Afghan Fanged Deer (Moschus cupreus): To Suspected Extinction and Back in Nuristan Province

Musk deer can be considered special for many reasons. For example, their taxonomy-related back-story theoretically confers privileged status. They count among the wildlife whose identification comes in 1758 from Råshult village-born Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), as:

• Botanist;

• Physician;

• Proto-ecologist;

• Taxonomist;

• Zoologist.

Wildlife-loving amateurs and professionals generally deem it important to subject the earliest examples of Linnaean categorization systems to updates in the light of:

• Scientific advances;

• Technological breakthroughs.

But scientific methods and procedures do not get applied or followed regularly enough to ensure musk deer sustainability. Modern interactions and interfaces in fact result in all seven moss-eating, musk-releasing species in the genus Moschus being endangered by:

• Habitat loss;

• Illegal hunts.

Moschus alone claims membership in the Moschidae family described in 1821 by Walsall-born British scientist John Edward Gray (February 12, 1800 – March 7, 1875), as:

• Medical student;

• Museum entomologist;

• Zoological keeper, publisher, taxonomist.

Asia hosts all seven species. Northern- and southern-based species include:

• anuiensis (Wang, Hu & Yan, 1982), Anhui musk deer of China;

• berezovskii (Flerov, 1929), dwarf and forest musk deer of China, Vietnam;

• chrysogaster (Hodgson, 1839), Alpine musk deer of China;

• fuscus (Li, 1981), black and dusky musk deer of Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal;

• leucogaster (Hodgson, 1839), Himalayan white-bellied musk deer of Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Sikkim;

• moschiferus (Linnaeus, 1758), Siberian musk deer of Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, Siberia.

The west Asia-based species cupreus also joins the genus Moschus. Kashmir musk deer owe common designations to the species' first known European-based identifications through specimens from the namesake valley between the Great Himalayas and Pir Panjal Ranges. The scientific nomenclature reflects the expertise of Ealing-born English scientist Peter Grubb (1942 – December 23, 2006), as:

• Collaborator with London-born Australia-based bio-/palaeo-anthropologist Colin Peter Groves (born June 24, 1942);

• Researcher of giant tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) of Aldabra Atoll, Seychelles;

• Specialist in Soay sheeps (Ovis aries) of St. Kilda Archipelago, Scotland;

• Taxonomist of African and Asian mammals.

The Zoological Society of London remembers Peter as the recipient of:

• Thomas Henry Huxley Award, 1968;

• The Stamford Raffles Award, 2006.

The Kashmir musk deer also claims as distributional ranges within the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan:

• Kunar and Laghman Provinces, per data-driven geo-models and transect surveys;

• Nuristan Province, per historical and recent observations.

As is the case in India and Pakistan, the antler-less herbivore favors remote, rough, rugged, steep, vegetated, wooded slopes at:

• Altitudes of 3,772.97 – 11,482.94 feet (1,150 – 3,500 meters) above sea level;

• Inclines of 20°+.

The evening- and night-time feeders frequent niches within such habitats as:

• Alpine scrublands;

• Coniferous (Pinophyta division) and fir (Abies spp) forests;

• Cushion plant-dotted fell-fields;

• Dense juniper (Juniperus spp) and rhododendron (Rhododendron spp) shrublands;

• High-altitude plateaus;

• Meadows;

• Remnant oak (Quercus spp) and pine (Pinus spp) forests.

The common name Afghan fanged deer, for Afghanistan's Kashmir musk deer, communicates hallmark musk deer features:

• Absent antlers and facial glands;
• Present musk-releasing glands and tusk-like teeth.

Solitary life cycles express prevailing configurations within moschid (musk deer) natural histories. Afghanistan's skittish ruminant (mammal with four-part stomach) inhabits scent-marked niches within loose communities. Mating produces in 150 – 180 days one fawn whose first month passes motionless in mother-defended hideaways. Physical and sexual maturity yields bodies:

• Measuring 31.49 – 39.37 inches (80 – 100 centimeters);
• Reaching 19.69 – 27.56 inches (50 – 70 centimeters) at the shoulders;
• Sporting 6 incisors on the lower jaw and 4 canines, 12 pre-molars, 12 molars equally distributed between both jaws;
• Weighing 15.43 – 37.48 pounds (7 – 17 kilograms).

The Wildlife Conservation Society of Bronx, New York accepts a possible 501.93 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) as Afghan fanged deer bio-geographies. The projections assume sufficient availability of:

• Flowers;
• Grasses;
• Leaves;
• Lichens;
• Mosses.

They consider the seesawing of:

• Human-generated habitat fragmentation;
• Human-induced population decline.

They describe the use of traps and weapons to kill Afghan fanged deer for:

• Enamel tusk-like canines;
• Fleshy body parts;
• Musk-filled scent-glands.

