White-lipped deer
| Thorold's deer | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Clade: | Synapsida |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Cervinae |
| Tribe: | Cervini |
| Genus: | Cervus |
| Species: | C. albirostris |
| Binomial name | |
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Cervus albirostris (Przewalski, 1883) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Przewalskium albirostris |
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Przewalskium albirostris
Przewalskium albirostre
Thorold's deer ( Przewalskium albirostris) is a threatened species of deer found in grassland, shrubland and forest at high altitudes in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. It is also known as the white-lipped deer (Baichunlu, 白唇鹿, in Simplified Chinese, ཤྭ་བ་མཆུ་དཀར།་ in Standard Tibetan) for the white patches around its muzzle.
This deer fills an ecological niche similar to the Shou (the subspecies wallichi of the Red Deer species group). It was first scientifically described by Nikolai Przhevalsky in 1883, and the first specimens were procured by G. W. Thorold, after whom the species is named. As of early 2011, more than 100 Thorold's deer are kept in ISIS-registered zoos, and in 1998 it was estimated that about 7000 remain in the wild.
Although the species was first described by Nikolai Przhevalsky in 1883, it is known as "Thorold's deer" because the first specimens was procured by G. W. Thorold. The former genus however, is named after Przhevalsky (Przewalskium) and the species name (albirostris) come from the Latin words albus (white) and rostrum (snout), referring to the white muzzle and lips. The name also came from the Chinese word "Baichunlu" (白唇鹿, Simplified Chinese), meaning "white-lipped". For this reason Thorold's deer is also commonly known as the white-lipped deer.
Thorold's deer has traditionally been included in the genus Cervus, and genetic evidence suggests this is more appropriate than its present placement in the monotypic genus Przewalskium.
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Wikipedia