Zoologically, it is a mammal belonging to the family Clovisidae, scientifically known as the chrysalis deer. Because the horns of the elk resemble deer instead of deer, the head resembles a horse instead of a horse, the body resembles a donkey instead of a donkey, and the hooves resemble cattle instead of cattle, so it is named Four Different. Male elk have horns, while female elk have no horns and are smaller. During the Spring Festival, I was fortunate to see this object in the Hainan Thermal Botanical Garden.
The four non-likes are China's special animals, and in modern times there are no wild four-not-like animals. Its origin may be in Henan, Hebei, Shandong and Anhui. In 1954, a fossil skeleton of the Four Non-Like was found in the soil along the Tongzhou River in the eastern suburbs of Beijing, and all parts were complete except for the tail, which proved that hundreds of thousands of years ago, Beijing was the hometown of the Four Non-Like. The fossil is currently on display in the Beijing Museum of Natural History.
During the Kangxi and Qianlong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, many of these animals were still raised in the Royal Hunting Garden of Nanhaizi in Nanyuan, Beijing. Later, due to the incompetence and corruption of the Qing court, most of the deaths caused by natural disasters and war disasters, and only a few were left, which were plundered by the imperialists and exiled abroad, resulting in a period of extinction at home.
In 1956, in the process of China's foreign cultural exchanges, only a few were exchanged from abroad, and the four were not like returning to their hometowns. In 1985, thanks to the efforts of the World Wildlife Fund, the British government decided that five zoos in London would provide elk to China free of charge. In August 1985, 22 elk were flown from Britain to Beijing and transported to the Royal Hunting Ground in Nanhaiziyuan that night, returning to the place where it had last disappeared in China. In August 1986, 39 elk were transported from the UK via Shanghai to Dafeng, Jiangsu Province, and the elk returned to the beach where its wild ancestors last inhabited.
As of August 2011, the total number of elk in Dafeng Wetland, Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, reached 1,789, and in June 2013, the total number of elk in Swanzhou Elk Sanctuary in Shishou City, Hubei Province reached 1,016.