African deer piglet
| African deer piglet | ||||||||||||
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African stag piglet ( Hyemoschus aquaticus ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Hyemoschus | ||||||||||||
| JE Gray , 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Hyemoschus aquaticus | ||||||||||||
| ( Ogilby , 1841) |
The African mouse deer ( Hyemoschus aquaticus ) is the only in Africa -based type of mouse deer . The misleading term “water musk ” can also be found here and there - but this animal is not related to the musk deer .
description
The African stag piglet is larger than the Kantschile , its Asian relatives. They reach a head trunk length of 60 to 85 centimeters and a shoulder height of 30 to 35 centimeters. Their weight varies between 7 and 15 kilograms, with females (average 12 kg) becoming heavier than males (average 9.7 kg), which is unusual for cloven-hoofed animals.
Their fur is colored brown, on the back and on the flanks they have white spots or stripes arranged in stripes, so that it dissolves for the viewer against the background of the undergrowth and is thus well camouflaged. Like all deer piglets, it has a stocky body that stands on comparatively thin legs. The tail is short (8 to 15 cm) and colored white on the underside. The head is small and pointed, as with all deer piglets, the animals do not have antlers or horns, but the males have enlarged upper canine teeth .
distribution and habitat
The African stag pig is widespread in West and Central Africa in a strip from Sierra Leone to the north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda . It is most common in regions near the coast. It lives in the tropical rainforest , where it can be found near swamps, lakes and rivers.
Way of life
African stag piglets are nocturnal, during the day they sleep hidden in dense vegetation. At night they go in search of food, keeping their heads close to the ground. This creates a cone shape that helps them slip through dense vegetation. If there is a threat from predators, they take refuge in the water. However, they do not stay there very long as they are not good swimmers.
The animals live solitary. Females inhabit an area of around 13 to 14 hectares in size, where they stay for life. The territories of the males are larger (around 20 hectares) and usually overlap with those of two females. In contrast to these, the males only stay in their territory for a year, then they are driven away by their fellows. There is no pronounced territorial behavior, but contact between adult animals is rare.
food
The diet of the African stag piglet consists primarily of fruit that has fallen to the ground. They also eat leaves and stems. Sometimes they also eat insects, crabs, and carrion.
Reproduction
Once a year, the female usually gives birth to a single young after a gestation period of around 219 days. The mother leaves the young animals alone in dense vegetation and only comes to them to suckle and lick them. After three to six months they are weaned and reach sexual maturity at nine to 26 months, then they have to leave their mother's territory. The average life expectancy is eight years, some animals can live to be eleven to 13 years old.
threat
Due to the withdrawn, nocturnal lifestyle, little is known about the degree of endangerment or the population status of the African stag pig. However, there have been reports of a decline in the total numbers from individual regions. They are undoubtedly affected by the ongoing clearing of the Central African forests and possibly also by the hunt for their meat. However, there is no precise data.
Systematics
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Internal systematics of the Tragulidae according to Sarvani et al. 2018
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Both the designation "water musk " and the genus name Hyemoschus indicate that the African stag pig was seen earlier as a relative of the musk deer , a group of cloven-hoofed animals that lives in East Asia and is related to deer . Today, it assigns it to the family of mouse deer (Tragulidae). Within these, it was considered the sister taxon of the other nine species known as Kantschile . Molecular genetic analyzes, however, see the African stag piglet as being closer to the genus Tragulus , while the Fleckenkantschile ( Moschiola ) are more distantly related.
relationship
It is known of the African deer piglets that they flee into the water when they are in danger and try to escape by submerging themselves. Researchers see a connection with the behavior of the also “water-permeable” Indohyus , to which the African deer piglet is very similar and which, as the “closest relative” of the whales, is believed to be the link between the cloven-hoofed and the whales.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
proof
- ↑ a b Rama K. Sarvani, Drashti R. Parmar, Wajeeda Tabasum, Neelima Thota, Ara Sreenivas and Ajay Gaur: Characterization of the complete mitogenome of Indian Mouse Deer, Moschiola indica (Artiodactyla: Tragulidae) and its evolutionary signifcance. Scientific Reports 8, 2018, p. 2697 doi: 10.1038 / s41598-018-20946-5
- ↑ Manuel Hernández Fernández and Elisabeth S. Vrba: A complete estimate of the phylogenetic relationships in Ruminantia: a dated species-level supertree of the extant ruminants. Biological Reviews 80, 2005, pp. 269-302
- ↑ “On the trail of whale relatives” , DLF , December 20, 2007
Web links
- Photos, distribution map and additional information
- Eagle vs. Water Chevrotain National-Geographic video on YouTube with African stag piglet, length 02:32 '(English)
- Hyemoschus aquaticus inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group, 2008. Retrieved September 4, 2013.