{"id":334481,"date":"2025-04-26T18:39:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-26T13:09:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=334481"},"modified":"2025-05-01T13:32:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T08:02:05","slug":"musk-deer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/musk-deer\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk Deer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News:<\/strong> Recently, a report \u201cPlant Breeding Programmes in Indian Zoos: Assessment and Strategic Actions (2024)\u201d, released by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has revealed that no breeding programme has been started in Indian zoos for the conservation of musk deer, classified as \u2018endangered\u2019 by IUCN.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-335141 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?resize=482%2C320&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Musk Deer\" width=\"482\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?resize=1024%2C680&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?resize=768%2C510&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?w=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 482px) 100vw, 482px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>About Musk Deer<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a solitary shy animal which lives in mountainous regions from Siberia to the Himalayas.<\/li>\n<li>There are <strong>mainly<\/strong> two species of musk deer found in India-\n<ul>\n<li>i) Himalayan Musk Deer ii) Apline Musk Deer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Himalayan Musk Deer (Moschus leucogaster)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>It is a musk deer species occurring in the <strong>Himalayas of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and China.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>In India, it inhabits parts of <strong>Kashmir, Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, the northern part of Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>It is also known as <strong>White-bellied Musk Deer<\/strong>. It\u2019s commonly known as \u201c<strong>Kasturi mriga<\/strong>\u201d in Nepali and \u201c<strong>Lah<\/strong>\u201d in Tibetan language.<\/li>\n<li>It was previously <strong>considered a subspecies of the Alpine musk deer<\/strong>, but was <strong>separated<\/strong> on the basis of different skull proportions.<\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>under threat<\/strong> due to its <strong>hunting<\/strong> primarily for its<strong>\u00a0musk<\/strong> which is used in manufacture of <strong>perfume, medicine and cosmetics.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Characteristics<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Musk glands and teeth:<\/strong> <strong>Males<\/strong> have <strong>long, curved canine teeth<\/strong> and a <strong>musk gland<\/strong>, which is located <strong>in a sac<\/strong> between the genitals and the umbilicus.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Behaviour: <\/strong>During the day, it <strong>hides<\/strong> in dense cover and is shy and secretive. At <strong>night, it emerges<\/strong> to feed in more open habitats.<\/li>\n<li>It is <strong>herbivores<\/strong> and eats grasses, forbs, mosses, lichen, twigs, shoots, and plant leaves.<\/li>\n<li>Himalayan musk deer can live for<strong> up to 10 to 14 years.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Protected Areas and Projects<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary:<\/strong> Established in 1972, in the western Himalayas, is the site of <strong>a captive breeding program<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary:<\/strong> Located in Uttarakhand, dedicated specifically to musk deer conservation.<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0<strong>Himalayan Musk Project<\/strong> started in 1982- It was the the flagship conservation program, but its <strong>success has been limited<\/strong> by lack of <strong>founder stock<\/strong> to initiate a sustainable breeding programme.\n<ul>\n<li>\u2018<strong>Founder stock\u2019<\/strong> means the <strong>pair<\/strong> from which breeding can be carried forward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conservation<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IUCN Status:<\/strong> Endangered<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wildlife Protection Act<\/strong>: Schedule I<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>NOTE &#8211; <strong>Musk Deer<\/strong>\u00a0is the<strong> state animal of Uttarakhand.<\/strong><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News: Recently, a report \u201cPlant Breeding Programmes in Indian Zoos: Assessment and Strategic Actions (2024)\u201d, released by the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has revealed that no breeding programme has been started in Indian zoos for the conservation of musk deer, classified as \u2018endangered\u2019 by IUCN. About Musk Deer It is a solitary shy animal which&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/musk-deer\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Musk Deer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10393,"featured_media":335141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,4182,12039,11834],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-334481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-environment","category-knolls","category-species-in-news","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Musk-Deer.png?fit=1280%2C850&ssl=1","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10393"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}