But they do not tally populations because of:

• The last known twentieth-century sighting dating from Danish scientists in 1948;
• The only twenty-first-century viewing occurring six decades later.

The October 22, 2014 issue of Oryx indeed reports the witnessing by WCS staff and WCS-trained locals of:

• One juvenile;
• Three males;
• Two females.

Afghan fanged deer appeal to wildlife-lovers. Their admirers are in favor of sustainable populations according to different agendas. Environmentalists cherish diversity. Entrepreneurs contrastingly extol the deer’s marketability as:

• Culinary delicacies;
• Musky aphrodisiacs, incenses, perfumes, traditional medicines;
• Trophy tusks.

Afghan fanged deer generate good environmental press by:

• Avoiding predatory confrontations since longer back-legs and shorter fore-legs negotiate all terrains;
• Using tusk-like canines to fake-joust with competitors during mating seasons.

They contrastingly get good entrepreneurial press since poachers expect:

• 0.81 ounces (23 grams) of musk per pod;
• $20,000 – 45,000 per pound (2.2 kilograms) of musk.

Halting the killing of 60,000 musk deer for every 14.11 ounces (400+ grams) of musk requires:

• 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.

Elusive musk deer did not escape the attention of Carl Linnaeus, honored as taxonomic genius.
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

John Edward Gray: describer of the Moschidae family in 1821
1855 albumen print portrait of John Edward Gray; photograph attributed to Maull & Polyblank: Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Edward_Gray._Photograph._Wellcome_V0027572.jpg

Musk deer's unusual fangs are used by males during breeding season: photo of lookalike Siberian Musk Deer released by Wildlife Conservation Society in lieu of photo of Afghan Fanged Deer.
The only photo on record of a wild specimen of Moschus cupreus from Afghanistan is that of the bloody carcass of an adult female, hunted July 3, 2009, and photographed July 4.
Julie Larsen Maher © WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), Usage restrictions: None, via EurekAlert! @ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/81861.php?from=281158

Identification of musk deer sighted in eastern Afghanistan's Parun Valley on May 13, 1948 by Knut Paludan of Third Danish Expedition to Central Asia was confirmed as Moschus cupreus on May 21 by showing this drawing to Malik (chief) of village of Kustaki.
Jerry Hassinger, A Survey of the Mammals of Afghanistan (1973), p. 165
R.A. Sterndale, Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon (1884), p. 493: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14964859

Conifer-juniper stands in eastern Afghanistan: Sightings of Moschus cupreus in 2008 occurred in steep terrains flush with Juniperus squamata and at upper edge of coniferous forest.
Hindu Kush Mountains, Nuristan Province, northeastern Afghanistan: seair21, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/7061577887

Landscape of eastern Nuristan Province: Nuristan's remoteness, with thick forests and steep mountain slopes, provides ideal habitats for reclusive Moschus cupreus.
small terraced fields of Nuristan's remote villages along waterways winding through steep slopes of Hindu Kush: seair21, CC BY SA 2.0, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/kohistan/7321174362/

Sightings of Moschus cupreus Afghanistan's northeastern Nuristan Province in 2008 occurred in landscapes lush with rhododendrons.
flower of common rhododendron or pontic rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum): species native to Aghanistan: First Light at en.wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhododendron_ponticum_2.jpg

Stark contrasts in Laghman Province, designated as potential site of Moschus cupreus habitats: lush greenery of communities clustering around waterways contrasts with backdrop of deserts and mountains.
Based on their 2008 data-drive geographical model, Wildlife Conservation Society-University of Leeds' School of Geography survey team predicted 14.4% suitable habitats for musk deer in Laghman, province sharing Nuristan's southern border.
isolation and remote vastness of Hindu Kush in Laghman Province; U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Samuel Morse: U.S. Air Force, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stark_contrasts_in_Afghanistan_-_080907-F-0168M-071.jpg

Glands of Moscus cupreus are known to be sold in market at Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar, province sharing southern borders with Laghman and Kunar provinces.
Young Pashai girl: Pashai are ethnolinguistic group in eastern Afghanistan, especially in Kunar, Laghman, and Nangarhar provinces, but also in Nuristan.
Dara-I-Nur (Pashto: دره نور), northern Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan: Todd Huffman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pashai_girl_in_Afghanistan,_wearing_distinctive_Pashai_clothing.jpg

Nuristan, remote province on southern slopes of Hindu Kush Mountains in northeastern Afghanistan, is location of 21st century sightings of Moschus cupreus.
Altitudes over 2,000 meters (6,561.68 feet) in Nuristan's Kashtun mountain chain attract Moschus cupreus.
Kashtun Mountain, Waygale District, Nuristan Province, northeastern Afghanistan: Abdul Qahar Nuristan. . ., CC BY SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kashtun_da_waygale_Nuristan_-_panoramio.jpg

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