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Indian Muntjac

Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Artiodactyla
Suborder: Ruminantia
Family: Cervidae
Subfamily: muntiacinae
Genus: Muntiacus
Species: M. The conservation status of a Species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species remaining extant either in the present day or the near future Least Concern ( LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Mammals ( class Mammalia) are a class of Vertebrate Animals characterized by the presence of Sweat glands, including sweat glands The even-toed ungulates form the Mammal order Artiodactyla. They are Ungulates whose weight is borne (if they have more than two toes about The biological suborder Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing Mammals among them Cattle, goats Sheep, Deer A deer is a Ruminant Mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. muntjak
Binomial name
Muntiacus muntjak
Zimmermann, 1780

The Common Muntjac, also called Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) is the most numerous muntjac deer species. Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann ( August 17, 1743 &ndash July 4, 1815) was a German Geographer and Zoologist It has soft, short, brownish or greyish hair, sometimes with creamy markings. This species is omnivorous, feeding on fruits, shoots, seeds, birds' eggs as well as small animals and even carrion. It gives calls similar to barking, usually on sensing a predator (hence the common name for all muntjacs of barking deer).

The male Indian Muntjac has small antlers which attain 15 cm in length and have only 1 branch. They grow annually from a bony stalk on the head. Males are extremely territorial and can be fierce for their size. They will fight each other for territory using their antlers or their (more dangerous) tusk-like upper canine teeth, and can defend themselves against predators such as dogs.

Contents

Subspecies

There are 15 subspecies:


Introduction

The Indian Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak) is also commonly called the "barking deer" due to the bark-like sound that it makes as an alarm when danger is present. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Sometimes these deer will bark for an hour or more. This species is one of eleven different species of Muntjacs spread across Asia. The Indian Muntjacs specifically are widespread throughout Southern Asia, but are one of the least known Asian animals. Paleontological evidence proves that Indian Muntjacs have been around since the late Pleistocene epoch at least 12,000 years ago. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period Since then, they have played a major role in Southern Asia for sport hunting as well as being hunted for its meat and skin. Often, these animals are hunted around the outskirts of agricultural areas because they can be considered a nuisance damaging crops and ripping bark off of trees. However, this animal is still in an abundance in Southern Asia numbering anywhere from 140,000-150,000 in China alone as of 2004.

Description

The Indian Muntjac has a short but very soft, thick, dense coat, especially those living in cooler regions. Coloration of the coat changes from dark brown to yellowish and grayish brown depending on the season. The Muntjacs' coat is golden tan on the dorsal side and white on the ventral side of the body, the limbs are dark brown to reddish brown, and the face is dark brown. However, the ears have very little hair which barely covers them. Male muntjacs have antlers that are very short, about 1-2 inches, usually consisting of only two or three points at the most and protrude from long body hair covered pedicels on the forehead. Females have tufts of fur and small bony knobs where the antlers are located in males. Males also have slightly elongated upper canines about an inch long that curve slightly outward from the lips and have the capability to inflict serious injury upon other animals or to other members of the population while exhibiting aggression. Males are generally larger than females. The body length of Muntjacs varies from 35-53 in. and their height ranges from 15-26 in.

Habitat

The Indian Muntjac is the most widespread but least known of all the animals in South Asia. This species is distributed throughout South Asia, but more densely located in Southeastern Asia. Some specific countries the Indian Muntjak is found in are Northeastern Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Southern China, Vietnam, the Maylay peninsula, Riau Archipelago, Sumatra, Bangka, Belitung Islands, Java, Bali, and Borneo. Pakistan () officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia, Southwest Asia, Middle East and India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka ( Sinhalese:, இலங்கை known as Ceylon before 1972 is an Island Nepal (नेपाल) is a Landlocked country in South Asia. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National Vietnam (ˌviːɛtˈnɑːm Việt Nam) officially Not to be confused with Riau Islands, a province. The Riau Archipelago (Indonesian Kepulauan Riau) is a group of islands within the Riau Islands Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470000 km² and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two Java (Jawa is an Island of Indonesia and the site of its Capital city Jakarta. Bali is an Indonesian Island located at, the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. The Muntjac is usually found in plentiful forests and places with dense vegetation such as grasslands, savannas, tropical deciduous forests, and tropical scrub forests. Grasslands (also called greenswards) are areas where the Vegetation is dominated by Grasses ( Poaceae) and other Herbaceous (non-woody A savanna or savannah is a Tropical or Subtropical Grassland or Woodland Ecosystem. Botany Autumn leaf color. See --> In Botany and Horticulture, deciduous Plants, including They are also very populated in the hilly country on the slopes of the Himalayas. They are found at both sea level and medium height altitudes up to 9,800 ft. They never wander far from water. Also, males usually have their own territory which may overlap the territories of a few females but not of another male.

