Taiwan will send a pair of indigenous deer and two indigenous goats to a forest park in Shandong Province, China, on April 16 to reciprocate China’s gift of two pandas in 2008, the Taipei Zoo said on Saturday.
The pair of Formosan sika deer, also know as spotted deer, and the two Formosan serows will be presented to China as gifts, after Beijing gave Taipei two pandas in December 2008 as a symbol of improved relations between the two sides.
Both the Formosan serows, Taiwan’s only wild bovine animals, and the Formosan sika deer, are endemic to Taiwan, Taipei Zoo director Jason Yeh (葉傑生) said.
After arriving in China, the animals, aged between three and five, will take up residence in Liugongdao National Forest Park in Weihai.
The park covers an area of about 3.15km2 and has been breeding spotted deer since 1985. More than 200 spotted deer are currently raised in the park.
Unlike the sika deer in China, which have darker fur and less obvious spots, the Formosan sika deer have light-colored fur and clear spots, Yeh said.
He said that officials from the forest park have visited Taiwan regularly for more than a year to learn about the animals, their -living environment and current management conditions to prepare for their transfer.
Owing to the sensitive nature of deer and serows, the Taipei Zoo began preparing the animals for the move more than six months ago to keep them from feeling stress during the transfer and help them get accustomed to people, the zoo director said.
Yeh said the emigration of animals from their native land to a foreign land is conducive to conserving the species.
He cited Australia’s Tasmanian devil, which he said was saved from the brink of extinction because of its migration to foreign lands.
There are no national boundaries to conservation, because animals are “assets of the world,” Yeh said, adding that he hoped that sending the pairs of deer and serows to China would promote better understanding of the animals and bring attention to the importance of animal conservation.
Taipei Zoo figures show only 1,600 Formosan sika deer can be found in the wild in Taiwan, many of which have been bred in -Kenting National Park, after the species became extinct in the wild in 1969.
Formosan serow is listed as an endangered species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement that protects endangered animals and plants.
The two deer are named “Fang Hsing” and “Tien Tien,” or “dotted stars” when combined in Chinese. The serows are named “Hsi Yang Yang” and “Le Yang Yang,” both meaning “joy” in Chinese.
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