Today I visited Stumpshaw Fen in the hope of seeing Otters but the only views I got were as one animal swum past hardly coming to the surface at all, however I did get some good sightings of a Chinese Water Deer.
These deer are quite small only being a bit larger than a Muntjac but not as large as a Roe deer and are reasonably common around Norfolk and Suffolk having developed a liking to the wetland habitats available. They are not a natural resident of this country but were instead released and/or escaped from captivity and have since thrived. They were first recorded at London zoo in 1873 and at Whipsnade zoo in 1929 where the first escape occurred. The bucks don't have antlers but instead have tusks that grow down from the top jaws which indicates that this species of deer is very ancient and originates before the evolution of antlers. Chinese Water Deer are not social like other deer species and tend to prefer their own company apart from the rutting season in November when bucks and does pair up for a few months during which time the bucks will not tolerate the presence of any other males and fighting can occur. The does give birth around May/June normally to between 1 and 3 fawns but occasionally up to 6 but they have a very high mortality rate and it is estimated that 40% of fawns die within the first couple of months of life.
You can see from the lack of tusks that this animal is either a doe or an immature buck that is not old enough to have developed the tusks yet. Another identifying feature of these deer are the rounded ears that are said to resemble those of a 'teddy bear' and these can be clearly seen in this picture.
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