NEWS Deer Specialist LETTER Group News Newsletter No. 14 March 1998 INSIDE Rare and Endangered Deer Rare and Endangered Deer Symposium held during Symposium held during 7th International Theriological 7th International Congress in Acapulco, Theriological Congress in September 1997 ......... 1 Peary Caribou Update - Canada Acapulco, September 1997 ..................... 3 Deer Status in China ........ 4 Conservation of Manipur Sangai A deer symposium was co-organized by ..................... 4 Dr. Lixing Sun and Don Moore during the News about Bactrian Deer in 7th International Theriological Congress in Usbekistan and Turkmenistan5 Acapulco, September '97. 12 papers and Management Strategy for Taimyr 16 posters on deer biology were Reindeer .............. 6 scheduled the day of the symposium, and Analysis of mitochondrial DNA many will be published as a group in the variation in Red Deer from future. A summary of presentations Hesse (Germany) ........ 7 follows: Corsican Red Deer on Corsica Michael Smith presented a paper on and Sardinia ........... 7 "The importance of genetics to the Description of Cervus elaphus conservation of deer" and Rick Purdue corsicanus ............. 8 presented a paper co-written with Michael Pampas deer population trend in Smith entitled "Patterns of genetic Bahía Samborombón, Buenos differentiation among mainland and island Aires Province, Argentina. 9 populations of white-tailed deer"; abstracts Huemul surveys in protected are available from the author. areas of Southern Chile .. 10 Lixing Sun's paper on "Social Organization of the Chinese Water Deer: Deer Specialist Group Conservation Implications" was about social behavior of Hydropotes inermis at News Poyang Lake Nature Reserve, Jiangxi, Correspondence should be sent China. Males of this species were to: Dr. Chris Wemmer territorial during the mating season, but Chairman, Deer Spec. Group females were not, and during the non- Conservation & Research Center mating season neither sex was territorial. 1500 Remount Rd. The average group size was 1.45 (+/- .23 Front Royal, Virginia 22630 SE), with an increasing trend from the USA fawning to the mating season; groups of OR: 2-3 individuals constituted 90.06% of all groups. Group size was greater in tall Dr. Michael Green grass areas (mean=1.79) than in short Vice-Chairman grass areas (mean=1.49) during the Deer Specialist Group mating season, which is an interesting World Conservation Monitoring Centre finding for habitat/group size theory. A 219c Huntingdon Rd. conservation implication of this CB3 0DL Cambridge, England observation is that local grass-cutting P 2 Deer Specialist Group News practice may impose a subtle yet conducted aerial surveys for Pampas conservation genetics of these potentially significant effect through deer at Bahia de Samborombon, species. disrupting the natural social finding 112.08 +/- 18.74 animals. Olga Pereladova and Antoine organization pattern of the deer. This was compared to previous work Sempere, and Professor Dang Huy However, over-hunting remains the by Mariano Gimenez-Dixon who Huynh, offered papers on major problem facing conservation of found larger numbers, leading the endangered deer in Central Asia this endangered species. authors to conclude that the (Former Soviet states) and Viet Nam, Susana Gonzalez presented a population has been declining at the but were not able to attend the paper by Chris Wemmer entitled rate of 4% per year. Some Congress at the last minute. The "Conservation status of the world's individuals may have moved to local Bukhara deer (Cervus elaphus cervids", which updated participants cattle pastures, but the recovery of bactrianus) is endangered, and on the status of the IUCN Deer this population will be hinderred if populations have declined seriously Action Plan. provincial reserves are not from 900 animals in 1990; some There were several papers on the implemented. Don Moore and areas cannot even be checked for endangered Pampas deer Dietland Muller-Schwarze reported deer due to civil unrest. Nine cervids (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) of the on mortality of Pampas deer fawns in are found in Viet Nam, of which 6 are South American grassland and Uruguay and results of computer endangered; these species are savana habitats. Susana Gonzalez modelling of fawn and adult mortality. apparently declining due to ongoing and her colleagues reported on One-sixth of all fawn mortality has hunting pressure and habitat loss. "Pampas Deer Population Genetics -- been caused by poaching by humans Shingo Miura presented a poster Implications For Conservation". Their in the area, and modelling suggests for the afternoon poster session, paper characterized the genetic that additive mortality (="harvest") of entitled "The home range of the structure