Breeding techniques of Sika Deer

Abstract: Sika deer is a medium-sized deer with a body length of 140 to 170 cm, shoulder height of 85 to 100 cm and adult weight of 100 to 150 kg. The female deer is relatively small; the deer has horns and usually has four forks. There is a dark brown topline in the middle of the back. The tail is short, black on the back and white on the belly. The summer hair is brown and yellow, with bright white plum blossom spots, so it is called "sika deer".

Sika deer is a medium-sized deer with a body length of 140 to 170 cm, shoulder height of 85 to 100 cm and adult weight of 100 to 150 kg. The female deer is relatively small; the deer has horns and usually has four forks. There is a dark brown topline in the middle of the back. The tail is short, black on the back and white on the belly. The summer hair is brown and yellow, with bright white plum blossom spots, so it is called "sika deer". White buttocks. Living on the edge of forests or mountain steppe areas. The habitat changes with different seasons. The Bucks usually live alone and return to the group when they mate in estrus. Morning and dusk activities, feed on grass and leaves, so as to lick salt and alkali. One cub per child, with white spots on the cub. Mainly distributed in China, Japan and Russia.

The life habits of sika deer

Sika deer live on the edge of forests and mountain grasslands, not in dense forests or thickets, which helps to run fast. There are obvious differences between daytime and nighttime habitats. During the day, they mostly choose sunny hillsides, where the thatch is relatively dense and basically similar to their body color, so that enemies can be found earlier in order to escape quickly; at night, they inhabit in the middle or middle and upper part of the hillside, with uncertain slope directions, but still sunny slopes, and relatively low and sparse thatch.

Gregariousness: under natural conditions, sika deer live in groups, ranging from a dozen to dozens. In the cold winter, the herd of sika deer is more clustered than in other seasons, and the herd of sika deer in captivity remains unchanged. The head deer in the herd often affect the movement of the whole herd. In order to avoid harm, many deer will run according to the escape direction and route of the head deer or a few deer. Occasionally because of illness or other reasons, individual deer are raised alone, showing timidity and restlessness, constantly walking back and forth in the circle, and even refusing to feed and drink. Exotic deer are likely to be attacked by some deer in this herd. People take advantage of the gregarious nature of sika deer to domesticate, graze and control the whole herd.

Sika deer live in groups most of the time, and the population size varies with seasons, natural enemies and human factors, usually 3 to 5, and often up to more than 20. In spring and summer, the group is mainly composed of females and cubs, and most males move alone and return to the group when mating. Mating begins from August to October every year, and the female makes a characteristic courtship cry that lasts for about a month, while the male makes a "baa" cry like an old sheep.

The foraging habits of sika deer

Sika deer are active in the morning and dusk, and the living area changes with the seasons. In spring, they are mostly on the semi-shady slope, feeding on the tender branches and leaves of trees and shrubs such as oak, chestnut, Huzhizi, wild Hawthorn, elm, and newly germinated herbs. Moving to the forest edge of the shady slope in summer and autumn, they mainly feed on vines and herbs, such as kudzu, Polygonum multiflorum, Codonopsis pilosula and strawberries, while in winter they like to eat ripe fruits, seeds and various moss lichens on the warm sunny slopes. occasionally go to the foot of the mountain to eat rape, wheat and other crops, but also often to the saline-alkali soil to lick salt and alkali.

Alert temperament, agile action, hearing, smell are well developed, vision is slightly weak, timid. Because of the slender limbs, narrow and pointed hooves, he runs fast and has a strong jumping ability, especially good at climbing steep slopes. The continuous long-span jump, light and agile, graceful and chic, can travel freely through the bushes, hidden or present.

Breeding Law of Sika Deer

Male sika deer fight for the right to mate through "gladiator", which is a very common phenomenon in deer. A strong male can usually have more than 10 females. In a breeding season, the female can estrus multiple times. The estrous cycle is 5 days. Once conceived, the female will no longer be in estrus. The gestation period is about 230 days, and the offspring are born in May to June of the following year. Generally, only one litter is born per fetus, and a few are 2 litters. The cub gives birth to a yellowish-brown body with white spots that can stand up in a few hours and run with the female the next day. When the female was looking for food, she first looked around outside the forest and was sure that there was no danger before she brought her cub out. She would scream when she found the danger and fled into the dense forest with her cub. The lactation period is 2 to 3 months, and the cub can grow to about 10 kilograms after 4 months. The sexual maturity is 1.5 ~ 3 years old, and the life span is about 20 years.

Feeding and management of newborn deer

The mother deer should be on duty during childbirth. After giving birth, the young deer should either dry the mucus on the young deer or let the mother deer lick it dry. If it is found that the young deer is in a state of false death, the young deer should be pounded on the chest, shake the head, let the mouth and nose amniotic fluid flow out, wipe off with gauze, and move the forelimbs, and inject cardiotonic if necessary. Young deer should eat colostrum in time after delivery, which can be breast-fed naturally or artificially. Natural lactation is generally raised by the female deer, and there are also those who concentrate on raising the young deer and regularly put them back into the herd for breast-feeding, which can be selected as appropriate. Artificial lactation must also let young deer eat colostrum, can use female deer colostrum or cow colostrum, can also mix fresh milk, fresh eggs, cod liver oil, salt and glucose into artificial milk, artificial lactation milk should be boiled and sterilized, and it should be quantified regularly when feeding. After the young deer eat colostrum, they should disinfect the umbilical cord, cut the ear number, weigh and measure the body, and then send the mother deer and the young deer to the mother deer house with the cubs. The mother deer house with calves should be provided with a deer protective fence to allow the young deer to rest in a dry environment and to prevent the young deer from being trampled to death by other female deer.

Feeding and management of lactating deer