European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus)

The European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus), also known as the roe, western roe deer,]or European roe, is a species of deer. The male of the species is sometimes referred to as a roebuck. The roe is a small deer, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. The species is widespread in Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, from Scotland to the Caucasus, and east to northern Iran and Iraq.

Linnaeus first described the roe deer in the modern taxonomic system as Cervus capreolus in 1758. The initially monotypic genus Capreolus was first proposed by John Edward Gray in 1821, although he did not provide a proper description for this taxon. Gray was not actually the first to use the name Capreolus, it has been used by other authors before him. Nonetheless his publication is seen as taxonomically acceptable. He was generally ignored until the 20th century, most 19th-century works having continued to follow Linnaeus.

Roe deer populations gradually become somewhat larger as one moves further to the east, peaking in Kazakhstan, then becoming smaller again towards the Pacific Ocean, The Soviet mammalogist Vladimir Sokolov had recognised this as a separate species from 1985 already using electrophoretic chromatography to show differences in the fractional protein content of the body tissues, the next year he showed that there were differences in the skull morphology,[citation needed] and a year after he used sonographs to demonstrate that the fawns, females and males made very different noises between species. Alexander S. Graphodatsky looked at the karyotypy to present more evidence to recognise these Russian and Asian populations as a separate species, now renamed the eastern or Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), in his 1990 paper.[The taxa are differentiated by the B chromosomes found in C. pygargus, populations of this species gain more of these strange 'junk' chromosomes as one moves further east.

This new taxonomic interpretation (circumscription) was first followed in the American book Mammals Species of the World in 1993. Populations of the roe from east of the Khopyor River and Don River to Korea are considered to be this species.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System, following the 2005 Mammals Species of the World, gives the following subspecies:

• Capreolus capreolus capreolus (Linnaeus, 1758)

• Capreolus capreolus canus Miller, 1910 - Spain

• Capreolus capreolus caucasicus Nikolay Yakovlevich Dinnik, 1910 - A large-sized subspecies found in the region to the north of Caucasus Mountains, although Mammals Species of the World appears to recognise the taxon, this work bases itself on a chapter by Lister et al. in the 1998 book The European roe deer: the biology of success, which only recognises the name as provisional.

• Capreolus capreolus italicus Enrico Festa, 1925 - Italy (See gallery below)

This is just one (extreme) interpretation among a number. Two main specialists did not recognise these taxa and considered the species to be without subspecies in 2001. The European Union's Fauna Europaea recognised in 2005 two subspecies, but besides the nominate form recognises the Spanish population as the endemic Capre

The roe deer is a relatively small deer, with a body length of 95–135 cm (3 ft 1 in – 4 ft 5 in) throughout its range, and a shoulder height of 63–67 cm (2 ft 1 in – 2 ft 2 in), and a weight of 15–35 kg (35–75 lb). Populations from Urals and northern Kazakhstan are larger on average growing to 145 cm (4 ft 9 in) in length and 85 cm (2 ft 9 in) at shoulder height, with body weights of up to 60 kg (130 lb), with the deer populations becoming smaller again further east in the Transbaikal, Amur Oblast, and Primorsky Krai regions. In healthy populations, where population density is restricted by hunting or predators, bucks are slightly larger than does. Under other conditions, males can be similar in size to females, or slightly smaller.

Bucks in good conditions develop antlers up to 20–25 cm (8–10 in) long with two or three, rarely even four, points. When the male's antlers begin to regrow, they are covered in a thin layer of velvet-like fur which disappears later on after the hair's blood supply is lost. Males may speed up the process by rubbing their antlers on trees, so that their antlers are hard and stiff for the duels during the mating season. Unlike most cervids, roe deer begin regrowing antlers almost immediately after they are shed.

Within Europe the roe deer occurs in most areas with the exception of northernmost Scandinavia, in Norway it occurs throughout the country with the exception of parts of northern Vestland and northernmost Nordland (north of Narvik), and the islands of Iceland, Ireland and those of the Mediterranean Sea islands. In the Mediterranean region, it is largely confined to mountainous areas, and is absent or rare at low altitudes.

 European Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) - seen in many locations in Switzerland, Italy and France

Roe Deer, Eastern Roe Deer (Capreolus pygargus)

The Siberian Roe Deer, Eastern Roe Deer, or Asian Roe (Capreolus pygargus), is a species of roe deer found in northeastern Asia. In addition to Siberia and Mongolia, it is found in Kazakhstan, the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan, eastern Tibet, the Korean Peninsula, and northern China.

Its specific name pygargus, literally "white-rumped", is shared by the pygarg, an antelope known in the antiquity. The name was chosen by the German biologist Peter Simon Pallas in the late 18th century. The roe deer has long antlers.

The Siberian roe deer was once considered to be the same species as the European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), but it is now considered to be separate.

The two subspecies of Siberian roe deer are C. p. pygargus and C. p. tianshanicus (named for the Tian Shan mountains).

