Eld's Deer

activity

Activity patterns. It is more active in early morning and early evening.

Cervidae

biology_ecology

Habitat. In India Brow-antlered Deerlive in: floating marshes. In South-east Asia it occurs in open-grass-dominated habitats, such as lowland open-canopy deciduous dipterocarp forests with grass understory and adjoining grassland patches. In Hainan Island it mainly occursin dry grassland with sparse trees and scrubland. In the recent pastit lived also in the pine savanna of Laotian plateaus.

Cervidae

biology_ecology

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Where studied, males have home ranges of about 9 km? and females of 7 km ® *. Maleslive for most of the year as solitary animals; females form small family groups with their fawns. During the rut in the hotdry season the most common groups are multimale mixed sex groups of aboutsix individuals; these may sometimes coalesce into larger herds of 50 - 70 or more.

Cervidae

breeding

Breeding. Females reach puberty at about 16 months of age. They are seasonally polyestrous with estrous cycles of 16 - 19 days and mean receptive periods of about 16 hours. Males attain physiological sexual maturity at about twelve months. For a tropical deer, breeding is very concentrated. Mating season occurs in 60 - 90 days between February and May (peak March-April), and calving season is in October-November. After a pregnancy of 240 days, hinds give birth to a single calf weighing 3.5 - 6 kg. At 10 - 15 days calves begin to eat grasses; at one month they follow their mother; at 50 days they begin to consume plants more regularly. Weaning occurs at 5 - 7 months of age. Primary predators are Tigers (Panthera tigris), Leopards (FP. pardus), and Dholes (Cuon alpinus).

Cervidae