Are vampires the only strange creatures with tusks and nocturnal activities?

The local guide who was traveling with me looked dignified when I cut that piece of wire.

He was sincere and anxious, telling me again and again not to tell anyone what I had done after I came down the mountain, otherwise he was "difficult to do" in the village, and my follow-up investigation could not be done. I don't know how to answer for the moment.

What I pulled off the tree was a section of thin wire dozens of meters long, connected to a battery and an inverter at the end. During the day, this wire device at the height of the ankle looks inconspicuous, but when it is connected at night, it will become a death trap tens of meters long-any animal that inadvertently touches it can trigger a high voltage of tens of thousands of volts in an instant. Large animals are stunned and small animals may die directly.

I cut the wire into a bag and continued to look along the road. I found that next to the wire high-voltage line was a wild animal path. The fallen wood beside the trail is littered with wavy hard hairs, and under the shady slope trees there are piles of hoofed animal droppings shaped like grains of rice-these are the identification characteristics of typical forest musk deer (Moschus berezovskii) faeces and hairs.

Inadvertently appearing hair can also kill forest musk deer and animals in the region. Photo: Li Sheng

I understand that this high-voltage line is set for forest musk deer, and other animals suffer along with it. In the field work in the past few years, this is the fate of forest musk deer that I have witnessed.

A herbivore with tusks

Among several musk families, forest musk deer is one of the most diverse habitat types, the widest cross-altitude range and the most adaptable one.

Unlike the commonly known "deer", musks have no horns for both sexes. At the same time, the male musk deer has two long vampire-like tusks that are used to fight each other during the breeding season.

Nocturnal strange animals with tusks, apart from vampires (fog), may also be forest musk deer. Nowadays, however, there are few opportunities to observe forest musk deer in the wild, including infrared cameras. Picture: Daderot / wikimedia

"the Sheep on the Tree" is a traditional crosstalk joke about the incredible thing that a sheep can climb a tree, and most people laugh at it. I'm afraid crosstalk artists didn't realize that the tree-climbing ability of forest musk deer is far more than that set in the old joke.

For branches that are more than 2 meters tall and can only be reached by adults, adult forest musk deer can jump without a run-up. After climbing the branches, they use their main hooves and side hooves to embed twigs, so they can climb trees three or four stories high and pick up fresh young leaves. In addition to general food, forest musk deer also like pine apples hanging from the tops of trees and side branches, which can be regarded as having a unique taste.

With twigs embedded in the main hoof and side hoof, forest musk deer can climb on the tree at will. Picture: lifecatalog.ru

The newly born musk deer is dotted with flowers and blends with its surroundings. At this time, no matter how close the predator is, even standing in front of the cub or even touching its ear, the musk deer will be as motionless as stone. The reason behind this is probably that the small forest musk deer move slowly at this time, and it is often useless to escape, so it is better to pretend to be a stone.

Young musk deer are usually born in early summer. The picture shows Himalayan musk deer (Moschus leucogaster) less than three weeks old. Photo: Michael J.B. Green

Before the young musk deer can run smoothly, the forest musk deer mother's behavior will become extremely brave. If other forest musk deer invade, the mother forest musk deer will quickly rush up and make a threatening sound of "Kang and Kang" and put on a fighting posture until the other side retreats.

When there are natural enemies or other large animals, even humans, the mother forest musk deer will deliberately make all kinds of noises, and along with various strange behaviors such as jumping in place and stomping on the ground at the same time, draw the enemy's attention to himself.

Except for the breeding season and female musk deer with offspring, it is rare to see pairs of forest musk deer. Photo: Peking University / Smithsonian Institution

A life that is not alone.

In the process of natural evolution, forest musk deer are used to living alone and seem to be a lonely animal, but in fact their connection with the outside world has never been interrupted. The complex odors secreted by musk glands and other glands make the seemingly empty forest full of forest musk deer information networks.

The faeces and urine of forest musk deer contain external hormones, and both sexes are accustomed to defecation in a fixed place. Therefore, in the alpine forest far away from human disturbance, you can sometimes see the "forest musk deer toilet" covered with old dung, and the scattered area can be more than 1 square meter.

