• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.9
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• pp.1298-1304
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• 2006

The aim of this study was to provide basic haematological information to allow improved nutritional management for velvet production in spotted deer (Cervus nippon) by investigating biochemical changes in blood values during the antler growth period. Blood samples, obtained from the jugular vein of twenty-five deer, were taken every 10 days from casting (day 0) to harvesting (day 50) of velvet antler. Negligible changes were found in the concentrations of total protein, albumin, and creatinine during the antler growth period, but there were significant changes in the concentrations of urea (p<0.05) and uric acid (p<0.01). The concentration of triglyceride was significantly higher (p<0.05) during the antler growth period compared to casting time, while serum high-density lipoprotein concentrations were low and remained unchanged during the antler growth period. Serum glucose concentration increased (p<0.05) significantly and was slightly changeable during antler growth. The serum concentrations of Ca and P did not fluctuate during antler growth, while those of Na, K and Cl showed slight differences between the time of casting and the rest of the antler growth period. No significant changes in concentrations of AST, ALT, amylase, CK, GGT and LDH were detected during the antler growth period. However, the concentration of ALK-P increased during antler growth reaching its peak on day 50 after casting. We found a significant difference in the concentration of ALK-P between the time of casting and the rest of the antler growth period (p<0.01). Consequently, antler growth was associated with mild changes in measured serum biochemical values with the exception of ALK-P activity in spotted deer.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1546-1550
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• 2007

This study aimed to provide basic information as the foundation for further studies on the assessment of velvet antler quality by investigating the changes in fatty acid, vitamin A and E, minerals and GAGs contents by development stage of antler in spotted deer (Cervus nippon). Twelve stags (aged 4 to 5 years) were divided into two groups and velvet antler harvested 40 days (FDG) and 60 days (SDG) after casting of the buttons from the previous set. Total saturated fatty acid was lower in FDG than SDG (p<0.05). Total monounsaturated fatty acid, conjugated linoleic acid (p<0.05), polyunsaturated fatty acid and ${\omega}$3 fatty acid were higher in FDG than SDG. The vitamin A content of FDG was higher than that of SDG, but the vitamin E content of FDG was lower than that of SDG (p<0.05). SDG had significantly higher calcium and phosphate content than FDG (p<0.05). The magnesium content showed a similar trend to the contents of calcium and phosphate, but there was no significant difference between SDG and FDG. Uronic acid content was higher in FDG than SDG but there was no significant difference. The contents of GAGs and sialic acid were significantly higher (p<0.05) in FDG than SDG. These results indicated that the longer stage of antler development had lower content of activating components and this lead to a decrease of antler quality.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.885-894
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• 2000

Deer antler has been widely prescribed in Chinese and Korean pharmacology. Although there have been several reports concerning the effects of deer antler, such as anti-aging action, anti-inflammatory activity, antifungal action and regulatory activity of the level of glucose, the effect on bone has not determined yet. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of deer antler on osteoblast differentiation. Hexane extract(CN-H) and chloroform extract(CN-C) were acquired from deer antler(Cervus nippon) and MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts were cultured in the presence or absence of each extract. Osteoblast differentiation was estimated with the formation of mineralized nodules and the mRNA expression of alkaline phosphatase(ALP), osteocalcin(OC) and bone sialoprotein(BSP) which are markers of osteoblast differentiation. Non-treated group did not show mineralized nodule. CN-C or CN-H-treated group showed minerlaized nodules in 16 days. In northern blot analysis, CN-C or CN-H-treated group showed the elevated expression of ALP, BSP and OC in 16 days. These results suggest the possibility to develop deer antler as a bone regenerative agent in periodontal therapy by showing the stimulating activity of deer antler on differentiation of osteoblast.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.88-96
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• 2021

