Samantha won't be alone, even if she's the only crested deer in the zoo for now: she shares the enclosure with a Chinese bark and two red-crowned cranes.
The seven-year-old female came to Frankfurt from Magdeburg Zoo.
After the acclimatization, Samantha will share the enclosure on a separate part of the enclosure, where two red-crowned cranes also live, with the 15-year-old Chinese Muntjak buck Ruud.
In the long term, however, the female should have a crested deer buck at her side and take care of offspring.
Daniel Meuren
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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The crested deer (Elaphodus cephalophus), native to East Asia, are also counted among the Muntjak deer in zoological terms.
In contrast to their close relatives, they are not considered an invasive species in Europe. "These invasive, i.e. alien species, can cause major damage in their new habitats, into which they were usually introduced by humans," says Stefan Stadler, head of the scientific department of the zoo.
“For this reason, non-natives may not be kept, or only to a limited extent.
This also applies to zoos.
Against this background, keeping Chinese muntjacs at Frankfurt Zoo must be phased out.
The somewhat larger crested deer, with a head-torso length of 110 to 160 centimetres, should continue to represent the little-known and zoologically very interesting Asian deer in our zoo.”
In its homeland, the dwarf deer species is increasingly coming under pressure from hunting, among other things.
On the one hand, their meat is offered on local markets, on the other hand, fur and other parts are processed in the national and international fashion and jewelery industry.
The herbivores have been listed as potentially threatened on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since 2014.