Landscape Ecology

Habitat Suitability Index

Remote Sensing

Geographic Information System

Study Species : Korean water deer(Hydropotes inermis argyropus)

The Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis) is superficially more similar to a musk deer than a true deer (Cervidae - order Artiodactyla) but it is classified as a cervid despite having tusks (downward-pointing canine teeth) instead of antlers and other anatomical anomalies. These unique characteristics have caused it to be classified in its own genus (Hydropotes) and its own subfamily (Hydropotinae). Native to China and Korea, there are two subspecies: the Chinese Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis inermis) and the Korean Water Deer (Hydropotes inermis argyropus)

Water deer are indigenous to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, coastal Jiangsu province (Yancheng Coastal Wetlands), and islands of Zhejiang of east-central China, and in Korea, where the demilitarized zone has provided a protected habitat for a large number. They frequent the tall reeds, rushes along rivers, and in tall grass on mountains and cultivated fields as well as swampy regions and open grasslands. They have also been known to inhabit swamps, and when the cultivated fields that they occupied are cut, they may be found lying in the furrows and hollows of the open field.

A proficient swimmer, water deer can also swim several miles to make use of river islands.

- from Wikipedia.