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The deer that science forgot

10/10//2008

Legendary deer rediscovered by FFI team in Sumatran national park and placed on 2008 IUCN Red List

A ’lost’ species of deer has been re-discovered in the remote mountains of western Sumatra, Indonesia, almost a century after it was last definitely recorded by scientists. Fauna & Flora International and the Kerinci-Seblat National Park Tiger Protection team discovered the Sumatran muntjac when they rescued it from a hunter’s snare on an anti-poaching patrol 6400ft above sea level in Kerinci-Seblat National Park.

The Sumatran muntjac was originally discovered in 1914 but had not been seen since the early 1920s. It was thought the ‘type specimen’ for the deer, originally filed at the Raffles Museum in Singapore, was lost when the museum was evacuated as the Japanese prepared to invade Singapore in early 1942.

FFI Kerinci-Seblat Programme Manager, Debbie Martyr, managed to take photographic proof of the rescued deer - the first ever photographs of a live specimen. Two more individuals were subsequently photographed, using automatic infra-red ‘’camera traps’’ at a different location in the park.

“This encounter shows just how much we still have to discover about Sumatra’s rainforests and the biodiversity of Kerinci-Seblat National Park,” said  Debbie. “Yet even as we are learning, the tropical rainforests of Sumatra - even in the mountains and national parks - are under threat. We face losing species we didn’t even know existed.

“We are also concerned that climate change poses a significant threat to this species – they are a mountain dwelling animal and depend entirely on a montane forest habitat. Where can they go if global temperatures rise significantly?’’

Taxonomists have now confirmed that the Sumatran muntjac is a new species and not a local sub-species as previously assumed. The 'lost muntjac of Sumatra' has been placed on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) ‘Red List’ of species in danger, under the category ‘data deficient’.

Despite the fact it lives deep within the remote Kerinci-Seblat National Park, the Sumatran muntjac’s forest habitat is seriously threatened by slash-and-burn farming as well as illegal road building. In addition, poachers often set up snares, such as the one the photographed individual was caught in.

FFI will now start to work with the Indonesian Academy of Science and Indonesian Department of Forestry to develop and launch an urgent field research programme to establish the deer’s range, ecology and the status of the population. It is hoped that local governments around Kerinci-Seblat National Park will also work with the national park to secure the future of Indonesia’s newest large mammal.

Click here to download full press release.

For further information please contact:

Jilly Evans
FFI Communications Manager
Tel: +44 (0)1223 579 473
Mobile: +44 (0)7533 344058
jilly.evans@fauna-flora.org

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