Bactrian deer
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| Bactrian Deer | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Male (Stag)
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| Cervus elaphus bactrianus |
The Bactrian deer (Cervus elaphus bactrianus), also called the Bukhara deer, Bokhara deer or Bactrian wapiti, is a lowland subspecies of Red Deer that is native to central Asia. It is similar in ecology to the Yarkand deer in occupying riparian corridors surrounded by deserts. Both subspecies are separated from one another by the Tianshan Mountains and probably form a primordial subgroup of Red Deer.
[edit] Description
This deer is usually ashy-gray with yellowish sheen, and a grayish white rump patch. It also has a slightly marked dorsal stripe and a white margin of the upper lip, lower lip, and chin. The antlers are light in color. There are usually four tines, with the absence of bez tine. The fourth tine is better developed than the third. Full grown individuals, however, have five tines on each antler with a bend after the third tine that is characteristic of most Central Asian Red Deer subspecies.
[edit] Range
This deer is found in western Turkestan.
[edit] Population
By 1999 there were not more than 400 Bukhara deer. The population diminished most drastically in Tajikistan because of military conflicts. However, since then, environmental organizations have taken steps to save the species. Moreover, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) implemented a reintroduction programme to bring Bukhara deer back to the places which it had once inhabited. For example, Bactrian deer now live in Zarafshan reserve in Uzbekistan. As a result, in 2006 there were about 1000 deer in Central Asia[1].
