Calamian deer

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Calamian deer
In the San Diego Zoo, California
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: Cervinae
Genus: Axis
Species:
A. calamianensis
Binomial name
Axis calamianensis
(Heude, 1888)
Synonyms
  • Hyelaphus calamianensis (Heude, 1888)
  • Axis culionensis (D.G. Elliot, 1897)

The Calamian deer (Axis calamianensis), also known as Calamian hog deer,

Philippine sambar (Rusa marianna) and the Visayan spotted deer
(Rusa alfredi).

Taxonomy

It is considered by some taxonomists to be in the genus

IUCN also uses.[1]

Behaviour and ecology

It is known as the "hog deer" because when it is fleeing from danger, it dashes through underbrush with its head down like a hog instead of jumping over barriers like other deer. These animals are crepuscular, meaning that they are active at sunrise and twilight. They rest during the warmer part of the day and then come out from the undergrowth to forage. Mainly solitary, they sometimes form small herds if left undisturbed. As with other deer species, Calamian deer are ruminants, meaning that they have four stomach chambers and chew cud. A soft, high-pitched, nasal call is their main vocalization. Their diet consist of shoots, twigs, and leaves.[5]

Characteristics

A typical height for males of 60–65 cm (24–26 in) has been reported. Weight can very usually from 79-110 pounds. Males have three-tined antlers.[5] Their fawns are not spotted at birth, which separates them from the best known western population of the Indian hog deer (A. porcinus). There are few natural predators except for birds of prey and pythons.

Fossil record

Fossils were found at

Ille Cave near the village of New Ibajay in Palawan. They were ascribed to tigers, deer, macaques, bearded pigs, small mammals, lizards, snakes and turtles. From the stone tools, besides the evidence for cuts on the bones, and the use of fire, it would appear that early humans had accumulated the bones.[6][7][8]

Using the work of Von den Driesch,

distal and labio-lingual measurements of individual fossil teeth and mandibular toothrows with those of surviving deer taxa in the Philippines and other Southeast Asian islands, it appears that the Calamian hog deer is most plausible candidate for the small taxon. The hog deer exists in forest edges and open grassland habitats on the islands of Culion and Busuanga, which during the Pleistocene were part of the landmass of Greater Palawan, but not on Palawan itself nowadays.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T2446A22156678.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2010.07.009
    .
  4. ^ "Axis calamianensis". Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 14 Aug 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens | Deer, Calamian". Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. Archived from the original on 2018-03-11. Retrieved 2018-03-10.
  6. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.04.003
    .
  7. ISBN 9781444391282
    .
  8. ISBN 978-9-4024-1106-5
    .
  9. ^ Von den Driesch, A. (1976). "A Guide to the Measurement of Animal Bones from Archaeological Sites". Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University.
  10. ^ Heaney, L.; Balete, D.; Dolar, M. L.; Alcala, A.; Dans, A.; Gonzales, P.; Inlge, N.; Lepiten, M.; Oliver, W.; Ong, P.; Rickart, E.; Tabaranza, B.; Utzurrum, R. (1998). "A synopsis of the mammalian fauna of the Philippine Islands". Fieldiana Zoology (88).
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