Muntjac
{{short description|Genus of deer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Muntjac
| fossil_range = Miocene to present
| image = Indian Muntjac Muntiacus muntjak by Raju Kasambe DSCN3312 (1) 02.jpg
| image_caption = Male muntjac in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve, India
| taxon = Muntiacus
| authority = Rafinesque, 1815
| type_species = Cervus muntjak
| type_species_authority = Zimmerman, 1780
| subdivision_ranks =
| subdivision =
| range_map = Range of Muntjac species, including ones introduced into Wales and England.png
| range_map_caption = {{legend0|#c60000| native (Asia) and exotic (Great Britain) ranges of genus Muntiacus}}
}}
Muntjacs ({{IPAc-en|m|ʌ|n|t|dʒ|ae|k}} {{respell|MUNT|jak}}),{{cite book|last=Wells|first=John|author-link=John C. Wells|title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |publisher=Pearson Longman |edition=3rd |date=3 April 2008 |isbn=978-1-4058-8118-0}} also known as the barking deer or rib-faced deer,{{Cite magazine |title= Notes and comments – The alien deer of the Chilterns |date=1959-04-09 |magazine=New Scientist |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=kD2vCBb8xwIC&dq=%22rib-faced%20deer%22&pg=PA784 |page=784}} (URL is Google Books) are small deer of the genus Muntiacus native to South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muntjacs are thought to have begun appearing 15–35 million years ago, with remains found in Miocene deposits in France, Germany{{Cite EB9 |wstitle=Muntjak |volume=17}} and Poland.{{cite journal |first1=Teresa |last1=Czyżewska |first2=Krzysztof |last2=Stefaniak |title=Euprox furcatus (Hensel, 1859) (Cervidae, Mammalia) from Przeworno (Middle Miocene, Lower Silesia, Poland) |journal=Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia |volume=37 |issue=1 |date=December 1994 |pages=55–74 |url=http://www.isez.pan.krakow.pl/journals/azc/pdf/azc_v/37(1)/37(1)_05.pdf }} Most are listed as least-concern species or Data Deficient by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), although others such as the black muntjac, Bornean yellow muntjac, and giant muntjac are vulnerable, near threatened, and critically endangered, respectively.{{Cite web |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/136551/22165292 |title=IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Muntiacus vaginalis |date=25 September 2015}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/42190/56005589 |title = IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Muntiacus Muntjak |date = 18 November 2015}}
Name
The present name is a borrowing of the Latinized form of the Dutch {{lang|nl|muntjak}}, which was borrowed from the Sundanese mencek ({{IPAc-en|m|ə|n|t|ʃ|ə|k}}). The Latin form first appeared as {{lang|la|Cervus muntjac}} in Zimmerman in 1780.{{citation |title=Oxford English Dictionary |contribution=muntjac, n. |date=2003 }}.{{citation |last=Von Zimmerman |first=Eberhard August Wilhelm |author-link=Eberhard August Wilhelm von Zimmermann |title=Geographische Geschichte des Menschen, und der Allgemein Verbreiteten Vierfussigen Thiere |date=1780 |volume=II |page=131 }}. {{in lang|de}} An erroneous alternative name of Mastreani deer has its origins in a mischievous Wikipedia entry from 2011 and is incorrect.Smith-Jones, C. (2020), 'Mastreani deer, a very modern hoax', The British Deer Society: Deer Journal Summer 2020 p25 https://online.fliphtml5.com/svis/tqfn/#p=12
Distribution
The present-day species are native to Asia and can be found in Pakistan,{{Cite web |last=Ali |first=Kalbe |date=2019-10-27 |title=The thriving wildlife in the Margalla Hills |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1513110 |access-date=2025-05-23 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en}} India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Indonesian islands, Taiwan and Southern China. Their habitat includes areas of dense vegetation, rainforests, monsoon forests and they like to be close to a water source.{{Cite web|last=Jackson |first=Adria |title=Muntiacus muntjak (Indian muntjac) |url= https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Muntiacus_muntjak/ |access-date=2021-07-20|website=Animal Diversity Web|language=en}} They are also found in the lower Himalayas (Terai regions of Nepal and Bhutan).
File:Muntiacus muntjak 50960281, crop.jpg
An invasive population of Reeves's muntjac exists in the United Kingdom and in some areas of Japan.{{cite web |url=https://www.nies.go.jp/biodiversity/invasive/DB/detail/10250e.html|title=Reeves's (or Chinese) Muntjac / Invasive Species of Japan |website=www.nies.go.jp|access-date=7 April 2018}} In the United Kingdom, wild muntjac descended from escapees from the Woburn Abbey estate around 1925.{{cite book
|first= George Kenneth |last=Whitehead |title= The deer of Great Britain and Ireland: an account of their history, status and distribution |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2yDxAAAAMAAJ|year=1964|publisher=Routledge & K. Paul |location=London |pages={{page needed |date=September 2011}}}} Muntjac have expanded rapidly, and are present in most English counties and also in Wales, although they are less common in the north-west. The British Deer Society in 2007 found that muntjac deer had noticeably expanded their range in the UK since 2000.[http://www.bds.org.uk/c2/uploads/muntjac.pdf Deer Distribution Survey 2007] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923183044/http://www.bds.org.uk/c2/uploads/muntjac.pdf |date=23 September 2015 }} The British Deer Society. Retrieved 6 September 2011. Specimens appeared in Northern Ireland in 2009, and in the Republic of Ireland in 2010.
