Overview
This animal is the largest Japanese Sika subspecies. The summer coat is a yellowish reddish brown and profusely spotted turning dark reddish brown in the winter with faint to no apparent spots. The sharpley defined white rump patch is broken by a dark, narrow stripe. This race has the longest antlers by a considerable margin with very good main beam lengths of 28 - 32 inches. The usual number of antlers is four on each side and on occasion will five points on one or both sides.
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammal
- Order
- Artiodactyla
- Family
- Cervidae
- Genus
- Cervus
- Species
- Cervus nippon
Habitat
Forested regions, migrate up and down in elevation depending on the seasons. Distribution- Northernmost Japanese island Hokkaido.
Diet
Forest browser.
Behavior
Usually solitary or in small family groups of a female and her offspring, and sometimes a stag as well. Prior to the rut, adult males establish territories, marking boundaries by urinating and scraping the ground with forelegs and antlers. Males are very noisy and aggressive during the rut, fighting each other to establish dominance, with the winners gathering harems of as many as 12 females, though six is more usual. The stag's roar starts as a high-pitched scream and often ends with a sound much like the hee-haw of a donkey. Alert and wary, they venture from cover only to search for food, and become almost totally nocturnal when persecuted. Eyesight, sense of smell and hearing are all good. They run with a bouncing gait.
Hunting
Refering to sika deer overall, they are excellent game animals in every respect. Stags can be called when rutting, but the caller must be within a stag's territory when doing so, because they are reluctant to cross their own territorial boundaries. Stags become aggressive during the roar, even toward man, and can be dangerous when wounded.
Conservation Status
Listed as Least Concern by IUCN. However this classification refers to the species as a whole, not this particular subspecie. Population estimates for this subspecie are not well-defined and more information is needed for current and future conservation efforts.