Formosan sika deer on Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen Island have been found to be the purest existing strain of the species, giving them special value for research and tourism, according to a study released Sept. 7.
The joint two-year study by the Kinmen County Livestock Research Institute, National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University, Academia Sinica and the Kenting National Park Administration showed that Kinmen’s deer are genetically purer than those in a restoration program in Kenting.
Ju Yu-ten, an assistant professor at NTU and member of the research team, said the study relied on a combination of historical documents, paleontological remains and DNA analysis of the relationships among existing groups of Formosan sika deer, which are endemic to Taiwan.
According to Ju, the last known sighting of a wild sika was in 1969. In 1980, Kinmen’s Livestock Research Institute brought in one male and four females from the Taipei City Zoo. The Executive Yuan launched a sika deer reintroduction project in 1984, with five males and 17 females from the zoo being moved to Kenting in 1986 to serve as a founder population.
In 1992, all the remaining Formosan sika deer at the Taipei zoo died after becoming infected with tuberculosis, Ju said. At the time, researchers were not aware that the zoo had sent deer to Kinmen in 1980.
The conservation efforts in Kinmen were successful because the island was off limits to visitors due to its important role as a military bastion, thereby allowing the deer to thrive in an isolated environment, which in turn has provided an important genetic database for research, Ju explained.
Sika deer from Tunghai University in Taichung and deer farms in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District were later added to the Kenting herd. As commercial sika deer raisers are known to interbreed their animals with red deer and Formosan sambar to increase antler production, this move is thought to have reduced the genetic purity of the Kenting population.
“The results of the study represent a real shot in the arm for the Livestock Research Institute’s conservation work,” Weng Tzu-pao, head of the institute, said.
Weng said there are currently 176 Formosan sika deer on the island, adding that his institute will continue to coordinate genetic research and also establish a nature reserve for the deer to serve as a unique ecotourism attraction.
Ju said the research will continue by preserving reproductive and somatic cells from the deer and establishing a genetic database. He recommended interbreeding of the two populations at a third location to help maintain genetic diversity. (SB-THN)