Indian Hog Deer

The Indian hog deer is also known as the Indochinese hog deer and is native to the Indian subcontinent and Indo-Gangetic Plain. It runs through forests with its head hung low, like a hog, to ease ducking under obstacles instead of leaping over them like most other deer, thus the name hog deer. It is now found in northern India, Nepal, southern Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar and China's Yunnan Province. There is also an isolated population in Cambodia. 

 

A mature hog deer is about 28 inches in height at the shoulder and weighs about 110 pounds. It has a long body and short legs and the back slopes upward from the shoulders to the rump, which is higher. It has a thick coat which is dark-brown in winter, except for the underparts of the body and legs, which are lighter. In late spring the coat turns to a reddish-brown. Many have a dark dorsal stripe from the head down the back of the neck and along the spine. In summer there is a row of light-colored spots along each side of the dorsal stripe, from the shoulders to the rump. The tail is short and brown, tipped with white. The underside of the tail is white and it can fan the white hairs out in a distinctive alarm display. It has rounded ears and the males have antlers that are typically three tined, with a brow tine and a solid main beam with inner and outer tines at the top. However, more tines are not uncommon.   

This male was seen in the Burhapahar Range of Kaziranga NP. Note the slope of the back upwards, from the shoulders to the rump. 

The Indian hog deer has been listed as Endangered by the IUCN since 2012 due to hunting (primarily for bushmeat) and habitat loss from settlement and agriculture which has fragmented the populations. The hog deer population dropped over 90% between 1991 and 2012. Kaziranga NP, where we saw them, is one of the last strongholds, with a population of about 15,000.  

This photo, and the rest of the photos, were taken in the Western Range of Kaziranga NP which is in Assam.