Tufted Deer


Tufted Deer

 

(Elaphodus cephalophus), an artiodactyl ruminant of the family Cervidae. The body is 110–160 cm long and 50–70 cm tall; the tail is 7–15 cm long. The weight is 17–50 kg. The antlers are short and sometimes almost concealed by a frontal tuft of long hairs. The upperpart of the body is chocolate brown; the underpart is lighter in coloration. The tips of the ears and the lower part of the tail are white. Tufted deer are distributed in shrub-covered mountains of southern China, northern Burma, and Laos. They live in couples or singly. Their diet consists of grass. Mating occurs in April or May; the gestation period is about six months. There are one or two young in a litter.