In the coastal marshes of eastern China, an animal with a bizarre charm has returned to populate the green expanses: the Father David deer (also known as the Milu deer). Described in ancient texts as a creature with deer antlers, ox legs, a horse’s face and a donkey’s tail, it is a true zoological anomaly. For centuries the deer Milu (Elaphurus davidianus) was venerated and hunted, until it completely disappeared in the wild about 125 years ago.
His salvation came from an unexpected place: England. The noble Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford, managed to bring together a few specimens remaining in European zoos and bred them on his Woburn Abbey estate, creating a colony that would change the fate of the species.
The return home after a century
In 1985, the Duke’s descendant, Robin Russell, decided to donate 39 of Father David’s deer to the Chinese government for an ambitious reintroduction programme. What were once the emperors’ hunting reserves, such as Beijing Nanhaizi Park, became protected refuges to welcome animals. A second group of 36 deer arrived the following year from five British zoos.
Since then, the miracle has been accomplished: from less than one hundred individuals it has grown to over 8,200 specimens, with a growth rate of 17% per year. Despite the origin from a small number of animals, the population shows good genetic diversity, a sign of a surprising adaptation.
A symbol of ecological and cultural rebirth
Today Père David’s deer live free in the Dafeng and Tianezhou reserves, where tens of square kilometers are protected as natural sanctuaries. Chinese biologists are preparing a new challenge: returning the animal to the wild, where it will have to learn to deal with predators and the climate again.
In China it is known as the animal of the “four sorrows”, a name that recalls a thousand-year-old legend in which a horse, a donkey, an ox and a deer united to fight a tyrant, fusing strength, speed and wisdom. Today the story of Père David’s deer is no longer a myth: it is living proof that even what seems lost can be reborn.
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