Inhabiting tropical regions, the deer have no seasonal rut, and mating can take place at any time of year; this behaviour is retained by populations introduced to temperate countries.
Description
=Tusks=
Males have short antlers, which can regrow, but they tend to fight for territory with their "tusks" (downward-pointing canine teeth). The presence of these "tusks" is otherwise unknown in native British wild deer and can be an identifying feature to differentiate a muntjac from an immature native deer. Water deer also have visible tusks{{Cite web |last=Emily |title=Chinese water deer |url=https://ptes.org/get-informed/facts-figures/chinese-water-deer/ |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=People's Trust for Endangered Species |language=en-GB}} but they are much less widespread.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
Although these tusks resemble those of both water deer and the musk deer, the muntjac is not related to either of these (and they are not related to each other). The tusks are of a quite different shape in each.
File:BarkingDeer.jpg, India]]
File:Muntiacus reevesi 2024-05-24 JM 5D412904 2.jpg buck with exposed canine tooth]]
File:Barking Deer - Kolkata 2011-05-03 2409.JPGs have been shed for summer.]]
File:Barking deer skeleton.jpg, slanted pedicles and branched antlers. A distinct coronet, or burr, is visible at the antler-pedicle junction.]]
= Glands =
Muntjacs possess various scent glands that have crucial functions in communication and territorial marking. They use their facial glands primarily to mark the ground and occasionally other individuals, and the glands are opened during defecation and urination, as well as sometimes during social displays. While the frontal glands are typically opened involuntarily as a result of facial muscle contractions, the preorbital glands near the eyes can be voluntarily opened much wider and even everted to push out the underlying glandular tissue. Even young fawns are capable of fully everting their preorbital glands.{{Cite journal |last=Barrette |first=C. |date=1976 |title=Musculature of facial scent glands in the muntjac |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=122 |issue=Pt 1 |pages=61–66 |issn=0021-8782 |pmc=1231931 |pmid=977477}}
Genetics
File:Metaphase spread of the Indian muntjac (Muntiacus muntjak vaginalis).jpg
Muntjac are of great interest in evolutionary studies because of their dramatic chromosome variations and the discovery of several new species. The Southern red muntjac (M. muntjak) is the mammal with the lowest recorded chromosome number: The male has a diploid number of 7, the female only 6 chromosomes. Reeves's muntjac (M. reevesi), in comparison, has a diploid number of 46 chromosomes.{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.168.3937.1364 |title=Indian Momtjac, Muntiacus muntiak: A Deer with a Low Diploid Chromosome Number |journal=Science |volume=168 |issue=3937 |pages=1364–1366 |year=1970 |last1=Wurster |first1=D. H. |last2=Benirschke |first2=K. |pmid=5444269 |bibcode=1970Sci...168.1364W |s2cid=45371297 }}
Species
The genus Muntiacus has 14 recognized species:
- Bornean yellow muntjac, Muntiacus atherodes
- Hairy-fronted muntjac or black muntjac, Muntiacus crinifrons
- Fea's muntjac, Muntiacus feae
- Gongshan muntjac, Muntiacus gongshanensis
- Malabar red muntjak, Muntiacus malabaricus{{BioRef |asm |id=1006331|title=Muntiacus malabaricus Lydekker, 1915 |access-date= 21 July 2021}}
- Sumatran muntjac Muntiacus montanus
- Southern red muntjac, Muntiacus muntjak
- Leaf muntjac Muntiacus putaoensis
- Pu Hoat muntjac Muntiacus puhoatensis
- Reeves's muntjac or Chinese muntjac, Muntiacus reevesi
- Roosevelt's muntjac, Muntiacus rooseveltorum
- Truong Son muntjac Muntiacus truongsonensis
- Northern red muntjac, Muntiacus vaginalis{{cite journal | last1 = Groves | first1 = C. | year = 2003 | pages = 341–362 | title = Taxonomy of ungulates of the Indian subcontinent | journal = Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society | volume = 100 | issue = 2–3}}
- Giant muntjac, Muntiacus vuquangensis
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/nature/mediaexplorer/?theme_group=species&theme=mammals&set=muntjac_deer BBC Wales Nature: Muntjac deer article]
- {{Wikisource-inline|list=
- {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Muntjac|year=1905|short=x |noicon=x}}
- {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Muntjac |short=x |noicon=x}}
- {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Muntjac|year=1921 |short=x |noicon=x}}
}}
{{Artiodactyla|R.1}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q234121}}
Category:Mammals of Southeast Asia