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Père David's
deer
Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus) at Woburn
Deer Park
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Elaphurus
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E. davidianus
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Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus), also
known as the milu (Chinese: 麋鹿; pinyin: mílù) or elaphure, is a species of deer
that is currently extinct in the wild—all
known specimens are found only in captivity. This semiaquatic
animal prefers marshland, and is native to the subtropics of China.
It grazes mainly on grass
and aquatic plants. It is the only extant member of the genus
Elaphurus. Based on genetic comparisons, Père
David's deer is closely related to the deer of the genus Cervus, leading many experts to suggest merging Elaphurus
into Cervus, or demoting Elaphurus to a subgenus of Cervus.
Naming and etymology
Père David's deer (female).
This species of deer was first made known to Western science in 1866 by Armand
David (Père David), a French missionary
working in China. He obtained the carcasses of an adult male, an adult female
and a young male, and sent them to Paris, where the species was named Père
David's Deer by Alphonse Milne-Edwards, a French biologist.The species is sometimes known by its informal name sibuxiang (Chinese: 四不像; pinyin: sì bú xiàng; Japanese: shifuzō), literally meaning "four not alike", which could mean "the four unlikes" or "like none of the four"; it is variously said that the four are cow, deer, donkey, horse (or) camel, and that the expression means in detail:
- "the hooves of a cow but not a cow, the neck of a camel but not a camel, antlers of a deer but not a deer, the tail of a donkey but not a donkey."
- "the nose of a cow but not a cow, the antlers of a deer but not a deer, the body of a donkey but not a donkey, tail of a horse but not a horse"
- "the tail of a donkey, the head of a horse, the hoofs of a cow, the antlers of a deer"
- "the neck of a camel, the hoofs of a cow, the tail of a donkey, the antlers of a deer"
- "the antlers of a deer, the head of a horse and the body of a cow"
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