Sika deer appeared in Fengshan Expert: Wild is unlikely

A few days ago, a short video of "Found Deer in Fengshan Mountain, Xichonghua" filmed by Xichong citizens attracted the attention of many netizens. Everyone is speculating about what kind of deer this is, and some netizens laughed and called it a "high-speed bull deer". Whether it is a "high-speed deer", on November 10, the reporter sent the video to Hu Jie, a professor at the School of Life Sciences of West China Normal University, to identify.

"According to the shape of the horns, it can be determined that it is a sika deer, and the shape of the antlers is divided into 4 branches, which can be further determined to be an adult male sika deer." Hu Jie told reporters that due to climatic reasons, wild sika deer are difficult to survive in Nanchong, so this should be a domesticated sika deer.

Sika deer appearing in Fengshan Mountain, Xichong (video screenshot)

Walking the dog on the mountain frightened the "black shadow" to run on its legs

On the same day, the reporter went to find Li Hongyan, the shooter of the short video "Found Deer in Fengshan, Xichonghua", and she introduced the shooting process to the reporter.

At about 4 p.m. on November 2, Li Hongyan, who lived in Xichong County, went to Xichong County's Huafeng Mountain Tourist Scenic Spot to walk his dog. "Along the slow sidewalk, I led the dog up slowly, and suddenly, my dog barked a few times." I followed the dog's line of sight and found a "dark shadow" in the woods near the only public toilet on Huafeng Mountain. Li Hongyan's eyes were short-sighted, and he couldn't see clearly what this "black shadow" was, so he was shocked.

Probably because of the dog barking, "Black Shadow" suddenly ran up, ran a few steps, and turned his head to stare at Li Hongyan. In order to determine what it was, Li Hongyan quickly followed, and when he got closer, Li Hongyan carefully examined it and found that this "black shadow" should be a deer. Feeling strange, she immediately took out her mobile phone and filmed a few videos.

The reporter saw from the video provided by Li Hongyan that the deer looked small, had two horns on its head, and its eyes looked shining, and it had been staring in the direction of the video shooting, and with the barking of the dog, it seemed to be frightened and ran away.

Li Hongyan said that when she went to look for the deer again, the deer had already run away without a trace.

Experts identified it as an adult male sika deer

After the video was posted online, it caused a heated discussion among netizens, and everyone was speculating about what breed of deer it was. Some say it's a red deer, some say it's an elk, and some even joke that it's a "high-speed bull deer." What is this deer, the reporter sent the video to Hu Jie, a professor at the School of Life Sciences of China West Normal University. Hu Jie once presided over the "Sichuan Sika Deer Landscape Genetics Research".

"According to the shape of the horns, it can be determined that it is a sika deer, and the shape of the antlers is divided into 4 branches, which can be further determined to be an adult male sika deer." Hu Jie told reporters.

It is understood that wild sika deer belong to the national first-class protected animals and are included in the IUCN's 2015 Red List of Threatened Species. The activity time of the sika deer is concentrated in the morning and dusk, and its living area changes with the changes of the seasons, mostly in the spring on the semi-shady slope, in the summer and autumn to the forest edge of the yin slope, and in the winter, it likes to be on the warm slope, mainly feeding on grasses, fruits, herbs, buds, trees and crops.

Hu Jie told reporters that due to climatic reasons, the possibility of wild sika deer appearing in Nanchong is unlikely, at present, only wild sika deer have appeared in Aba in the province, so the sika deer that appears in Fengshan, Xichonghua is most likely domestic or captive.

Nanchong Daily all-media reporter Deng Tanniwen / photo