Water deer
Hydropotes inermis
— Where the name comes from
Hydropotes is “water drinker”, from the Greek hýdōr and potḗs, for its habit of living in flooded reedbeds. Inermis is the Latin for “unarmed”, “weaponless”: it is the only deer in the world in which neither sex carries antlers. But the name lies, because it has weapons in plenty — only they are teeth, and in English it is indeed called the vampire deer.
— Facts
- Group
- Mammals · Mammalia
- Order
- Even-toed ungulates
- Habitat
- Reedbeds, marshes, river islands, paddy fields
- Range
- Eastern China and Korea; naturalised in England and France
- Size
- 77–100 cm of body, 9–15 kg
- Diet
- Herbivore — reeds, young grass, vegetables
- Lifespan
- 10–12 years
— Characteristics
- 01
The male has upper canines protruding up to eight centimetres.
- 02
The canines are mobile: he swings them back to eat and forward to fight.
- 03
It bears up to seven young, against the one or two of all other deer.
— What sets it apart
It is the deer that gave up antlers and kept its tusks, and it is probably a portrait of what deer looked like before antlers were invented. In its fights the male does not lock horns: he charges sideways and slashes with the canines, opening long cuts on his rival’s back and shoulders. Antlers are remade every year and serve for display; tusks stay and serve to wound. Among living deer only this one and the musk deer have kept the old weapon, and they are also the two oldest.