Diet

The Indian Muntjacs are classified as omnivores. Omnivores (from Latin omne all everything vorare to devour are species that eat both Plants and Animals as their primary They are considered both browsers and grazers with a diet consisting of grasses, ivy, prickly bushes, low growing leaves, bark, twigs, herbs, fruit, sprouts, seeds, tender shoots, bird eggs and small warm-blooded animals. Indian Muntjacs are typically found feeding at the edge of the forest or in abandoned clearings. Their large canines help in the processes of retrieving and ingesting food.

Reproduction

The Indian Muntjacs are polygamous animals. The term polygamy (a Greek word meaning "the practice of multiple marriage" is used in related ways in Social anthropology, Sociobiology, and Females sexually mature during their first to second year of life. These females are polyestrous, with each cycle lasting about 14 to 21 days and an estrus lasting for 2 days. Oestrus is also the biological genus name of the gadfly. The estrous cycle (also oestrous cycle; derived from Latin The gestation period is six to seven months and they usually bear one offspring at a time but sometimes produce twins. Females usually give birth in dense growth so that they are hidden from the rest of the herd and predators. The young leaves its mother after about six months to establish its own territory. Males often fight between one another for possession of a harem of females. Indian Muntjacs are distinguished from other ungulates in showing no evidence of a specific breeding season within the species. Ungulates (meaning roughly "being Hoofed quot or "hoofed animal" are several groups of Mammals most of which use the tips of their toes usually

Behavior

Indian Muntjacs are regarded as extremely solitary animals, rarely observed with other muntjacs, except for a mother and her young and during the rutting season. Males acquire territories that they mark with scent markers by rubbing their frontal preorbital gland (located on their head) on the ground and on trees, scraping their hooves against the ground, and scraping the bark of trees with their lower incisors. These scent markers allow other Muntjacs to know whether a territory is occupied or not. Males will often fight with each other over these territories, sufficient vegetation, and for primary preference over females when mating using their short antlers and an even more dangerous weapon, their canines. If a male is not strong enough to acquire his own territory he will most likely become prey to a leopard or some other predator. The leopard (lɛpɚd Panthera pardus) is an Old World Mammal of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four roaring During the time of the rut, territorial lines are temporarily disregarded and overlap while males roam constantly in search of a receptive female.

These deer are incredibly alert creatures. When put into a stressful situation or if a predator is sensed, Muntjacs will begin making a bark-like sound. Barking was originally thought of as a means of communication between the deer during mating season as well as an alert. However, in more recent studies it has been identified as a mechanism used solely in alarming situations meant to cause a predator to realize that it has been detected and move elsewhere or to reveal itself. The barking mechanism is used more frequently when visibility is reduced and can last for over an hour regarding one incident.

Muntjacs exhibit both diurnality and nocturnality. In Animal behavior, diurnality indicates an Animal that is active during the Daytime and rests during the Night. As an Animal behavior, nocturnality describes sleeping during the Daytime and being active at Night - the opposite of the diurnal

Evolution and Scientific Classification

The appearance and evolution of ungulates came about at the beginning of the Tertiary epoch. These ungulates were members of the order Condylarthra which eventually gave rise to the Eparctocyon line. Condylarthra is an order of extinct Placental Mammals known primarily from the Paleocene and Eocene epochs The Eparctocyon line includes the order Artiodactyla to which the present ungulate, Muntiacus muntjak, belongs. The even-toed ungulates form the Mammal order Artiodactyla. They are Ungulates whose weight is borne (if they have more than two toes about Ancestors of the Muntjac evolved or possessed an efficient compact ankle, small side toes, complicated premolars, and an almost completely covered mastoid bone. Cervids arose later from Palaeomerycid ancestry during the Oligocene epoch. The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33

Members of the family Cervidae are described as deer where males possess bony antlers that molt annually (except in the Chinese water deer) and where the females lack antlers (except in reindeer). A deer is a Ruminant Mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. The Water Deer ( Hydropotes inermis) is superficially more similar to a Musk deer than a True deer (Cervidae - order Artiodactyla but it is classified They range in North & South America, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.

Kingdom: Animalia, Phylum: Chordata, Class: Mammalia, Order: Artiodactyla, Suborder: Ruminantia, Family: Cervidae, Subfamily: Muntiacinae, Genus: Muntiacus, Species: muntjak

There are 3 other subfamilies of Cervidae: Cervinae (deer & fallow deer), Hydropotinae (Chinese water deer), and Capriolinae (moose & reindeer).

There are 6 species of Muntjacs: M. atherodes (Borneo), M. reevesi (southern China, Taiwan), M. feae (south-central China, Laos, Burma, Thailand), M. gongshanensis (northwestern Yunnan, Tibet), M. crinifrons (southeastern China), and M. muntjak.

There are 15 subspecies of the Muntjac: M. m. annamensis, M. m. aureus, M. m. bancanus, M. m. curvostylis, M. m. grandicornis, M. m. malabaricus, M. m. montanus, M. m. muntjak, M. m. nainggolani, M. m. nigripes, M. m. peninsulae, M. m. pleicharicus, M. m. robinsoni, M. m. rubidus, M. m. vaginalis.

Conservation Status

Not threatened.

References

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