Eld's Deer

The Eld's Deer (Cervus eldii), also called the Thamin or Brow-antlered Deer, is a deer indigenous to Southeast Asia. There are 3 recognised subspecies.

• the Manipur Brow-antlered Deer Cervus eldii eldii in Manipur, India.
• the Burmese Brow-antlered Deer Cervus eldii thamin in Myanmar and Thailand.
• the Thailand Brow-antlered Deer Cervus eldii siamensis in Cambodia, China, Lao, Thailand and Viet Nam also Hainan Island.

The species was first discovered in Manipur in 1839. It was named Cervus eldi in 1844 in honour of Lt. Percy Eld - a British officer.

Conservation

The Manipur Brow-antlered Deer is a rare and critically endangered subspecies of deer, and fewer than 40 individuals exist. It is locally known as Sangai in Manipuri. The Thailand Brow-antlered Deer is also endangered, with around 150 individuals, the subpopulation in Hainan is treated as a subspecies by Chinese conservationists, and is almost extinct in wild. The Burmese Brow-antlered Deer is Near Threatened and still occurs in reasonable numbers. It is found in its last existing natural habitat at the Kaibul Lamjao National Park in Loktak Lake in Manipur. A captive breeding programme is underway at the Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata.

References

• Listed as Vulnerable (VU A2c v2.3)

External links

• E-Pao.Net - Sangai : A cry in the wilderness
• ARKive - images and movies of the Eld's deer (Cervus eldii)
• http://www.greenapple.com/~jorp/amzanim/eldsdeer.htm
• http://nationalzoo.si.edu/ConservationAndScience/EndangeredSpecies/EldsDeer/
• http://www.indianwildlifeimages.com/product_display.php?cat=Sangai%20Deer