Pere David’s Deer (Chinese name is "Milu")
Elaphurus davidianus

• Pere David’s Deer are excellent swimmers.
• They have long legs and their broad and splayed hooves allow them to walk on marshy, soft land.
• The Chinese call them "sze pu shiang" which roughly translated means, "none of four". It refers to the fact that they appear to have the antlers of a deer, the neck of a camel, the tail of a donkey and the hoofs of a cow.
• Their current existence is credited to an 1800’s Jesuit missionary named Pere Armand David who had managed to spy several of the deer kept in a secret Imperial Hunting Park near Peking. He later became instrumental in the eventual transfer of several pairs to Europe.
• In 1895 most of the deer in China were killed after a catastrophic flood and the remainder in the Imperial Park were killed and eaten by Western and Chinese soldiers during the Boxer rebellion. However, due to Pere David’s influence, there were 18 deer still alive in Europe. They were all moved to the Duke of Bedford’s Woburn Abbey in England for safe keeping. All of the Pere David's Deer existing today are descendants of just 11 of those 18 animals.
• There are now over 2,000 living in parks in China in a semi-natural state in the first stages of reintroduction.