Background: Sika deer, Cervus nippon, were originally introduced to South Korea from Japan and Taiwan for commercial farming purposes. Unfortunately, they were released into the wild during religious events and have since begun to impact the native ecosystem and species endemic to South Korea. The study of activity patterns can improve our understanding of the environmental impact of non-native species and their association with sympatric species. Using camera traps, we studied the diel and seasonal activity patterns of non-native sika deer and quantified the temporal overlap with sympatric mammalian species in the Muljangori-oreum wetlands of Hallasan National Park, South Korea. Results: A total of 970 trap events were recorded for five mammalian species from nine locations during the camera-trap survey. Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus tianschanicus) had the highest number of recorded events (72.0%), followed by sika deer (Cervus nippon) (16.2%), wild boar (Sus scrofa) (5.0%), Asian badger (Meles leucurus) (4.5%), and the Jeju weasel (Mustela sibirica quelpartis) (2.0%). Sika deer had bimodal activity patterns throughout the year, with peaks throughout the spring-autumn twilight, and day and night time throughout the winter. Relating the daily activity of sika deer with other mammalian species, roe deer expressed the highest degree of overlap (Δ₄ = 0.80) while the Asian badger demonstrated the lowest overlap (Δ₄ = 0.37). Conclusions: Our data show that sika deer are a crepuscular species with seasonal variations in daily activity patterns. Additionally, we identified the temporal differences in activity peaks between different mammals in the Muljangori-oreum wetlands and found higher degree of overlap between sika deer and roe deer during twilight hours.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.962-969
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• 2016

This study assessed the ecological and behavioral characteristics of the sika deer from April 2012 to August 2016. To obtain basic information on the behavioral patterns of the sika deer (Cervus nippon) including their annual home range, sika deer wearing GPS tracking collars were released into 1,385 locations at a different altitude around where they had been captured in Songnisan. The released individuals were studied through home range analysis. According to our observations, annual home ranges of the sika deer (n=6) is seen to be $2.24{\pm}1.50km^2$ (t=3.648, p<0.05) of MCP 95% for the entire area of home range and $0.46{\pm}0.31km^2$ (t=3.666, p<0.05)$km^2$ of FK 50% for the home range core area respectively. The annual home ranges of the sika deers by sex were $2.94km^2$ for female and $1.53km^2$ for male. This study is expected to provide basic data for habitat management and ecological study of sika deer and to contribute to the management of wild animals.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.347-355
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• 1994

Thirty farmers, representing three major deer counties in Kyung-Kee province and 50 farmers scattered in Chung-Buk province were interviewed to determine the current status of the Korean deer industry. Items surveyed were general information, farmed deer breeds. farm facilities, feeding and nutrition, hygiene and disorder incidence, velvetting, income sources, products and their sale, management problems and herd size control. The 888 deer farmed in Kyung-Kee province included spotted deer (Cervus nippon. 69.4%), red deer (Cervus elaphus, 6.1%), wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis, 12.2%), spotted $\times$ red deer hybrids (6.2%), red deer $\times$ wapiti hybrids (4.6%). and fallow deer (Dama dama, 1.5%). Poor information on feeding was evidenced by wide variation among farms of daily feed supply and ratios of forage to concentrate, and poor nutritional considerations according to physiological status of deer. Hygiene needed more attention. The incidence of diseases and disorders was high: enteritis (73.3% in Kyung-Kee province), fractures (60.0%), and dystocia (56.7%). The major source of farm income was velvet antler and its blood. To improve productive efficiency, attention should be given to improving farm facilities, simplified product marketing, developing standard feeding system, and economic grazing system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1233-1237
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• 2008

The genetic variability within and among three deer species in Malaysia, namely Cervus nippon (sika), Cervus timorensis (rusa) and Cervus unicolor (sambar), were evaluated using the RAPD technique. The DNA extracted from the buffy coat of 34 sika, 38 rusa and 9 sambar were analysed using ten primers that gave bands which showed good resolution. The primers generated 164 RAPD markers in total, and these ranged in size from 150 to 900 bp. The percent of polymorphism of the bands generated per primer ranged from 66.66-93.33% for rusa, 36.84-61.14% for sambar and 52.38-100% for sika. The overall percent polymorphism observed for the 164 RAPD markers was 99.39%. The results revealed five exclusive, monomorphic markers for sambar and one exclusive, monomorphic marker for sika; none was observed for rusa. However, these cannot be declared as markers for the identification of the species without analysis of more samples, populations and species. The means of within population genetic distances, based on Dice's and Jaccard's similarity indices, were similar for the rusa (0.383 and 0.542, respectively) and sika (0.397 and 0.558, respectively) populations with the sambar population being the least variable (0.194 and 0.323, respectively). The Dice based genetic distances within the species ranged from 0.194 to 0.397 and the genetic distances among the species were 0.791-0.911. The genetic distances based on Dice's and Jaccard's similarity indices between the rusa and sambar were 0.556 and 0.713, between the rusa and sika populations were 0.552 and 0.710, and between sambar and sika were 0.622 and 0.766, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.757-761
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• 1996