of Pampas deer in six only 3 male and 3 female fawns lesser Mouse-deer (Tragulus isolated populations from Brazil west annually from a core population of javanicus) as revealed by a radio to the most critically endangered 400 deer would increase the tracking study. Home range size isolated populations in Argentina. probability of extinction of this differed between sexes, with means They found that the mitochondrial population within 100 years to over of 8.6 ha for females and 12.4 ha for region examined had one of the 20%. The authors presented males. Preliminary observation of highest diversities in any mammal recommendations for conservation of behavior during this study showed (Gonzalez pers. comm.): in 54 deer the species through control of over 90% of observations were of sequenced there existed 45 different anthropogenic mortality. solitary individuals, and that the genotypes. Each isolated population Peter Dratch presented an species may not be nocturnal but had several genotypes, and shared interesting paper by he and Amy may be inconspicuous in its diurnal none of them. These populations are Shima entitled "Forensic behavior. well-defined in a phylogeographic Identification of South American and Jose Cartes and Victoria Rosati concordant pattern. The authors' Asian Deer Species." The US Fish presented a poster on grey brocket conservation-centered conclusion is and Wildlife Service Forensic deer (Mazama gouazoubira) that, even though present population Laboratory is mandated to assist all distribution, diet and habitat use in sizes are small, this is due to human- CITES signatory countries with Argentina. This species' populations related factors and habitat problems of wildlife identification, are declining in the western chaco fragmentation rather than a historical and has successfully identified where it feeds on woody browse. The bottleneck. Alejandro Vila presented evidence from deer species in over authors found that canopy cover, two papers about the Pampas deer 500 cases. The authors tested shrub density and shrub diversity conservation effort being lead by samples from 15 species of South were the most important variables Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina American and Asian deer. Samples related to grey brocket deer habitat at Campos del Tuyu Wildlife Reserve were tested for species by isoelectric use. Rosati and colleagues reported near Buenos Aires. The FVSA team focussing followed by staining for a in another paper that, although tranquilized 7 Pampas deer in panel of proteins that are found in wildlife use in the region is low and December 1995, and collected blood both tissue and blood, and were irregular, grey brocket are one of from the deer and local cattle. tested for family by double diffusion several mammalian species hunted Serology for foot and mouth disease using commercially available cervid for food and sport. (ELISA), epizootic hemmorhagic antiserum. Musk deer was the only The FVSA group put together disease of deer (AGID) and species that did not react with cervid some very interesting posters, bruccelosis was negative for all deer, antiserum, consistent with its including "Advances in the but 3/7 presented low titers for classification in a separate family. knowledge about the Huemul in the Leptospirosis; other tests were The authors conclude that their Moyano Valley, Los Glaciares pending at the time of the methods should prove useful in National Park", educational strategies presentation. The FVSA team also wildlife law enforcement and for the conservation of Pampas deer P 3 Deer Specialist Group News and Huemul in Argentina, and to only ca. 450 in 1996, based on unfavorably for the caribou. The Pampas deer mortality around Bahia Canadian Wildlife Service studies. This Government of the Northwest Territories Samborombon. There was an inverse 2-year loss all but wiped out two decades Wildlife Division will carry out a relationship between increasing cattle of recovery! systematic aerial survey in July 1997 to sign (an index to intensity of use) and Although the most recent impact of determine the fate of the Peary caribou winter 1996/97 on Peary caribou has not on both the south-central and huemul numbers in P.N. Los yet been evaluated, the winter started out southwestern QEI. Those islands, which Glaciares, and despite protection as include the major islands of Melville a natural monument, 52 Pampas (42,220 km2), Bathurst (16,090 km2), and deer died between 1993 and 1996, Prince Patrick (15,830 km2) and their 48.1% due to anthropogenic causes. respective small satellite islands, form More information is available from the entire “heartland” for Peary caribou Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, on the QEI (ca. 416,000 km2 collective- Defensa 245, (1065) Buenos Aires,