Alpine Musk-deer

About this species

Size

40–60cm tall

Diet

Forbs, grasses, moss, lichens, and shoots, leaves and twigs of shrubs

Habitat

Coniferous and deciduous forest at about 3,000–5,000m

Range

Eastern Himalaya in Nepal, Bhutan and India to the highlands of Tibet

The alpine musk deer is a small deer, 40–60 cm tall, with long upper canines that do not hide within the mouth; the tusks grow during the mating season and are used for sparring between males. It is native to the eastern Himalaya in Nepal, Bhutan and India and to the highlands of Tibet, and it is the state animal of Uttarakhand. Animals recorded in the Himalayan foothills are now considered a separate species, the Himalayan musk deer (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in coniferous and deciduous forest at about 3,000–5,000 m; in eastern Bhutan it was recorded at 3,730–4,227 m in 2015. It is a solitary ruminant and mainly a browser, feeding on forbs, grasses, moss, lichens and the shoots, leaves and twigs of shrubs. The mating season is late November and young are born from June to July (Wikipedia, general species account).

Description: Wildlife of India guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)