Formosan sika deer (Cervus nippon taioanus) raised in captivity at the Kinmen Livestock Research Institute may be the most genetically similar yet to their extinct wild cousins, National Taiwan University researcher Ju Yu-ten (朱有田) said.
The Kinmen Livestock Research Institute commissioned Ju, an associate professor at the university’s Department of Animal Science and Technology, to conduct research on the institute’s Formosan sika deer breeding program as part of an effort to promote tourism to the island chain and set a good example of environmental conservation.
Presenting his findings on Friday, Ju said that compared with the deer raised at Kenting National Park, the animals bred in Kinmen had a “purer” genetic makeup that showed a continuity with the genetic structure of the original wild Formosan sika deer.
Photo: CNA
Ju said that he had arrived at this conclusion after comparing the genetic material of the deer raised in Kinmen and Kenting with material gleaned from the tooth of a Formosan sika deer unearthed at an archeological dig.
The Formosan sika deer is a subspecies endemic to Taiwan, but all wild Formosan sika are extinct due to extensive hunting of the animal during the era of Dutch colonization and during the modernization undertaken by the Japanese colonial government, Ju said. All surviving specimens of the Formosan subspecies have been raised in captivity and then introduced into the wild, he added.
Ju said that the current stock of deer raised in captivity were not genetically pure, because those that were genetically closest to the wild Formosan sika deer — which were raised at the Taipei Zoo in the 1980s — had to be put down en masse after the group was infected with tuberculosis.
Kenting and Kinmen both received deer from Taipei Zoo prior to the outbreak, but while Kenting National Park introduced other subspecies of deer to its population, the Kinmen Livestock Research Institute kept its Formosan sika deer separate from others.
This separation, coupled with the geographic isolation of Kinmen, has made inter-breeding with other species nearly impossible, which is what has made the Kinmen sika deer the most “Aboriginal” of their kind, Ju said.
Meanwhile, institute director Wen Shuei-cheng (文水成) said that the facility has also developed a drink made from the deer’s antlers. Wen said the insitute aimed to use the drink in addition to the deer program to promote tourism to Kinmen.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS