Transcript:

Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing vampire deer. Vampire deer is the name given to any deer or deer-like animals that have fangs. We also like the term deeracula. These might seem like oddities, but, if we think about how these teeth are used, things may make more sense. I mean, the idea of animals using large projections of their skulls in order to see who’s a better fit for a lady might seem normal because that’s what a lot of other deer do, but saying it out loud sounds just a little strange. Just as strange as fanged deer might seem. But these fangs serve the same purpose as antlers! Interestingly enough, fangs on deer were the norm for a long time. It’s actually the head-butting-with-bony-skull-projection boys who are weird when compared to deer ancestors. It’s now believed that over the course of time antlers replaced fangs in most modern deer species, though some still have these ancient tools and thus we have the vampire deer.

With most other deer, caribou being the only exception that comes to mind besides genetic oddities, only the males sport antlers; and the same can be said of vampire deer. The boys use their vampire-like teeth to spar with one another over females, and thus have much more pronounced fangs. Now there isn’t just one species of vampire deer and not all vampire deer are actually true “deer”.

True deer are cervids, but not all vampire deer are classified in this family. In fact, the smallest hoofed animals alive today, mouse deer, are called deer but aren’t classified with true deer - which is why we said the pudu is the smallest living deer when we discussed them years ago even though mouse deer are technically smaller!

Mouse deer are a great place to start, though, because mouse deer sport fangs. In fact, a species of mouse deer that was thought to be extinct was recently seen after nearly thirty years of no sightings! Mouse deer are generally solitary animals that live in forests and rainforests of Africa and Asia. They’re herbivorous, nocturnal, and secretive. Mouse deer weigh anywhere from 2 to 35 pounds depending on the species - of which there are around 10 living today. These are not true deer, and neither are musk deer, another kind of vampire deer.

There are currently seven recognized species of musk deer and like their name implies they produce musk! This is actually an important fact to note because these fancy fanged deer are being hunted to extinction for this musk so it can be used in human products like perfume. Anyway, these deer-like mammals don’t have antlers, like most vampire deer, but as we’ll be discussing later you’ll see this isn’t always the case. In size, musk deer only reach about two feet (61cm) at shoulder height! Musk deer have thick fur and long ears. They’re found in mountainous places.

The next three vampire deer groups are classified as true deer. The tufted deer is recognizable for its tuft of black hair on its forehead. This species is native to Burma and China and lives in forested areas near water. These are herbivores and like other vampire deer may become prey to larger carnivores.

Tufted deer are closely related to and just slightly larger than barking deer. Barking deer are called so because they make barking noises. These vampire deer do have antlers though they come in rather small. Barking deer are solitary in nature and live in dense forests. In size, they match up closely with musk deer reaching about two feet in height at the shoulder. They hail from southeast Asia and have become established in parts of Europe.

The final fanged deer we’ll be discussing is the water deer. These deer hail from China and Korea but have been introduced to parts of Europe. As their name implies, water deer tend to live near water. They are small like the other vampire deer we’ve mentioned and also eat mostly plant material. On average, vampire deer reach at least a decade in age. So, the name “vampire deer” could really be in reference to lots of different deer and non-deer technically. While many of these species are believed to have decreasing population sizes, hopefully this video has helped illuminate the awesomeness of some of these small and fascinating creatures.

For more facts on vampire deer, check out the links in the description. Thank you to felis, Michael, john-o, minty, and Ahmet for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!