Chinese and Dwarf Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii) in China and Vietnam and Hopefully Laos

Wildlife-loving amateurs and professionals face the daunting challenge of remembering a number of names for all of the world’s known animal and plant species. Non-scientific, popular, and traditional parlance gives faunal and floral species the common name, of which there may be different expressions across and within languages. For example, the Chinese and dwarf forest musk deer has not only the above-mentioned common name in English but also equivalents and translations in the languages of such countries as:

• China (林麝);
• Russia (Кабарга Березовского);
• Sweden (Låglandsmyskdjur);
• Vietnam (Hươu xạ lùn).

Common names may exist in still more languages (such as Laotian). The above-mentioned list specifies those which contribute to the species’ modern homelands and taxonomies.

Scientists allow expansion into trinomial taxonomies. Name number three gets called the subspecies. Not all of the world’s known species enjoy subdivision from genus and species to subspecies. Not all musk deer species exhibit trinomialism. But the Chinese and dwarf forest musk deer’s tripartite identification recognizes bio-geographical and morphological (external, internal form and structure) subtleties for:

• Moschus berezovskii berezovskii -- in Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet -- as nominate (“first-named”);
• M.b. bijiangensis -- in northwest Yunnan -- per Y. Wang and C. Li, 1993;
• M.b. caobangis -- in China (Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan), southern Vietnam -- per Dao Van Tien, 1969;
• M.b. yanguiensis -- Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Yunnan-Guizhou -- per Y. Wang and S. Ma, 1993.

China claims all four subspecies. Only the smallest subspecies defers to life cycles and natural histories in:

• Southern Laos (hopefully);

• Southern Vietnam.

Each subspecies individualizes:

• Bio-geographies;

• Physiques.

All four manifest:

• Arched backs;
• Big eyes;
• Longer, stronger, thicker hind-limbs;
• Multiple scent glands;
• Olive-brown bodies whose winter hair is coarser, less spotted and streaked grey-white or yellow-orange, and longer;
• Rabbit-like ears;
• Shorter, thinner, weaker fore-limbs;
• Two-hooved lower hoof, two-hooved upper dewclaw per foot.

Their dentition (arrangement and number of teeth) sports:

• 4 canines, 12 premolars, 12 molars equally distributed between lower and upper jaws;

• 6 incisors evenly divided between the left and right lower jaw.

Females in all four Chinese and dwarf forest musk deer subspecies become sexually mature at 24 months. During an expected 20-year lifespan, she delivers annual single -- weighing 18.48 - 18.66 ounces (524 – 529 grams) -- or twin births after gestating 6.5 months. Newborns drink milk the first 3 – 4 months. They physically mature to:

• Lengths of 35.43 inches (90 centimeters);

• Shoulder-heights of 19.69 – 23.62 inches (50 – 60 centimeters);

• Weights of 28.66 – 33.07 pounds (13 – 15 kilograms).

Vietnam's subspecies models the lowest above-mentioned ranges whereas the yanguiensis subspecies (of Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Ningxia, Shaanxi) and the nominate and northwest Yunnan subspecies respectively occupy intermediate and uppermost limits.

Subspecies survival demands:

• Climbing trees;

• Eluding foxes, leopards, lynxes, martens, people, wolves;

• Ingesting bark, buds, foliage, grasses, lichens, mosses, twigs;

• Scaling steep, stony, 20°-inclined slopes;

• Scent-marking territorial ranges of 12.36 – 24.71 acres (5 – 10 hectares).

The Chinese and dwarf forest musk deer finds what sustains healthy populations:

• At altitudes 6,561.68 – 12,467.19 feet (2,000 – 3,800 meters) above sea level;

• In broad-leaved, coniferous, or mixed forests and shrublands;

• With monthly configurations of 52.48°F (11.38°C) in temperature, 4.26 inches (108.26 millimeters) in precipitation, 35.16 inches (893.09 millimeters) in evapotranspiration.

Appropriate habitat is critical because of:

• The lack of offensive, self-defensive antlers;

• The possession of non-defensive, non-offensive, tusk-like upper canines.

It can be harmful and helpful to be admired for physical attributes. The admiration theoretically encourages protective agendas. But it also has the possibility of fomenting reckless pursuits of the object of disrespectful, mismanaged desires. For example, the Chinese and dwarf forest musk deer is renowned worldwide for:

• Delectable flesh;

• Musky releases perfect for incenses, medicines, perfumes;

• Trophy tusks;

• Warm fur.

Human population increases and territorial expansions presently but not necessarily lead to:

• Declining wildlife;

• Decreasing wilderness.

