The Milu, or Pere David's deer, which has nearly gone extinct, has now a thriving population 30 years after it was re-introduced into China.
Chinese animal conservationists said that about 3,000 milu now live on reserves throughout the country, including the Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve in central China's Hubei Province, Yancheng Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in east China's Jiangsu Province, and Nanhaizi Wetland Park in Beijing.
"As one of the earth's rare animals, Milu is also named 'Sibuxiang' in Chinese, which means 'four ways of being unalike' due to it having a horse-like face, donkey-like tail, cow-like hooves and dear-like antlers. They originally lived in the mud flats along the Yellow River and the Yangtze River in China," Cai Jiaqi, an engineer at the Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve in Jingzhou, central China's Hubei Province, said.
The milu were believed to have lived on earth as far back as 200 million years ago. They subsist on a diet of mainly grass, leaves and plants. Due to their gentle nature and lack of aggression, milu have become prime targets for hunters throughout Chinese history and they were also favored game among the royal families of China's many dynasties.
According to Cai, when Beijing's Yongding River flooded in 1894, and washed away the walls of the Milu Chase, many of the animals escaped and were hunted by local residents for food. When the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded Beijing in 1900, the battle led to the extinction of milu in China.
Cai said that in 1898, Britain's XI Duke of Bedford purchased 18 milu from zoos around Europe and kept on a manor in Northern London, where they multiplied. These 18 milu became the ancestors of all of today's milu across the world.
The owner of the manor sent 38 milu back to China In 1985, to allow them to return to their ancestral homeland. To welcome the milu back home, the China Milu Foundation was established in the same year and now has become a non-profit organization named China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation, specializing in conservation of biological diversity, Cai added.
"The descendants of Bedford will visit Shishou Milu National Nature Reserve for the 30th anniversary of the milu return to China in November this year," Cai remarked.
There are about 6,000 milu living in China and in the world today.