Hog deer

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Hog Deer

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Artiodactyla
Family:	Cervidae
Subfamily:	Cervinae
Genus:	Axis
Species:	A. porcinus

Binomial name

Axis porcinus
Zimmermann, 1780

The hog deer (Axis porcinus) is small deer whose habitat ranges from Pakistan, through northern India, to mainland southeast Asia. There are two subspecies of hog deer: Axis p. porcinus which inhabits much of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Pakistan, Northern India, Nepal, all the way to Western Thailand. Axis p. annamaticus that inhabits Thailand, and Indochina. Introduced populations also exist in Australia, the United States and Sri Lanka. The hog deer gets its name from the hog-like manner in which it runs through the forests with its head hung low so that it can duck under obstacles instead of leaping over them like most other deer. Cover is taken as soon as it is feasible. During flight, the tail is held erect, showing the white underside. Hog deer are gregarious only when conditions are favorable and do not form a "unit" at these times, fleeing in different directions rather than in a herd. When alarmed, hog deer make a whistling vocalization or a warning bark. Home ranges vary widely in size, but average about 0.70 km². Males are aggressive, and may become territorial at low population densities, marking the boundaries with glandular secretions. During the rut, males gather in open meadows, pawing the ground during antagonistic encounters. Harems are not created, with males courting and defending a single female at any given time. Unlike many other deer species, hog deer do not have a rutting call. Population densities may be as low as 0.1 animals per square kilometer in riverine valleys, rising to over 19 individuals per square kilometer in grassy flood plains.

There are two small, separate but similar island hog deer species: The Bawean deer (Axis kuhlii) of Bawean Island in Indonesia, and the Calamian deer (Axis calamianensis) of the Calamian Group of Islands in the Philippines that inhabit moist or dry tropical deciduous forest environments. Unlike the hog deer (Axis porcinus) of the Asian mainland, their fawns are not spotted at birth. These island hog deer may be remnants of a widespread population of hog deer that at one time were connected to the hog deer populations of mainland Southeast Asia and inhabited vast areas of the Sunda Shelf during times of lower ocean levels.