The Siberian roe deer is a moderately sized metacarpalian deer, with a long neck and large ears. It is typically up to 146 cm (4.8 ft) in body length and 59 kg (130 lb) in weight, making it larger than C. capreolus where populations from Ural and Northern Kazakhstan are the largest on average, followed by those from Transbaikal, Amur, and Primolskil regions. It has larger antlers with more branches than those of European roe deer. Roe deer generally live about 8–12 years, with a maximum of about 18 years. In winter the northern populations exhibit light gray coloring, but their southern counterparts are grayish brown and ochraceous. The belly is creamy and the caudal patch is white. In the summer, their coloring is reddish. Young have a spotted coat. Males are larger and have three-tined antlers, widely spaced and slanting upward, which are shed in the autumn or early winter and begin to regrow shortly thereafter.

Siberian roe deer are found within the temperate zone of eastern Europe and central and east Asia. Fossil records show their territory once stretched to the northern Caucasus Mountains, as well as eastern Ukraine. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, their range was diminished by overhunting in eastern Europe, northern Kazakhstan, western Siberia, and northern regions of eastern Siberia. Due to a division in their range, two morphologically different subspecies resulted (Ural and Siberia). The Siberian and European roe deer meet at the Caucasus Mountains with the Siberian roe deer occupying the northern flank, and the European roe deer occupying the southern flank, Asia Minor, and parts of northwestern Iran.

The Siberian roe deer has a light, slender build adapted for tall, dense grass. They live in forest and steppe habitats and develop high densities in tall-grass meadows and floodplains. They are adapted to severe weather extremes.

It may have become naturalized in England for a short period in the early 20th century as an escapee from Woburn, but were exterminated by 1945

Siberian Roe Deer (Capreolus pygargus) - seen in Eastern Russia, Ussuriland & Lazovsky Zapovednik but images were not allowed.

Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis)

The Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis) is a small deer superficially more similar to a musk deer than a true deer. Native to China and Korea, there are two subspecies: the Chinese water deer (Hydropotes inermis inermis) and the Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus). Despite certain anatomical peculiarities, including a pair of prominent tusks (downward-pointing canine teeth), and its lack of antlers, it is classified as a cervid. Yet, its unique anatomical characteristics have caused it to be classified in its own genus (Hydropotes) as well as its own subfamily (Hydropotinae). However, studies of mitochondrial control region and cytochrome b DNA sequences placed it near Capreolus within an Old World section of the subfamily Capreolinae, and all later molecular analysis show that hydropotes is a sister taxon of Capreolus. Its prominent tusks, similar to those of musk deer, have led to both subspecies being colloquially named vampire deer in English-speaking areas to which they have been imported. The species is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. It was first described to the Western world by Robert Swinhoe in 1870.

The genus name Hydropotes derives from the two ancient Greek words ὕδωρ (húdōr), meaning "water", and ποτής (potḗs), meaning "the fact of drinking", and refers to the preference of this cervid for rivers and swamps.

The etymology of the species name corresponds to the Latin word inermis meaning unarmed, defenceless—itself constructed from the prefix in- meaning without and the stem arma meaning defensive arms, armor—, and refers to the water deer's lack of antlers.

Archeological studies indicate water deer was once distributed among much broader range than currently during the Pleistocene and the Holocene periods; records have been obtained from eastern Tibet in west, Inner Mongolia and northeastern China in north, southeastern Korean Peninsula (Holocene) and Japanese archipelago (Pleistocene) in east, southern China and northern Vietnam in south. Water deer also inhabited Taiwan historically, however this population presumably became extinct as late as the early 19th century.

Water deer are indigenous to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal Jiangsu province (Yancheng Coastal Wetlands), and islands of Zhejiang of east-central China, and in Korea, where the demilitarized zone has provided a protected habitat for a large number. The Korean water deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus) is one of the two subspecies of water deer. While the population of Chinese subspecies is critically endangered in China, the Korean subspecies are known to inhabit 700,000 throughout South Korea. In China, water deer are found in Zhoushan Islands in the Zhejiang (600~800), Jiangsu (500~1,000), Hubei, Henan, Anhui (500), Guangdong, Fujian, Poyang Lake in Jiangxi (1,000), Shanghai, and Guangxi. They are now extinct in southern and western China. Since 2006, water deer has been reintroduced in Shanghai, with population increased from 21 individuals in 2007 to 227~299 individuals in 2013. In Korea, water deer are found nationwide and are known as gorani (고라니).

Water deer inhabit the land alongside rivers, where they are protected from sight by the tall reeds and rushes. They are also seen on mountains, swamps, grasslands, and even open cultivated fields. Water deer are proficient swimmers, and can swim several miles to reach remote river islands. An introduced population of Chinese water deer exists in the United Kingdom and another was extirpated from France.

Despite a listing of 'vulnerable' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in South Korea, the animal is thriving due to the extinction of natural predators such as Korean tigers and leopards. Since 1994, Korean water deer have been designated as "harmful wildlife", a term given by the Ministry of Environment to wild creatures that can cause harm to humans or their property. Currently, certain local governments offer bounties from 30,000 won($30) to 50,000 won($50) during the farming season. However, the hunting of water deer is not restricted to the warm season, as 18 hunting grounds were currently in operation in the winter of 2018.