Post by Admin on Aug 10, 2019 14:03:21 GMT
Originating in South-East Asia, it first set hoof in Britain as a legal immigrant in 1900, brought into the country as a plaything by the then Duke of Bedford.
Of Course, it was only a matter of time before they found an unsecured gate through which to escape and have since colonised much of England.
Their size is an advantage. Standing just 20in tall, they are expert at hiding away in brambles, rushes and long grass. This has enabled them to evade the hunter's bullet - and even live on our doorsteps without us noticing.
Oddly for deer living in Britain, they have no breeding season and the doe can give birth to a solitary 'kid' at any time. The gestation period is only seven months and within days the doe is ready to mate again - enabling them to reproduce at breakneck speed.
And, while they are small, they can also look after themselves. The bucks have sharp antlers, as well as tusks, which can do serious damage to a fox, dog or human.
On one occasion, a good samaritan bent down to help an injured muntjac and received a wound to his hand that required hospital treatment.
They are also brave little deer and will viciously attack anything that threatens their young.
Their destructive tendencies also have a chilling impact on other species, too. The RSPB believes that muntjac, who devour many of the shrubs that birds nest in, and may be causing woodland bird numbers to tumble.
They are also known to girdle or ring-bark trees, the process of removing tree bark around the entire circumference. This will most certainly result in the death of the tree. Removing the bark effectively cuts off the tree’s circulation system. No water and minerals can go up, and no sugar can go down. This means the tree will die unless it can produce enough new living tissue to jump over the girdled gap, which is very unlikely if several centimetres of bark have been removed.
A tree girdled over the winter may still leaf out in the spring due to the “food” stored in the branches…but if it can’t draw up water, it will soon die.
This is exactly was has happened to our one and only Cork tree. This is the second cork tree donated to Cedars Park by the people of Massachusetts. The first one fell during a storm.
Of Course, it was only a matter of time before they found an unsecured gate through which to escape and have since colonised much of England.
Their size is an advantage. Standing just 20in tall, they are expert at hiding away in brambles, rushes and long grass. This has enabled them to evade the hunter's bullet - and even live on our doorsteps without us noticing.
Oddly for deer living in Britain, they have no breeding season and the doe can give birth to a solitary 'kid' at any time. The gestation period is only seven months and within days the doe is ready to mate again - enabling them to reproduce at breakneck speed.
And, while they are small, they can also look after themselves. The bucks have sharp antlers, as well as tusks, which can do serious damage to a fox, dog or human.
On one occasion, a good samaritan bent down to help an injured muntjac and received a wound to his hand that required hospital treatment.
They are also brave little deer and will viciously attack anything that threatens their young.
Their destructive tendencies also have a chilling impact on other species, too. The RSPB believes that muntjac, who devour many of the shrubs that birds nest in, and may be causing woodland bird numbers to tumble.
They are also known to girdle or ring-bark trees, the process of removing tree bark around the entire circumference. This will most certainly result in the death of the tree. Removing the bark effectively cuts off the tree’s circulation system. No water and minerals can go up, and no sugar can go down. This means the tree will die unless it can produce enough new living tissue to jump over the girdled gap, which is very unlikely if several centimetres of bark have been removed.
A tree girdled over the winter may still leaf out in the spring due to the “food” stored in the branches…but if it can’t draw up water, it will soon die.
This is exactly was has happened to our one and only Cork tree. This is the second cork tree donated to Cedars Park by the people of Massachusetts. The first one fell during a storm.
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