Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Baccus, John T. & Koprowski, John L., 2018, Mammals of Korea: a review of their taxonomy, distribution and conservation status, Zootaxa 4522 (1), pp. 1-216 : 108-110

Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 —Red deer

Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 p.67 ; Type locality- Sweden; Won, 1968 p.368; Han, 1994 p.46; Won & Smith, 1999 p.22; Oh, 2004b p.265.

C. xanthopygus Milne-Edwards, 1867 p.376 ; Type locality- northern Manchuria; Kishida & Mori, 1931.

C. luhdorfi Bolau 1880 p.33 ; Type locality- 280 mile east of Vladivostok , northern Manchuria.

C. isubra Noack, 1889 p.9 ; Type locality- Suchan River , North and East Manchuria.

C. bedfordianus Lydekker, 1896 p.932 ; Type locality- Manchuria.

C. xanthopygus var. typicus de Pousargues, 1898 p.209 .

C. canadaensis xanthopygus: Kuroda, 1938 p.7 .

C. elaphus xanthopygus: Tate, 1947 p.346 ; Won, 1958 p.431; Won, 1967 p.49; Won, 1968 p.371; Yoon, 1992 p.129.

Range: Red deer were abundant in extreme northeastern Korea in the early 1900s ( Lee 1965) but became rare by the 1960s ( Won 1968). Populations may persist in North Korea at Mt. Baekdu and adjacent areas ( Woo 1990; Won & Smith 1999), although this remains uncertain ( Fig. 71 ).

Remarks: Genetic investigations using mtDNA indicated that an eastern lineage including populations from North America had a closer relation to the populations in Mongolia and northeastern China than populations in Europe ( Mahmut et al. 2002). Ancestral populations of C. elaphus emigrated from northeastern Eurasia to North America via Beringia during the last glacial period in the Pleistocene ( Geist 1998). The genetic distances (2.0%) between North American and Mongolian populations provided an estimated divergence time between 52,000 and 80,000 years ( Polziehn & Strobeck 1998). The recognized subspecies of red deer in Far East Asia including Korea is C. e. xanthopygus ( Won & Smith 1999) .

Conservation status: The North Korean government designated habitat in Samjiyeon at Mt. Baekdu a Natural Monument ( Kim et al. 2015). The Red Data Book for North Korea lists C. elaphus as a ‘Rare’ species (MAB National Committee of DPR Korea 2002). The South Korean government has not addressed the conservation status of the red deer.

Figures

FIGURE 71. Range map of Cervus elaphus in Korea.