 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
| Yezo sika deer | |
|---|---|
| |
| A young Yezo sika stag near Wakkanai, Hokkaido. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Artiodactyla |
| Family: | Cervidae |
| Subfamily: | Cervinae |
| Genus: | Cervus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: |
C. n. yesoensis
|
| Trinomial name | |
| Cervus nippon yesoensis Heude, 1884 | |
The Yezo sika deer (Cervus nippon yesoensis,[1][2] Japanese: エゾシカ / 蝦夷鹿, romanized: yezoshika,[3] Ainu: ユク yuk[4][5]) is a subspeciesofsika deer that inhabits the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. The Hokkaido sika are endemic, although it is not known whether they originated there or migrated from Honshū or areas further south. It is thought that they may have traveled across the Tsugaru Strait between the islands. Genetic study has shown that the separation of the sika population occurred less than half a million years ago.[6] It is possible that northern sika deer may be more closely related to yezo sika deer than to other sika deer.[7] The indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido have hunted them for centuries and relied on them as a major food source.
The Hokkaido sika is one of the largest of the sika species, with mature stags approaching (and sometimes exceeding) 200 kg in the fall.[8] They also sport the largest antlers of the sika, with lengths often over 35 inches (0.89m); the longest recorded specimen had antlers measuring 44 inches (1.12m). By SCI measurement, the Hokkaido sika produces the highest scores, although very few have been listed.
| Cervus nippon yesoensis |
|
|---|---|
Authority control databases: National  |
|
|---|
 | This article about an even-toed ungulate is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
