Moschus moschiferus
This family includes a single genus and four species. The musk deer is a primitive deer about the size of a medium-sized dog. These small deer ( 9 - 11 kg) differ sharply from other deer. They have long well-muscled hind legs and shorter, weaker, thin forelimbs. The chest is usually small and the back highly arched, so that the animal is much higher at the sacrum than at the shoulders. This body structure correlates with the animal's usual pattern of movement, a series of well coordinated jumps generated from the hind legs. Males weigh slightly less than females. Neither sex has antlers. The male has fine and extremely sharp canines protruding directly downward from the mouth. In older males, canine tips extend considerably below the lower jaw.
New-borns have short, dark brown, soft hair, densely covered with yellowish or white spots. By the second winter, young moult into their winter coat, which consists of coarse hair typical of an adult. The spots become less defined or absent.
When it snows, the musk deer climbs trees and survives on the shrubs and moss o the trees. Musk deer are secretive animals, generally active at night or in the early morning or late evening. They are much less active in heavy snowfall. In the winter, they are attracted to relatively steep slopes covered with coniferous forests. Favorite habitats are sections with rock outcrops, which provide shelter from predators. Musk deer migrate from the steep mountain slopes they occupy in the winter to their summer range. In the summer, most of their time is spent in valleys of forest rivers, around streams, and near fields with good grassy vegatation (e.g., where coniferous taiga alternates with mixed deciduous forest). They avoid marshy forests.
They usually live singly or in groups of two or three (a mother and her young). Vision and hearing are thought to be keen, and sense of smell poor.
Gender differences:
The male has a huge, scimitar-like canine ; females have smaller canines. A musk pouch (located between the sex organs and the navel) releases a scent that is believed to be a signal to attract a mate. The musk gland is found only in the male.
Habitat:
Musk deer occur throughout the forested, mountainous parts of Asia and parts of
eastern Russia.
Diet:
They are both browsers and grazers, and they also consume some mosses and lichens. Over 130 plant species are consumed by musk deer.
In the winter, arboreal lichens and some terrestrial bushy lichens make up about 70% of the contents of a musk deer's stomach (by weight). Musk deer also eat young shoots, coniferous needles, leaves, buds, and bark of mountain ash, aspens, maple, willow, bird cherry , and honeysuckle.
In the summer, herbaceous plants are the main diet. These include buckwheat, geranium, some grasses, and spirea.
Reproduction:
Oestrus occurs in December and usually lasts for three to four weeks. The gestation period is 185-195 days. Females deliver one fawn or rarely two. Fawning occurs in secluded places such as beneath dense shrubs, under low branches of fir, or around fallen trees. Strangely, up to 1/3 of adult females remain barren every year. Fawns stay with their mothers for up to two years (two winters).
Other:
Musk deer are similar to cervids in many respects and are often classified as a subfamily of the Cervidae. The cervids include deer and their allies, including familiar moose, elk, and caribou.They differ, however, in that both sexes lack antlers.
An additional character that separates this species from the cervids is the presence of an abdominal musk gland.
Musk deer are caught mainly for musk ('musk deer perfume'), present only in the males. Musk is secreted by a saccate gland located between the sex organs and the naval. In the past, musk was used in medicine in Europe and the East. In 1855, around 81,200 sacs were exported from Russia to China through Kyakhta, and a few years later, Japan imported over 100,000 sacs in a single year. The musk deer population diminished greatly, and in 1927, only 5,089 sacs were collected.
The use of musk as a natural perfume base (used in preparing high quality scents) was discovered later. When this happened, the use of musk in perfume boomed. In Nepal in 1972, for example, an ounce of musk was worth more than an ounce of gold. . This lead to the classification of the animal as endangered by the USDI (1980). The musk deer also appears in Appendix 1 of CITES. In China, these deer are now bred in captivity so that their musk can be harvested
The main predators of the musk deer (other than man), are the lynx, wolverine, and the yellow-throated marten. In one study, done in the mountains, musk deer remains were found in 43% of the faeces of lynx.
Further reading :
http://www.traffic.org/factfile/factfile_muskdeer.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/reg.burma/archives/200010/msg00023.html
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