Growing urban and shrinking wild interfaces nevertheless need not be so people-friendly and wildlife-unfriendly. China's experiments with no-kill, non-maiming musk farming show that all perspectives can be honored and reconciled with:

• Environmental education;

• Governmental protection;

• Scientific research;

• Wildlife-loving activism.

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer homelands: Lugu Lake, alpine lake with surface elevation of 8,809 feet (2,685 meters), is highest lake in Yunnan Province.
Border between Ninglang County of Yunnan Province and the Yanyuan County of Sichuan province occurs mid-lake.
North West Yunnan Plateau, southwestern China: Doron, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LuguLake.jpg

Fauna and flora enthusiast Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778) is credited with assigning Moschus as genus name for musk deer.
1982 bronze sculpture of Carl Linnaeus by Robert Berks (born 1922)
Chicago Botanic Garden, Cook County, northeastern Illinois: stefanie seskin, CC BY SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Statue_-_Father_of_Botany.jpg

Species name of Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer honors Mikhail Mikhailovich Berezovsky (1848-April 5, 1912), who participated as botanist, ethnographer, geographer, and zoologist in 14 expeditions, beginning in 1876, to China and Central Asia.
geographer and ethnographer
Михаил Михайлович Березовский: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berezovsky.jpg

Subspecies name of caobangis recognizes native presence of Dwarf Forest Musk Deer in Vietnam's northeastern province of Cao Bằng Province.
They now exist as rare shadows in their homelands in karst landscape of northern Vietnam, where they have been heavily hunted for medicinal uses.
Bản Giốc Waterfalls, Vietnam-China International Border; Cao Bằng Province, northeast Vietnam: Ajarnmike, CC BY SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thác_Bản_Giốc.jpg

Subspecies of yanguiensis recognizes native presence of Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer in Yunnan and Guizou provinces in southwestern China.
Agile, skittish Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer are undaunted by southwestern China's altitudinous, precipitous habitats.
Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwestern Yunnan, southwestern China: Ariel Steiner (Asteiner), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diqing,_Yunnan,_China.jpg

Chinese or Dwarf Forest Deer (Moschus berezovskii) is an endangered species of musk deer with homelands in China and Vietnam.
Populations of the skittish deer are hoped to be surviving in Laos.
Kunming Natural History Museum of Zoology, Kunming, Yunnan Province, southwestern China: Daderot, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moschus_berezovskii_-_Kunming_Natural_History_Museum_of_Zoology_-_DSC02453.JPG

Predator of Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer: Beech Marten (Martes foina) is a carnivorous mammal with terrestrial preferences but arboreal tree climbing skills.
Skeleton of agile beech marten hints at acrobatic abilities.
Muséum de Toulouse, Midi-Pyrénées region, southwestern France: Didier Descouens (Archaeodontosaurus), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martes_foina_MHNT_ZOO_2010.9.2.jpg

Chinese Dwarf Musk Deer habitats include steep slopes, easily scaled by nimble artiodactyls (even-toed ungulates).
Chinese Dwarf Musk Deer habitats spill across border of southwestern China's Yunnan Province with Northernmost Vietnam's Hà Giang Province.
Đèo Mã Pì Lèng (Ma Pi Leng Pass) connects Đồng Văn and Mèo Vạc districts in karstic Hà Giang Province.
haithanh, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%C4%90%C3%A8o_M%C3%A3_P%C3%AC_L%C3%A8ng.jpg; haithanh, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/52621576@N00/2885177146

Chinese and Dwarf Forest Musk Deer (Moschus berezovskii)
"Le Pygmée" illustration by Swiss-French natural history artist Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (December 20, 1768-April 29, 1849)
Frédéric Cuvier, Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. Planches. Zoologie: Mammifères (1816-1829): Public Domain, via BnF Gallica @ https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9669000q/f361.item

Location of Laos' northernmost province, Phôngsali, with Vietnam to the east and China to the north and west, makes it an excellent, logical transition zone for Chinese Dwarf Musk Deer with nativity in southwestern China and northern Vietnam.
Concerned conservationists hold out hope for survival of a presumed population of Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer in northern Laos.
Phôngsali, capital of Phôngsali Province; slopes of Mount Phu Fa, central Phôngsali Province, northernmost Laos: Stefan Auth, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Phongsali1.jpg

Gem-like native landscape of Moschus berezkovii: Greatest extent of Chinese Dwarf Forest Musk Deer's homelands occurs in southwestern China.
Terraced fields of Longsheng Rice Terraces were mostly built about 6.5 centuries ago.
Longsheng County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), South Central China: severin.stalder (Severin.stalder), CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LongshengRiceTerrace.jpg

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