sika deer (Cervus nippon grassianus) of China, the Formosan sika deer (Cervus nippon taiouanus) of Taiwan, the North China sika deer (Cervus nippon mandarinus) of China, the Ryukyu sika deer (Cervus nippon keramae) of Japan, and the South China sika deer (Cervus nippon kopschi) of China. The main threats to these subspecies are hunting, loss of forest habitat and predation by other animals. All five subspecies were listed as endangered in 1979, and the China population is said to be protected, but very few (known) additional conservation measures have been implemented to preserve the species.


Why They are Endangered Animals?

     Across its original range, and more intensively in many countries to which it has been introduced, the Sika Deer is regarded as a particularly prized and elusive sportsman's quarry. In Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe it has been noted that Sika Deer display very different survival strategies and escape tactics from the indigenous deer. They have a marked tendency to use camouflage and concealment in circumstances when Red deer, for example, would flee; and have been seen to squat and lie belly-flat when danger threatens in the form of human intrusion.

     Hunters and control cullers have estimated that the sika's wariness and "cleverness" makes it three or four times more difficult to bring to bag than a Red or Fallow deer. It has also been widely remarked that sika are much more tenacious of life, and harder to kill with a rifle bullet, than the native deer of Europe and North America. In the British Isles sika are widely regarded as a very serious threat to new and established woodlands, and public and private forestry bodies adopt policies of rigorous year-round culling, generally with little effect.


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