Pictures and facts about the Indian muntjac

Indian muntjac

Order : Artiodactyla
Family : Cervidae
Subfamily : Muntiacinae
Species : Muntiacus muntjak

The Indian Muntjac deer (Muntiacus muntjak), also called the 'barking deer', is the most numerous of the Muntjac deer and lives in South-eastern Asia, in Pakistan, India, Nepal, and along South-eastern Asia and southern China. It gets its nickname 'barking deer' because of their barking like dogs when threatened. Their diet consists of leaves, grasses, shoots, and fallen fruit. Muntjacs are considered a very primitive kind of deer, as they appeared 15-35 million years ago with fossils found in France and Germany. Muntjacs are hunted for their meat and skin, and are considered a pest in some areas, where they destroy the trees by ripping of the bark. The Indian Muntjac is not considered endangered.

Image of the Muntjac deer, photographed by Pratheepps, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5

Facts about the Indian muntjac

The weird thing about the Indian Muntjac is that it barks like a dog.

Despite the difference in chromosome number, the phenotypes of the Chinese and Indian muntjacs are similar, and they breed to produce viable but sterile offspring.

Indian Muntjac: The euchromatin staining in Indian muntjac is particularly striking.

An Indian muntjac is shown here. (Full text)

The Indian muntjac is a species of small deer native to India, Southeast Asia, and southern China. (Full text)

The rare river terrapin, Batagur baska has been re-discovered on Mechua Beach while the Barking Deer (Muntiacus muntjak) is found only on Holiday Island. (Full text)

Kakar or Barking Deer (Muntiacus muntjak) is the smallest of Corbett’s deer. (Full text)

Kakar or Barking Deer (Muntiacus muntjak) is the smallest (Full text)

The Indian muntjac is generally found in hilly areas, ranging in altitude from sea level to 3,200 feet. (Full text)

As noted, the Indian muntjac is a species of great cytogenetic interest. (Full text)

Management Constraints Poaching for smaller species such as sambar and Indian muntjac is common and five elephants were killed in a five-year period in the late 1970s. (Full text)

Sambar Cervus unicolor occur at lower altitudes and Indian muntjac Muntiacus muntjak is found on the plateau. (Full text)

Indian Muntjac The Indian muntjac is native to the forests of India and Nepal, southern China, Tibet, Sri Lanka, the Malay peninsula, and Indonesia. (Full text)