Water deer | |
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Male water deer at the Whipsnade Zoo | |
Female and fawn at Hickling, Norfolk | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Artiodactyla |
Family: | Cervidae |
Subfamily: | Capreolinae |
Tribe: | Capreolini |
Genus: | Hydropotes R. Swinhoe, 1870 |
Species: | H. inermis
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Binomial name | |
Hydropotes inermis (R. Swinhoe, 1870)
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Range of water deer |
The water deer (Hydropotes inermis) is a small deer species native to Korea and China. 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. It was first described to the Western world by Robert Swinhoe in 1870.[2]