Eld's Deer EEP

The Burmese Brow-Antlered Deer or Eld’s Deer (Rucervus eldii) is a medium size South East Asian deer. The species is classified by the IUCN as Endangered.

The global Eld’s deer population is currently very localised to small areas within the species’ former range. There are three sub-species. (R. e. eldii) is now confined to a single small population in Manipur, India. (R. e. thamin) occurs in several localised areas of central Myanmar. (R. e. siamensis) occurs in one or two small localised populations in Lao PDR and as scattered small subpopulations in the northern and eastern lowlands of Cambodia. The main threats are hunting for meat and traditional medicinal products and habitat loss and fragmentation caused by human population in-migration, infrastructural developments (especially roads), commercial agricultural expansion, economic land speculation and mineral extraction.

(Rucervus eldii) has been maintained in European collections since 1957 when animals were obtained by Paris Zoo. A second import from Rangoon Zoo to Berlin Zoo and Leipzig occurred in 1968. It is from these two imports that the current European population has developed. Unlike some cervids, the species has never been numerous and has resided mainly in the same small number of collections. The species is more challenging to manage than many more common deer species held in zoos being more sensitive and nervous and requiring heated housing.

In 2013 a European Studbook for the Elds Deer or Burmese Brow Antlered Deer was established. The programme was upgraded to an EEP in 2015.

A study on the management of the species in European zoos was published in the journal, Zoo Biology in 2017 and this formed the basis of Best Practice Husbandry Guidelines which were published in 2018.

For more information or if your zoo would potentially like to hold Eld’s Deer please contact me.