Indian Muntjac - North America Introduced | Online Record Book Preview

Muntiacus muntjak

Muntjac, Ciervo ladrador (Sp), Indo-Malaiischer Muntjac, Bellhirsch (G), Muntjac des Indes (F). Also called common muntjac, red muntjac, barking deer and rib-faced deer. Muntjac is its name in the Sunda language of Java.

DESCRIPTION (male) Shoulder height 22-23 inches (56-58 cm). Weight 40-50 pounds (18-23 kg). The female is somewhat smaller.

A large muntjac with comparatively large antlers and long, bony, hair-covered pedicels. The antlers are slightly curved and usually there is one short secondary tine near the base. The coat is short and soft, the color varying with the race, but typically is a deep chestnut, darker on the back and lightening to almost white on the underparts. Coloration is slightly darker in winter. A dark line runs up the center of each horn pedicel. (Indian muntjacs from Indonesia and Malaya are a deep mahogany red with dark brown legs. Those from the Indian peninsula, Sri Lanka, Indochina and Yunnan are yellower, with little or no dark on the legs.) The upper canine teeth of the male are elongated into tusks that project from the lips. Females do not have tusks and have small, bony knobs and hair tufts in place of antlers.

REMARKS The muntjacs are a group of small deer (5-6 species) that are native to southeastern Asia. The Reeves muntjac is found in eastern China and Taiwan. It is the most common deer in China, with an estimated 650,000 animals taken annually by locals. Outside Asia, it has been introduced in England and France, where it thrives. There are two subspecies, reevesi from eastern China and micrurus from Taiwan, but we do not separate them here.