Fresh male musk deer faeces can smell a strong musk smell. Picture: Xiang Dinggan

In addition, there are fibular [f é I] glands on the hind legs of forest musk deer. As long as they lie down and their legs touch the ground, they can smear the smell anytime and anywhere. The male forest musk deer also has well-developed tail glands and can secrete secretions with a strong fishy smell on the tree trunk.

The smell of musk is even more strong, which is another characteristic that only male musk deer have besides tusks. The musk gland sac secreting musk is located in the abdomen of male musk deer near the navel, which is a spherical bulge. Musk glands usually emit abnormal aroma, and it will intensify secretion at the turn of spring and summer every year, producing a large number of rich-smelling reddish-brown paste substances.

There are fibular glands in the hind legs, and the musk gland is a spherical organ located in the abdomen of male musk deer near the navel. Photo: Qinling Old Cat

The smell of musk acts as a marker to ensure that forest musk deer will not be disturbed by their own kind, especially the same sex, for most of the year, and male forest musk deer will also use this flavor to complete the hot pursuit during the courtship period. However, it is this smell that has caused a lot of trouble to the forest musk deer.

Musk deer, where have you been?

Once upon a time, hunting musks was legal. In the 1950s and 1960s, musk deer was one of the most abundant herbivores in mountain forests in China.

However, about 300000 musk deer are hunted in the wild each year for killing musk for incense, and by 1980, that number had doubled. In the more than 30 years since the founding of the people's Republic of China, tens of millions of musk deer have been killed because of musk. Then, as if all of a sudden, people found that the musk deer had disappeared.

The traditional way to get musk is to kill musk to get incense, take off the musk bag, dry and open it, and the black inside is musk. Picture: huffingtonpost.kr

I'm not sure how many forest musk deer there are today, but in any reserve I've worked for, there are fewer forest musk deer than pandas, antelopes, golden monkeys, or even most of the well-known protected animals.

In a research project that ended in 2015, my colleagues and I deployed thousands of infrared cameras in the Qinling Mountains, Minshan Mountains, Qionglai [Qionglai I] and other areas. During the study, antelopes recorded more than 2500 camera working days, impala and crested deer more than 800, giant pandas more than 300, and black bears whose whereabouts were also threatened by poaching, while forest musk deer that used to be all over the forest had only 26.

In more than 40,000 camera working days, the number of forest musk deer recorded is not even enough for us to analyze. Photo: Peking University / Smithsonian Institution

In the history of millions of years of evolution, forest musk deer protected their homes, communicated with each other with smells full of information, bravely protected their young, and successfully adapted to all kinds of forests and grasslands in southern China from 1000 meters to 3200 meters above sea level. has become one of the most successful small hoofed animals. But when musk became an expensive perfume and medicinal material, forest musk deer had nowhere to hide in the jungle.

At present, the conservation status of forest musk deer is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Forest musk deer can adapt to extremely rich habitat types, but are extremely sensitive to any human disturbance. Photo: Peking University / Smithsonian Institution

Can breeding save forest musk deer?

Today, the breeding industry of forest musk deer is becoming more and more successful, and it is hoped that the hunting of wild forest musk deer can be reduced. Can this really be achieved?

In general, a farming-based animal product must meet the following conditions at the same time to help wild populations stay away from poaching:

Farmed products are widely recognized to have the same function and efficacy as wild products.

The emergence of farmed products will not expand market demand.

Aquaculture products are more cost-effective

Breeding individuals do not need to be replenished from the wild

Products sold in the market can be traced back to the source, and wildlife products cannot flow in.

Apart from the third, several others are difficult to achieve at present, which is why the "legal" market is full of wild forest musk deer products. The road ahead of us may still be far, far away.

In a musk farm, forest musk deer who are used to living alone can only tolerate sharing a small space. Picture: hannah

Back to the beginning of the story. When we arrived at the village, we really didn't mention dismantling the power grid on the mountain. However, we invited local villagers to participate in our follow-up wildlife survey and set up infrared cameras with us. With the help of fellow villagers, we even photographed the forest musk deer who almost died on the high-voltage line, and miraculously there were no high-voltage lines and steel wire locks in that hill.

I know there's a long way to go, but at least, there has to be a start.

A female forest musk deer that appears in front of an infrared camera. Photo: Peking University / Smithsonian Institution

This is the 246th article in the fourth year of the species calendar, from @ Wang Fang, author of the species calendar.

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Primitive musk deer of Musk family