Cervus nippon, Sika Deer

Jo, Yeong-Seok, Kim, Tae-Wook, Choi, Byeong-Jin & Oh, Hong-Shik, 2012, Current status of terrestrial mammals on Jeju Island, Journal of Species Research 1 (2), pp. 249-256 : 252

Cervus nippon, Sika Deer

Sika deer populations in Korea have been regarded as 2 subspecies, C. n. hortulorum and C. n. mantchuricus. The Jeju population was considered as C. n. mantcuricus ( Won, 1967).

Sika deer on Jeju used to be abundant, but became extinct around 1915 ( Mori, 1928). In 1992 and 1993, 12 Taiwanese sika deer (C. n. taioanus) were released for restoration in private without scientific planning ( Oh et al., 2007). These individuals were present until 2004, but it is unknown if they still persist. The situation is complicated as several private deer farms operate on Jeju.