Schomburgk's Deer

The Schomburgk's deer is described as being very graceful. They had a dark brown pelt with lighter underparts. The underside of the tail was typically white. The males antlers were basket-like and all the main tines branched off. The male Schomburgk's deer usually had up to thirty-three points on their antlers, with the rack being up to thirty-five inches long. The female Schomburgk's deer had no antlers whatsoever.

Habitat

The Schomburgk's deer mainly inhabited swampy plains with long grass, cane, and shrubs, typically in central Thailand in the Chao Phraya River Valley which is near Bangkok. The deer usually avoided dense vegetation as it could have been hazardous to them. The Schomburgk's deer always traveled in herds that consisted of one adult male, a few females, and all of their young.

Extinction

Nearly all of the grasslands and swamps in Thailand were destroyed when the commercial production of rice for export began in the late nineteenth century. The Schomburgk's deer depended on these areas for their habitats or else they would die. The deer were also heavily hunted, which furthered their demise. The last captive Schomburgk's deer was killed in 1938. The species officially became extinct, in the wild and in captivity. There is only one Schomburgk's deer that was mounted. It currently resides in Paris Museum national d'Histoire naturelle, considering it lived in the zoo there until 1868.