The animal bone-remains excavated with earthwares at Cheju Kimnyungri cave site were investigated morphologically and osteometrically. The number of bone remains were 1706 pieces by morphological criteria. Based on the classification of bony pieces excavated in the cave site, the important animal species in Cheju island during the early Tamra period (presumably between A.D.0 - A.D. 500) was as follows; wild boar(75%), deer(17%), cattle(6%), and horse in small percentage. The excavated bone remains imply that the major fauna of animal species are composed of three species, including Sus scrofa, Cervus nippon and Bos taurus. These data suggests that the archaeological remains such as bone pieces are good indicators of the fauna animals, and of zoological entity in the island.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.276-282
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• 2008

It is estimated that over 80% of deer antlers produced in the world are consumed in Korea. However, mislabeling or fraudulent replacement of costly antlers with cheaper ones is one of the most common problems in the domestic antler market. Therefore, there is a great need for the development of technology to identify species of antlers. This study was carried out to develop an accurate and reliable method for the identification and authentication of species or subspecies of antlers using DNA sequence analysis and comparison of mitochondrial cytochrome band D-loop region genes among antlers of five deer species, Cervus elaphus sibericus, Cervus elaphus canadensis, Cervus nippon, Cervus elaphus bactrianus and Rangifer tarandus. A variable region of cytochrome band D-loop genes was amplified using PCR with specifically designed primers and sequenced directly. The cytochrome band D-loop region genes showed different DNA sequences between the species of antlers and thus it is possible to differentiate between species on the basis of sequence variation. To distinguish between reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) antlers and other deer antlers, PCR amplicons of the cytochrome b gene were digested with the restriction enzymes NlaIV and TaqI, respectively, which generates a species-specific DNA profile of the reindeer. In addition, samples of 32 sliced antlers labeled Cervus elaphus sibericus from commercial markets were collected randomly and the mt DNA D-loop region of these antler samples was sequenced. Among the antler samples investigated, only 62.5% were from Cervus elaphus sibericus, and others were from Cervus elaphus bactrianus (25.0%), elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis) and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Our results suggest that DNA sequencing of mt DNA and PCR-RFLP methods using NlaIV and TaqI enzymes are useful for the identification and discrimination of deer antler species by routine analysis.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.322-332
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• 2013

This study was conducted to understand the control mechanism of Sika deer (Cervus nippon taiouanus) populations which are adapted to the natural forest areas and the semi-natural forest areas of Korea. We monitored and analyzed the behaviour patterns and habitat characteristics of Sika deers. After we released 12 Sika deers (male 3, female 9) each at the two study areas in and around Seoul under the approval of Korean government, we monitored them through our survey researchers' naked eyes from May 2011 to January 2012. We discriminated their habitat patterns to 4 major places - eating food place, drinking water place, daytime rest place, and nighttime rest place. Our results showed that Sika deer preferred the open grassland habitats for feeding and resting in daytime but the closed bushland for their protection and sleep. We also found the recommended sex ratio of adult male to female in a herd was 1 : 4~9 for breeding and they had few cubs in a herd. The average amount of food for 1 adult deer was 391.62 kg of fresh grasses and 286.90 kg of hay per year. Our results suggest that the amount of drinking water required for a deer when grazed on grasses during spring and summer seasons is 256.8 L and when a deer feeds on dry food during autumn and winter seasons, 209.8 L of water is required. From these results, we observe that the amount of drinking water was affected substantially by the moisture content of their food. This observational study must be very valuable for land managers to judge the number of deers that should be released in natural areas without high risk and to ascertain the sex ratio of large mammals including Sika deer. Therefore, we conclude that this population control mechanism study consists of efficient basic data and their values must be very effective for various purposes.