Muntjac - Muntiacus reevesi

A small, non-native deer barely the size of an Alsatian dog, with a rounded and arched back and small white tail. Coat is smooth and reddish/ginger brown in summer and darker brown in winter. . The male has small, slightly hooked antlers on long pedicels (protruding lumps) and long, protruding canines projecting as tusks. 

Slots - hoof prints are small (2.5 cm/1 inch long) with the outer toe/cleat noticeably longer

Droppings: dark brown to black, small and usually with a noticeable dimple and point at one end

Chinese Water Deer Hydropotes inermis

Adult , Slots (Hoof prints) , Droppings

Small stature, red/ginger coat in summer, darker brown in winter, small antlers.  Dark rump with white underside of tail (often seen when running away).

Please take a photograph for verification if at all possible.  Droppings or slots (hoof prints) can only be verified if accompanied by a good quality photograph showing the size of the droppings or hoofs.

Favours areas of dense undergrowth, through which it can move with surprising speed and silence such as hedgerows, agricultural field margins and scrub.  It sometimes lives in suburban gardens, hiding away during the day.

All year round

It can breed all year round (our other deer mate only during a seasonal rut). The female will usually have only one fawn (rarely twins) after a gestation of 210 days but can become immediately pregnant again after giving birth, producing ~ 3 fawns every 2 year.  The bucks develop antlers after 25 weeks and shed the velvet at 46-76 weeks.  The first antlers are shed in late May and then annually thereafter.

Established and fairly common in parts of central and southern England, these animals are all descendants of escapees from Woburn Park in Bedfordshire.

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland.