Yezo sika deer Yezo sika deer The Yezo sika deer ("Cervus nippon yesoensis)" is one of the many subspecies of the sika deer. The sika that inhabit the island of Hokkaido are indigenous, although it is not known whether they originated there or migrated from the main island of Japan. Is it thought they may have traveled across the strait between the islands. The indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido have hunted them for centuries and relied on them as a major food source. The Hokkaido sika one is the largest of the sika species with large stags approaching and sometimes exceeding 200 kg
Formosan sika deer the 17th century immigration from the Chinese mainland increased dramatically in response to political instability in China and economic opportunities on Taiwan, which from 1624 until 1662 was controlled by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The VOC, operating from the port of Taoyuan (modern-day Anping, Tainan) in southwestern Taiwan, established a trading post whose main business was the export of sika skins to Europe. During the six decades of Dutch activity two to four million sika skins were exported to Europe. Exporting was reduced when the Dutch were forced out of Taiwan in 1662, but continued throughout the Qing