Lyre deer

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Lyre deer
Manipur Lyre Deer (Panolia eldii)

Manipur Lyre Deer ( Panolia eldii )

Systematics
Subordination : Ruminants (ruminantia)
without rank: Forehead weapon bearer (Pecora)
Family : Deer (Cervidae)
Subfamily : Cervinae
Tribe : Real deer (Cervini)
Genre : Lyre deer
Scientific name
Panolia
Gray , 1843
Male Myanmar Lyre Deer ( Panolia thamin )

The lyre deer or thamin ( Panolia ) are a genus of mammals from the deer family (Cervidae) living in Southeast Asia .

features

Lyre deer reach a head-trunk length of 150 to 170 centimeters, a shoulder height of 120 to 130 centimeters and a weight of 95 to 150 kilograms and are therefore relatively large deer. Their fur is reddish-brown in color and shaggy in winter, the summer dress is lighter and shorter. In the males, the fur on the neck is longer and gives the impression of a mane. It is characterized by the shape of the antlers , which, as with almost all deer, only the males wear. The rear branch protrudes a bit horizontally to the rear and forms an arch-like shape with the front branch.

distribution and habitat

The original distribution area of ​​the lyre deer extended from eastern India and southern China to the Malay Peninsula . However, it has declined sharply and is distributed over several fragmented populations (for more details see under systematics ). They inhabit a number of habitats and are found in rainforests, grasslands, and swamp areas, among other places.

Lifestyle and diet

Lyre deer tend to be crepuscular or nocturnal. While adult males mostly live solitary, the females often form loose associations with their offspring. During the mating season, the males often join such associations, and larger groups of over 50 animals can form.

Lyre deer are herbivores; they feed mainly on grasses, but occasionally also eat leaves and fruits.

Reproduction

Thailand lyre deer ( Panolia siamensis )

After a gestation period of around 240 days, the female usually gives birth to a single young, twins are rare. They are weaned after four to five months and reach sexual maturity at one to two years. Life expectancy in human care can be up to 20 years.

threat

The Eld's Deer are on the IUCN as endangered ( endangered listings). The reasons for this lie in hunting and the destruction of their habitat.

Systematics

Myanmar Lyre Deer (
Panolia thamin )

The lyre deer form a genus within the deer family (Cervidae). Originally the representatives of the lyre deer were placed together with the barasinghas in the genus Rucervus . Molecular genetic but analyzes suggest a closer relationship of Barasinghas with Axishirschen ( Axis ), the Eld's Deer, however are the red deer ( Cervus ) near. For this reason they were moved to the genus Panolia . Alternatively, there is also the approach of incorporating them into Cervus .

Today three types are distinguished:

  • Manipur Lyre Deer ( Panolia eldii ( McClelland , 1842)), which once lived in eastern India , is critically endangered. Today it only occurs in the state of Manipur . There the population had dropped to fourteen animals in 1975. There are now more than a hundred animals in the Keibul Lamjao National Park , but the species does not live anywhere else in the wild. It differs from the other species in that it has hairless pasterns.
  • The number of Thai lyre deer ( Panolia siamensis ( Lydekker , 1915)) from Thailand , Laos , Cambodia and Vietnam has declined sharply. In Thailand, the eponymous country of this species, it is completely extinct, but still lives in large numbers in Vietnam and Cambodia and probably also in Laos. There are also populations of this species on the Chinese island of Hainan .
  • Myanmar lyre deer or Burma lyre deer ( Panolia thamin ( Thomas , 1918)) lives in Myanmar and Thailand and is considered to be relatively common.

Originally the Thailand and Myanmar lyre deer were only considered to be subspecies of the Manipur lyre deer. However, genetic studies from 2003 revealed a separation between a western group in Myanmar (Manipur and Myanmar lyre deer) and an eastern group in Indochina (Thailand lyre deer). In addition, only a small genetic exchange between the individual populations of the western and eastern group could be identified. For this reason, Colin Peter Groves suggested a division of the lyre deer into several species only three years later, which finally took place in 2011 during a revision of the deer by Groves and Peter Grubb . A commonly adopted fourth subspecies, Panolia eldii hainanus from the island of Hainan, is similar to the Thailand lyre deer and is currently listed within this species.

literature

  • Colin Groves, Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (SS 71-107).
  • Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
  • Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. Clément Gilbert, Anne Ropiquet, Alexandre Hassanin: Mitochondrial and nuclear phylogenies of Cervidae (Mammalia, Ruminantia): Systematics, morphology, and biogeography. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40, 2006, pp 101-117.
  2. ^ A b c d Colin Groves, Peter Grubb: Ungulate Taxonomy. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011, pp. 1-317 (SS 71-107).
  3. Alexandre Hassanin, Frédéric Delsuc, Anne Ropiquet, Catrin Hammer, Bettine Jansen van Vuuren, Conrad Matthee, Manuel Ruiz-Garcia, François Catzeflis, Veronika Areskoug, Trung Thanh Nguyen, Arnaud Couloux: Pattern and timing of diversification of Cetartiodactalia , Lauriaasi (Mammia ), as revealed by a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial genomes. Comptes Rendus Palevol 335, 2012, pp. 32-50.
  4. Christopher Balakrishnan, Steven L. Monfort, Ajay Gaur, Lalji Singh, Michael D. Sorenson: Phylogeography and conservation genetics of Eld's deer (Cervus eldi). Molecular Ecology 12, 2003, pp. 1-10.
  5. a b Colin Groves: The genus Cervus in eastern Eurasia. European Journal of Wildlife Research 52, 2006, pp. 14-22.
  6. Junfeng Pang, A. Rus Hoelzel, Yanling Song, Zhigao Zeng, Yaping Zhang: Lack of mtDNA control region variation in Hainan Eld's deer: Consequence of a recent population bottleneck? Conservation Genetics 4, 2003, pp. 109-112.
  7. Zhi-Gao Zeng, Yan-Ling Song, Jun-Sheng Li, Li-Wei Teng, Qiong Zhang, Feng Guo: Distribution, status and conservation of Hainan Eld's deer (Cervus eldi hainanus) in China. Folia Zoologica 54 (3), 2005, pp. 249-257.

Web links

Commons : Lyre Deer ( Cervus eldii )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files